Tour Script

CSFS Tour Script

In the course of your engagement with CSFS at UBC Farm, you will likely be invited to speak to its history, mandate, and activities. This document aims to provide you with a set of core messages that you should use during every tour. It also includes additional information about ongoing activities at the UBC Farm that you may use depending on the objective of your tour and your audience. Lastly, accompanying this website is a PDF map of where each project is located on site. Throughout the document, look for Key Info, which is meant to identify ideas on how to convey certain messages or stories. Other resources available to further your understanding and knowledge of CSFS at UBC Farm:

CSFS at UBC Farm’s vision documents and reports Annual Reports and Strategic plan
CSFS at UBC Farm Communication Guide
CSFS at UBC Farm website
CSFS YouTube channel (on LFS Channel) or CSFS’s own YouTube Channel

Core Messaging

What is CSFS at the UBC Farm?

Vision, Mission, & History

The CSFS is a research and teaching facility at the University of British Columbia. It includes a 24-hectare (60 acres) integrated production farm, forest, and community learning space located on unceded Musqueam territory. It is managed by LFS but led collaboratively by researchers and staff affiliated with almost all of UBC’s faculties.

Half of the area is forested (90-year-old coastal hemlock forest, with other areas as a genetic repository for Faculty of Forestry, Worrall Aboretum, etc.), and about a third is in active food production. The UBC Farm also contains perennial hedgerows and orchards, pasture, teaching gardens, and forest stands.

The UBC Farm also contains perennial hedgerows and orchards, pasture, teaching gardens, and forest stands. The UBC Farm grows over 200 varieties of fruits, vegetables, and herbs. The farm also features honey bee hives and egg laying, open pasture hens.

What does CSFS at the UBC Farm do?

The CSFS at UBC Farm conducts research, teaching, and outreach to explore and exemplify healthy and sustainable food systems. Its three main objectives are to provide a research and teaching platform where social, economic, and environmental interventions can be designed, tested, and monitored within an active food production system; and to provide a diversity of community engagement initiatives to advance dialogue on sustainable community development that builds common ground across age, ability, political views, socioeconomic status, culture, belief, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and gender.

How old is the UBC Farm?

A farm of some description has been a part of UBC since the establishment of the university, in 1915.

Key Info: In 1915, 100 years ago, one family out of three was farming. Now, less than 2% of the Canadian Population grows food as a career. How to grow food for the population was therefore a core study subject, which means faculties of agriculture were often amongst the first ones established in Canadian universities.

Academic activities coordinated through the Faculty of Agriculture made significant contributions to the development of food and agriculture in the province. Both four-year B.Sc. degrees and two-year practical diplomas were offered, both of which used the farm facilities extensively. In addition to the agronomy lands and the dairy farm, post-harvest processing facilities including a poultry plant and a creamery (cheese factory) provided facilities for food science courses offered as early as the 1930s.

By the late 1990s, activity on south campus had declined significantly. The Forest Sciences nursery closed in 1991, and a new off-campus dairy facility at the Agriculture Canada research station in Agassiz, BC, opened in 2000. The new Dairy Education and Research Centre consolidated the herds of the Oyster River research farm and the South Campus Teaching and Research complex, and these old facilities were both de-commissioned. Avian research that formerly took place on south campus was also re-located to Agassiz, as part of the Avian Research Centre.

Around this time in 1997, that Farmland was also deemed as “Future Housing Reserve” by the City of Vancouver’s municipal land use plan. https://thetyee.ca/News/2008/07/28/UBCFarm/print.html

A vision for a new integrated farm system on campus was first proposed in 2000.

In 2001, Landscape Architecture Masters student Derek Masselink completed his thesis titled “The UBC South Campus Farm: The Elaboration of an Alternative” which elaborates on the 2000 visioning document. Derek is currently an Agrologist for the BC Ministry of Agriculture, among other titles.

Faculty, staff, students, and community members worked together to transform these visions to reality, bringing previously fragmented field areas together into a single working farm and forest system that delivered a growing number of programs to students and researchers in many different disciplines.

Through a well-publicized series of meetings, media releases, letter-writing campaigns, design workshops, and public demonstrations, Friends of the UBC Farm (an AMS club) successfully mobilized support for the UBC Farm from students, faculty and staff, community members and organizations, and numerous levels of government.

On October 28, 2008, FotF presented UBC President Toope with more than 16,000 signatures in support of retaining the UBC Farm in its existing size and location. At a board meeting several days later, Metro Vancouver voted 30-0 in favour of a motion to send a letter in support of preserving the 24-ha UBC Farm. The 2008/09 campaign year culminated in a celebratory Great Farm Trek on April 7, 2009, in which over 2,000 supporters marched from the Student Union Building to the UBC Farm in celebration of retaining the UBC Farm in its existing size and location. Coinciding with the Trek, environmentalist and former UBC professor David Suzuki offered his words of support for the farm as a vital academic and sustainability resource.

After a decade of uncertainty regarding the long-term future of the farm, the UBC Farm embarked upon a new academic plan, Cultivating Place, in 2010, with commitments from the university to retain the integrated farm system as a land-based academic facility (Green Academic).

For more about CSFS at UBC Farm’ history, visit UBC Farm’s History webpage.

Another great website for history.

In 2016, the CSFS released its Strategic Plan for 2016-2020, outlining its goals for the next 4 years.

Our Farm

The layout of the Farm.

Here we’ll touch on the different areas of the Farm. Notable areas such as the Children’s Garden, the Indigenous Gardens, and the Production Fields will have their own space as there’s lots to learn about those areas – scroll down!”>

Hopyard

The Hopyard was established in 2010 by a Faculty of Land and Food Systems Agroecology student Scott Bell, with the hope that it would act as an urban hop garden demonstration site.

In 2016, Dogwood (The only Organic brewery in Vancouver) used UBC Farm hops to make their fresh-hopped beer.

Some info on nano/microbreweries being going trend in the region. BC used to be a big grower of hops, industry moved to Oregon, now trying to stimulate local growing to meet demand.

Apple Orchard

The apple orchard was established by a Faculty of Land and Food Systems student, Sarah Belanger, with the aim to showcase apple diversity as well as growing techniques (single tree vs. 2 types of espaliers).

Key Info: Good way to engage the public is by asking them to name all the apple names they know. Generally they can only get to maximum 15. Then you mention that UBC Farm orchard contains 70 heritage varieties, forming a sort of living museum, and that in BC we grow more than 200 varieties.

Special Events Field

The farm hosts a wide range of events for both academic (UBC students, faculty and staff) and non-academic users. Past events have included Farm Ade, Joy of Feeding, weddings, picnics, birthday parties, conferences, BBQs, corporate parties, engagement photo shoots, reunions, field dinners, music and sports events, meetings and retreats, bonfires, outdoor movie screenings, and more.

Key Info: A more “farming” audience will always be puzzled by the wide space that is the special events field. Why not farm this space? This is a good time to remind them that as a multi-faceted farm, i.e., not only a food production mandate but also community engagement, we have to keep some spaces for community oriented events. This being said, this is also a good opportunity to invite your audience to reflect on the role of green spaces at the urban edge, i.e., should these green spaces be only used for food production, or only community engagement, or only teaching? How can we maximize these valuable pieces of land to provide several social, environmental, and economic benefits?

Harvest Hut

Three seasonal weekly markets (Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays). The Saturday Farmers Market is the only one of its kind in Vancouver in that it is the only one located on a farm within the urban/peri-urban boundaries.

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program, which provides members of the UBC campus and broader community with a weekly box of fresh produce grown locally with organic methods at the UBC Farm.
- The concept of a CSA consists of a box of vegetables, but other farm products may be included whereby interested consumers purchase a share (aka a "membership" or a "subscription") and in return receive a box (bag, basket) of seasonal produce each week throughout the farming season. This arrangement creates several rewards for both the farmer and the consumer.

Advantages for farmers:
- Get to spend time marketing the food early in the year, before their 16 hour days in the field begin
- Receive payment early in the season, which helps with the farm's cash flow
- Have an opportunity to get to know the people who eat the food they grow

Advantages for consumers:
- Eat ultra-fresh food, with all the flavor benefits
- Get exposed to new vegetables and new ways of cooking
- Usually get to visit the farm at least once a season
- Develop a relationship with the farmer who grows their food and learn more about how food is grown.

Medicinal Plants Garden

Initiative from the Faculty of Science Botany Department.
Currently not in ‘use’ but stands as a legacy of past research initiatives at the Farm. Shona Ellis in the dept. of Botany at UBC is the contact for this.

Production Fields

The UBC Farm is a fully operational, organically certified farm.

Why do we grow commercial produce at a University Farm? Is this the best use of the land/public resources? (Yes, and this is why)

1) The ability to test theories and new innovations on a working farm in actual conditions
2) To train students in best management practices for organic farming
3) To bring in revenue to fund our academic programming

All produce is grown according to British Colombia Certified Organic Management Standards. We have had organic certification since May 1st, 2016. The certifying body we are with is the North Okanagan Organic Association (NOOA). A few organic certification facts:

Definition: Organic Agriculture is a production system that sustains the health of soils, ecosystems and people. It relies on ecological processes, biodiversity and cycles adapted to local conditions, rather than the use of inputs with adverse effects. Organic Agriculture combines tradition, innovation and science to benefit the shared environment and promote fair relationships and a good quality of life for all involved.” —The International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM)

In Canada, the organic system is governed by the Organic Standards and Regulations developed by the Canadian Food and Inspection Agency (CFIA). In BC, the Certified Organic Association of BC (COABC) is the umbrella association representing all organic certifying agencies (certification bodies) in the province. Certifying bodies are the agencies that process operations applications and allow operators to carry organic status. Verifications are done through a third-party system (verification officers).
Why NOOA? NOOA is the only regional body that will accept operations province-wide. The lower mainland doesn’t have a certifying body that is not ISO (and therefore more expensive)

We get inspected every year. We started transitioning in spring 2015 but have been following organic practices since the “beginning”. The various programs using the UBC Farm site (indigenous gardens, children’s gardens, practicum growing area, and caretaker plots) are not under our certification (record keeping reasons) but do not use any prohibited substances

Why did we choose to certify organic rather than just follow organic practices?
- Raise profile of organic farming because we are in the public eye.
- Support the organic community by joining.
- Encourage and support research into organic agriculture and sustainable food systems.
- Help us keep up-to-date with ongoing development in the organic world.
- Forces us to check ourselves….are we really organic?

What do organic practices do?
- We rotate our crops to balance nutrients in the soil, as well as discourage pests
- We use compost and “green” manure/cover crop to add nitrogen and organic matter to the soil, keep weeds down and prevent drought and soil erosion
- We use beneficial insects or mechanical and manual methods to control pests and weeds
- We ensure animals have access to outdoors: fresh air, sun and access to pasture are essential for animal’s health.
- We don’t allow the use of persistent pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, and routine use of drugs, antibiotics or synthetic hormones
The use of GMO is prohibited.

Organic farming methods offer the best current model for promoting climate-friendly food production. This is because it is less dependent on fossil-fuel-based fertilizers and pesticides and builds resilience in the face of climatic extremes. Organic farming also stores higher levels of carbon in the soil, promotes wildlife diversity, reduces pest outbreaks, protects soil from erosion, helps prevent contamination of water, and uses far less energy than conventional farming methods.

Misconceptions about what organic means:
- Organic food is more nutritious
- Organic farming means no spraying; pesticides/fungicides
- I read an article that said that organic food contains pesticides

Production FAQ

We are often asked why our produce is more expensive than at the grocery store or why organic produce are so much more expensive than conventional. Here are some good answers:

- Organic food supply is limited as compared to demand.
- Production costs are generally higher as production is labour intensive.
- Prices of organic foods include not only the cost of the food production itself, but also a range of other factors not captured in the price of conventional food, including environmental enhancement and protection, and higher standards for animal welfare.
- Improved standards and sufficient incomes for farm workers.

Only if asked: CSFS at UBC Farm stance on GMOs:

- As an organically certified farm, we do not use GMOs at the UBC Farm. The use of genetically engineered organisms or their products are prohibited in any form or at any stage in organic production, processing or handling.
- The commitment to local food at UBC Farm extends to seeds, demonstrated by our Seed Hub initiative and membership to the BC Eco Seed Co-op.
- Research on GMOs is conducted in other areas at UBC, including Totem Field. It is important to have access to organically certified areas for comparison trials of all agricultural technologies, including organic.

The UBC Farm cultivates more than 200 varieties of vegetables and perennial fruits.

Key Info: (70 varieties are in the Apple Orchard alone! Great way to illustrate the biodiversity even within ‘one thing.’ (We grow 3 types of kale, ~5 types of lettuce, etc.)

Make yourself familiar with each seasonal field layout, i.e., knows what grows where by taking a walk at the beginning of the growing season.

There are generally 4 distinct fields at the UBC Farm:
- The “goosefoot” field: beets, carrots, fennel, chard, and lettuce.
- The squash field: pumpkin, winter squash, zucchinis, etc.
- The brassica (from the Brassica family) field: kale, arugula, broccoli, collard, etc.
- The allium field: onions, leeks, garlic, etc.

Soil

Soil amendments: we use compost, organic-based fertilizer (e.g., blood meal), cover crops, and crop rotation to ensure soil health.

- Cover crop: a crop (generally fava beans, barley, and others) that a) limits soil erosion from heavy winter rain by “covering” the soil and b) instead of taking nutrients out of the soil (like most other crops do), cover crops (especially the fava bean which fixes nitrogen) replenishes the soil with nutrients as it is tilled in the spring as green manure.
- Crop rotation: A crop is never in the same field two seasons in a row. That is because by moving the crops, we limit a disease present in the soil affecting the same crops two years in a row.
The Farm uses two different irrigation techniques: overhead sprinklers and drip tape.

Key Info: Ask your audience which technique they think is the most “sustainable”. To answer it, use the example of how groups of engineers have been comparing the sustainability of each by doing a triple bottom line assessment (i.e., evaluating a method or tool on whether it is socially, ecologically, and economically sustainable). While drip tape irrigation is generally a better solution in that it maximizes the use of water (overhead sprinklers lead to important losses of water to evapotranspiration), they are made of plastic, which has its own negative impacts on the environment. What is the best option then? Students are still trying to answer that question.

In 2014, the UBC Farm grew more than 80,000 lbs of food!

Key Info: There are approximately 20,000 farms in BC. The average farm size is of 350 acres. The UBC Farm is 60 acres. And really only 8 to 12 of these 60 acres are in food production field (the rest is community gardening programs, buildings, etc.).
- People interested in getting engaged in those programs can register as volunteer through our online registration systems. In 2014, more than 800 volunteers gave 7000 hours across all different volunteer programs (4 in total, the indigenous programming being one of them).

Children's Education Garden

CSFS at UBC Farm’s Children’s Programs offer innovative, educational, and fun programs for children age 6 to 14 through:

The Intergenerational Landed Learning Project

Initiative from the Faculty of Education established in 2002 by Dr. Jolie Mayer Smith. The project’s mandate is to unite generations in a community learning initiative that illustrates the values of lifelong learning, community mindedness, ecological and social citizenship, and civic responsibility.

Each bed is used by a different team of 7-12 years old children paired with a UBC student and volunteer mentors/Elders from the community. Together, they learn about agriculture and food as the link between a healthy environment and human well-being.

The research project is an example of how CSFS builds institutional frameworks and human capacities through influence, collaboration and research. By innovating people’s relationships with the land, both at the political and individual levels, the Centre helps reverse the trend of environmental degradation and loss of farmland, to ensure long-term stewardship of our land resources.

The FarmWonders camp which is a community education initiative committed to promoting environmental awareness through science-based farm learning. We aim to offer a unique experience that allows children to explore the wonders of science at the farm and discover the mysteries of the food that they eat.

The FarmWonders Field Trips, which provide children with an opportunity for elementary student groups to see and learn about a working sustainable farm and to discuss important social and ecological aspects of food production in our area.
- People interested in getting engaged in those programs can register as volunteer through our online registration systems. In 2014, more than 800 volunteers gave 7000 hours across all different volunteer programs (4 in total, the children’s programming being one of them).

Indigenous Programming

Located on unceded ancestral Musqueam territory, the Centre works closely with four Indigenous initiatives at the UBC Farm: the Musqueam Garden, Maya in Exile Garden, Tu’wusht Project, and Indigenous Health Research and Education Garden, which recently received a traditional Musqueam name, which means Place of Growing in the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ language of the Musqueam people.

Pronunciation Guide

xʷ - sounds like a soft "wh" (like blowing a candle)
c̓ - sounds like "ts" and the accent on top of it means that it is stressed, so a more forceful sound
i - sounds like "e" as in 'we' or 'she'
ə - is called a "shwa" and is pronounced like "uh" as in 'keisha' or 'some'
m - is just like an English ‘m’

Acknowledgements

It is important to the farm land and to the people that have taken care of it for thousands of years now to acknowledge your presence on unceded traditional Musqueam territory. You can do so at the beginning of the tour or when you feel is an appropriate time during the tour.

Unceded definition: Unceded means that this land was never surrendered, relinquished or handed over in any way. Based on our current knowledge, this includes the territories of the Musqueam, Skxwú7mesh (pronounced Squamish or Skohomish), Stó:lō & Tsleil-Waututh (pronounced: slay-wa-tooth, aka Burrard) nations. Unceded is a term used by the Crown, and the implication of ‘ceded’ or ‘unceded’ territories is very complex. In terms of engagement with land and resources, it means that the Duty to Consult applies to all First Nations that may be impacted.

In June 2014, the City of Vancouver made an official acknowledgement that Vancouver is located on unceded traditional territories.

The Musqueam First Nation and UBC have a long history of partnership, and a Memorandum of Affiliation was signed in 2006.

These initiatives promote research that will benefit First Nations, Métis, and Inuit People as well as the university-wide strategy for Indigenous engagement. In other words, these initiatives enhance UBC’s role as an agent of social change at the intersection of land, food and community.

Each year, the Indigenous Initiatives brought over 4,500 visits to the Farm and engaged more than 300 UBC students through class visits, group projects, graduate research, and directed studies.

Tu'Wusht Project

Objective is to provide the support and opportunity for Indigenous peoples living in Vancouver to improve their health and capacity by experiencing the "seed to table” aspect. We will create a safe space for Elders and youth to interact, to promote healing through gardening.

Established 2005.

Given the name Tu’Wusht by Elder Corrine Mitchell in 2013. Tla’amin (Sliammon) meaning is “We belong.”

They provide transportation from the Downtown East Side for participants, and run a weekly community kitchen to prepare and share food at the Farm Center kitchen as well as seasonal feasts.

Run through Vancouver Native Health Society, which provides other programs for urban Indigenous peoples throughout the city.

Indigenous Health Research and Education Garden

Volunteering opportunities available: contact Wilson Mendes - UBC-LFS Indigenous Gardens indigenousgardenlfs.irp@ubc.ca
More than 40 varieties of medicinal plants, many of which are indigenous to this region.

Serves educational and research needs related to Indigenous food sovereignty while increasing participants’ knowledge and access to both traditional and non-traditional plants.

Guided by the principle that ‘food is medicine,’ and thus that a holistic understanding of health and healing includes the food that people eat.

Part of LFS’s Indigenous Research Partnerships.
Garden was redesigned in 2013 by the Medicine Collective and a Landscape Architecture student. Center of garden design is a Spindle Whorl, an important tool to Musqueam weaving and culture, other beds oriented to the four directions.
In the center of the garden is Tobacco, planted by CRUW youth. Other beds in the garden have plants that target Mood and Nervous System, Heart and Blood, Kidneys and Diabetes, Cold and Flu, and Skin.

On October 3rd, 2016 a name was given to the garden in ceremony with the Musqueam community, Elder Larry Grant and witnesses from the greater community. A pole carved by Algonquin artist David Robinson was raised on this day as well. The piece is called “Thunder
Child.”

The boulder placed near the carving is representative of the Musqueam traditions of ceremony which took place on this day. The placement of the boulder with bear grease, red ochre (təməɬ) and eagle down to mark the blessing of this space. This was done by the youngest witness present, as per custom, with the help of Musqueam Elder Shane Point (Ti’ te-in),
In the Coast Salish custom, youth witnesses were appointed at the ceremony to uphold the obligation to remember this event and its significance, and to speak out when needed.

Garden Collective: A group of undergraduate and graduate students, as well as the Garden Coordinator and the Director of Indigenous Partnerships. These students gain credit through UBC Directed Studies by developing collaboratively both on the land and in their research to create reciprocal and shared learning opportunities.

Medicine Collective: Established 2009. A group of Elders and Knowledge Keepers who work with the garden. They hold public workshops on making teas, skin salves, and tobacco mixes from plants harvested in the garden.

Academic workshops are also held for UBC students in midwifery and pharmacy.

Key Info: In 2014 the Medicine Collective facilitated 40 medicine sessions in the IHREG, bringing over 500 visits to the garden.

Key Info: This is also the home base of the Culturally Relevant Urban Wellness program.

CRUW was established in 2011.

Partnership between VACFSS and Elders to design program.

Research led by Dr. Eduardo Jovel, Professor, Faculty of Land and Food Systems.

CRUW brings urban Indigenous and recent immigrant youth to the Garden from March to October. The program aims to provide support for youth acknowledging land in a context of healing, growth, self-reflection, and personal and community development.

Project is an example of how CSFS builds institutional frameworks and human capacities through influence, collaboration and research. By innovating people’s relationships with the land, both at the political and individual levels, the Centre helps reverse the trend of environmental degradation and loss of farmland, to ensure long-term stewardship of our land resources.

Smokehouse: A Civil Engineering class and guidance from Elders of the Haisla, Tsimshian and Kitlope nations built the smokehouse around 2010. Used by Indigenous programs to smoke and share foodfish, primarily salmon. Good example of intercultural and intergenerational learning.

Fire pit: Located beside Smokehouse. The shape and orientation of the fire pit enables it to be used as an altar for prayer and ceremony, with the opening in the west so anyone facing the fire is facing east, where the sun rises; the same direction you’ll notice the door of the teepee is facing. This has significance reflected in different teachings about the medicine wheel and the four directions.

Musqueam Garden

This space is behind the Tu’Wusht garden, but is currently not in use.

The Musqueam garden is currently not in use, as Musqueam has a community garden now located in their community, about 10 minutes down the road from the Farm.

(Food grown is shared with members of the community who otherwise may not access fresh food, and knowledge is shared to build capacity within the community. The Musqueam community is also involved with other Indigenous initiatives at the farm in various capacities, such as providing guidance and protocols, accessing fish for community meals, building the cedar smokehouse, and sharing medicine-making knowledge.)

Tal Ax'in Maya in Exile Garden

Established in 2000 by refugee families from Guatemala. (Link to interview with member Lix Lopez)

The garden is a place for cultural sharing and sustaining ancestral practices for the Maya people of Vancouver.

Some of the main crops grown there are the three sisters: corn, beans and squash. Also, amaranth (bledo) yerba mora and apazote.
Host cooking workshops for the public using seasonal ingredients from their garden, where they share knowledge of their food traditions and collaborate with participants to make and share a meal.

Also for research on adaptation of seed varieties to new geographic contexts (proxy for climate adaptation)

Project is an example of how we engage community alliances with Indigenous peoples, and support shared histories in relating to the land for food sovereignty and food sustainability

Volunteer opportunities are available: contact Nati Garcia

Sell what they grow at the Saturday Farmer’s Market

Research

The CSFS embodies the concept of campus as a living lab, providing researchers with a research platform where social, economic, and environmental interventions can be designed, tested, and monitored within a living food system. Research opportunities span the whole seed to plate continuum while integrating a multitude of disciplines and sectors to provide global leadership for transformation leading to resilient and secure future food systems.

Honey Bee Pathogen Response Research

Led Dr. Leonard Foster, Faculty of Medicine

Using molecular measurements and behavioural observations, the team tries to understand some of the means by which bees can defend themselves against pathogens and enrich a particular kind of social behaviour in bees, known as hygienic behaviour that enables bees to better fend-off mites and bacteria. Also do selective breeding to try to enrich hygienic behavior so that bees can better fend off mites and bacteria.

Key Info: There is a saying: for every one bite out of three of food you take, you should thank the bees. Use this saying to convey how crucial bees, particularly bees, both honey and native varieties, are to food security, i.e., they pollinate one third of our food crops. The honey bee colony collapse disorder affects many North American bee keepers, in some instances losing one third of their hives every year. It is therefore key to invest energy into figuring out the complex set of factors causing the honey bee collapse disorder as well as researching solutions to improve bee health.

Farmlands Access Research Project

Led by Dr. Hannah Wittman, Academic Director of CSFS.

Community-based participatory research project which aims to contribute to the understanding of and to providing solutions for sustainable, community-based farmland management for local food production in British Columbia, specifically around access to and management of land. .

Nominated for 2014 Real Estate Foundation Land Award, which recognizes initiatives that demonstrate leadership, innovation, and collaboration in sustainable land use in British Columbia..

Website

Seed Saving at UBC Farm and BC Seed Trials

Established in 2012 as a partnership between UBC Farm, FarmFolk CityFolk and the Bauta Initiative on Canadian Seed Security..

Website.

Project as an example of how CSFS develops technologies that ensure a constant supply of new value-added products that are nutritious, cost-effective, and appealing. CSFS’s participation in food handling activities from simple (e.g., fresh packaging from UBC Farm fields) to complex multi-step processes (e.g., UBC Farm new product development) combined with the implementation of BMPs at the production level and consumer attitude at the sales level, provides a unique platform to address the risks and opportunities of food transformation across the entire food system.

Key Info: In the 1970s there were over 7000 seed companies, none of which reached the global market. Today, the biggest three (Monsanto, Pioneer Dupont and Syngenta) hold 53% of the global seed market..

Why are seeds important?
- Commercial hybrid seeds are standardized “anonymous” products with guaranteed yield only on the first generation: therefore, you will have to buy the seeds every year. This decreases the self-sufficiency of farmers and costs them money.
- Local seed varieties share a connection with the land where they were grown and produced: seeds become well adapted to the different soils, climate and culture they are cultivated in. (Example: Mayan Garden’s corn varietal from Central America had low yield on the first year, but by selecting seeds and replanting, it may adapt to our climate and have higher yield in future years.)
- Biodiversity of seeds and crops are important. Of the 80 000 edible species, only 150 are grown commercially, and only 8 are sold on a global scale. UBC Farm grows ~200 varieties of edible crops.
(More seedy info on the Slowfood Foundation website.)

Organic Systems Nutrient Dynamics Research Project

Led by Dr. Sean Smukler and Dr. Gabriel Maltais-Landry, Faculty of Land and Food Systems, SAL Lab
Established in 2014.

Organic farmers strive to both produce efficiently for local and global food markets, and to enhance and ensure sustainable environmental, land, and soil management. In this pursuit, organic farmers face challenges meeting production objectives while using fertility management options that comply with the Canadian Organic Standards (COS). A key challenge in this requirement is to provide the essential nutrients, such as nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium in a form that can be taken in by the crops, at a time when they are needed. For example, if nitrogen availability is not in synchrony with crop demands, crop yield and quality is reduced and mineral nitrogen can be lost to the environment through runoff, leaching or gaseous emissions, with potential negative impacts to the surrounding environment. Runoff and leaching can reduce water quality, ammonia gaseous emissions impact air quality, and nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas, has three hundred times the climate forcing potential of carbon dioxide.

This project seeks to better understand the nutrient dynamics of various local amendment options for organic production system: what is the fate of nitrogen following the application of organic soil amendments? How do amendments impact vegetable yields and quality?

The project is an example of how CSFS researches, tests and prototypes technologies that help discover solutions to global challenges. By developing appropriate and sustainable technologies, we can improve crop yields, improve use of water and nutrient management, expand sustainable aquatic production, promote intensive protein production, identify synergies in land use and food production, and create modular systems that can work in both rural and urban environments.

More details on this project at the bottom of this document.

Blueberries

#1: Ecological Pest Management
Dr. Juli Carrillo’s lab ‘Plant-Insect Ecology & Evolution’ focuses on plant defence against herbivory. Currently, Carrillo’s lab has a new project at the UBC Farm involving intercropping, led by Chelsea Gowton. The project involved Spotted Wing Drosophila (SWD) as an invasive fruit fly. SWD can have a huge economic impact on global small fruit production. Organic farmers, such as the UBC Farm, have few tools to help combat agricultural losses due to SWD. The lab’s goal is to evaluate ecological pest management strategies that utilize natural processes to help reduce the impact of SWD. Mint essential oil has shown to repel SWD within the laboratory. The lab is using mint as an intercrop between blueberries at the UBC Farm. The lab hypothesizes that the volatile organic compounds of the fresh mint will help mask SWD’s ability to locate the blueberries that are ripening in the field, thus resulting in fewer crop losses to SWD.

#2: Organic Systems Nutrient Dynamics Research Project
- Led by Dr. Sean Smukler and Dr. Gabriel Maltais-Landry, Faculty of Land and Food Systems, SAL Lab
Established in 2014.

#3: Greenhouse Gas Mitigation in Organic Blueberries
- Quantification and mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions from high-value agricultural production systems in British Columbia: Organic blueberries
- The aim of this project is to improve the efficiency of nutrient use in organic blueberries. To do this we are comparing different mulch and organic fertilizer management strategies for their impact on blueberry yields, greenhouse gas emissions and soil carbon sequestration. We are specifically evaluating the use of mulch, and organic fertilizers applied either one time, in a granular form or multiple times in irrigation water.
- Managed by: The Sustainable Agricultural Landscapes (SAL) Laboratory
- Contact: Sean Smukler (PI), Collaborators: Namratha Reddy, Kate Hengel, Maja Krzic, Paul Jassal, Zoran Nesic, Patrick Pow, Paula Porto, and Andy Black.
- Source of Funding: Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
- Sean Smukler Bio, People of UBC

Protected Agriculture (hoophouse/ high tunnel agriculture)

UBC Farm has 3 productive hoophouse and 1 greenhouse. The greenhouse is used for seedlings early in the season. The hoophouses are also used for seedlings, but mainly to extend the growing season (which increase access to local food year round, which is an obstacle to food security in Canada). Hoophouse production extends the season by stopping heavy Spring rains from disturbing young seedling growth and also provides a warmer growth environment. Hoophouse production also allows the production of heat loving cash crops (crops that are high input but high profit) such as tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, etc.

Key Info<: It is generally 2 degree Celsius warmer inside a hoophouse. Another way to see it: growing food inside a hoophouse is like growing food about 800 kilometers south from Vancouver (e.g. Portland).
Key Info: Hoophouse is made of plastic and uses passive solar energy while a greenhouse is made of glass and is generally heated.

Hoophouse plastic can be recycled. These hoophouses are made of different plastics, with experiments on light refractivity and degradability (i.e. how long they last, these plastics last much longer than traditional agricultural plastics).

Identification and Characterization of Beneficial Plant Root-Associated Microbes

Are we farming dirt and weeds? No, we are farming good bacteria! We are studying how beneficial bacteria can improve crop yields, disease resistance and help our crops adapt to climate change. Just like the microbes in our gut that help us digest our food, plants use microbes to get the most from the soil they grow in. This plot looks at a model mustard plant, Arabidopsis (a small weedy plant with tiny white flowers), that grows well in disturbed soils.

The goal of this work is to understand the genetic basis of plant-microbiome interactions. At this stage, the work is basic research and we work primarily with a wild plant (Arabidopsis). However, we also test all our findings on crops. The long-term goal is to apply these findings to develop better biopesticides and biofertilizers.

Contact: Cara Haney
More information on the Haney Lab.

Truffle Establishment in BC

- Led by Dr. Shannon Berch, Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Science
- Established in 2009.
- In partnership with the Truffle Association of BC, the project’s aim is to develop Best Management Practices for the successful cultivation of Pèrigord black truffle (Tuber melanosporum) using English oak (Quercus robur) as the host tree to develop.
- Website
- Project as an example of how CSFS develops technologies that ensure a constant supply of new value-added products that are nutritious, cost-effective, and appealing. CSFS’s participation in food handling activities from simple (e.g., fresh packaging from UBC Farm fields) to complex multi-step processes (e.g., UBC Farm new product development) combined with the implementation of BMPs at the production level and consumer attitude at the sales level, provides a unique platform to address the risks and opportunities of food transformation across the entire food system.
- If truffle production is successful, truffles would be expected to be harvested by 2019-2020.

Producing Carrot Seed in Isolation Structures

- Carrots are one of the more complex seed crops to produce. First, the crop is a biennial that requires two years to grow out and specific overwintering storage requirements. Secondly, domesticated carrot will readily cross with Queen Anne’s lace (Daucus carota var. carota), a progressively common weed in British Columbia. Complete isolation between the wild and domesticated varieties is necessary to produce true-to-type seed. Isolation structures also allows farmers to produce different varieties of carrot seed in close proximity.

The long-term objectives of this project are to:
1) Increase the viability of growing organic and ecologically-grown carrot seed in high-tunnel isolation structures. This approach is meant to eliminate cross-pollination with Queen Anne’s Lace.
2) In addition to addressing the reality of cross-pollination with Queen Anne’s Lace in British Columbia, the outcomes generated by this research will also point to best practices in increasing the yield of regionally-adapted seed through the potential of growing out multiple carrot varieties without cross pollinating.

- This research complements the work of the BC Eco Seed Co-op, the Bauta Family Initiative on Canadian Seed Security, and the UBC Farm Seed Hub to increase the quality, quantity and diversity of ecologically-grown vegetable seed in Canada.

Farm to Institution Procurement Research Projects

Farm to Institution (FTI) efforts aim to increase both public understanding of and connections to food systems and the amount of locally produced foods served by public institutions such as schools, colleges, hospitals, community centres, and correctional facilities. Farm to Institution programs have the potential to achieve public health, education, community economic development, and environmental goals. FTI programs have a long history in many countries worldwide, and over the past decade in British Columbia (BC), many FTI projects have emerged in various communities across the province.

The CSFS Farm to Institution program’s objectives are to:

- Understand and characterize the development and implementation of FTI programs in British Columbia, and the diverse motivations for the growth in FTI initiatives
- Investigate and assess the particular role of mediated market interventions (public food procurement programs in Canada, Brazil and Ecuador) in meeting multiple social, economic, and ecological objectives while minimizing trade-offs.
- Spur theoretical and applied innovation in the fields of food sovereignty and food systems governance, and develop a guide to best practices in food system transformation.
Project team: Lisa J. Powell, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Centre for Sustainable Food Systems at UBC Farm and UBC Institute for Resources, Environment & Sustainability, lisa.powell@ubc.ca (BC study lead); Hannah Wittman; Jill Guerra, M.A. Student, UBC Institute for Resources, Environment & Sustainability (Brazil study); Chris Hergesheimer, Ph.D. Student, UBC Faculty of Land and Food Systems (Ecuador study); Susanna Klassen, M.Sc. Student, UCBC Faculty of Land and Food Systems.

Partners: Farm to School BC/PHABC, State University of Sao Paulo (UNESP), Brazil, Universidad Andina Simon Bolivar, Ecuador, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, University of the Fraser Valley.

Organic Amendments Research

Organic amendments (composts and manures) are a key fertility source that recycle nutrients, add organic matter to the soil, and reduce/eliminate the need for synthetic fertilizers (e.g., urea).

However, organic amendments are enriched in phosphorus (P) relative to nitrogen (N) compared to crop need, hence farmers fertilizing exclusively with organic amendments can
- Target crop N needs, over-fertilize for P, and potentially favor water pollution;
- Target crop P needs, under-fertilize for N, and produce lower yields.

In addition, a large fraction of N in organic amendments is not directly available to plants, with manures having more available N than composts, and N availability varying among manures.

Also, Vancouver citizens have to compost their waste, generating large quantities of municipal compost that is less nutrient-rich than manures and might be less effective as a fertility source.

The goal of this experiment is to determine how to better balance N and P inputs and outputs when using organic amendments to:
- Optimize N supply to obtain high yields;
- Minimize P over-fertilization to prevent risks of water pollution (eutrophication);
- Supply sufficient organic matter to maintain soil quality.

We are comparing four different treatments in this experiment:
1. Composted poultry manure to meet crop N demand;
2. Municipal compost to meet crop N demand;
3. Municipal compost to meet crop P demand (6.5 times less compost than #2);
4. Hybrid system: same as #3 but with a N-rich fertilizer (blood meal) to compensate for the N deficit caused by the low compost addition.

We are measuring the effects of these treatments on several variables
- Cash crop yields – total biomass, marketable biomass, harvest index – and eventually nutrient content (C, N, P) to make nutrient budgets;
- Cover crop yields – total biomass, clover/rye/other biomass and relative abundance – and eventually nutrient content (C, N, P);
- Soil fertility – available nitrogen (ammonium and nitrate), net mineralization and nitrification, conductivity, pH and (eventually) total C and N, and Mehlich P;
- Greenhouse gas emissions – nitrous oxide, carbon dioxide and methane.

The goal with measuring all of this is to evaluate trade-offs. For example, the hybrid treatment should have the best N and P balance but it
- Adds the least organic matter to the soil, which may impact long-term fertility;
- Adds a significant amount of N at one time, potentially increasing nitrous oxide fluxes;
- Is more costly (blood meal) and complex to manage (multiple nutrient additions).

Ultimately, this research will provide tools for farmers to optimize C, N and P benefits from organic amendments to maintain yields and soil fertility while reducing risks of water pollution. It will also test the capacity of municipal compost to produce yields comparable to composted poultry manure when targeting a similar N input.

Note: I didn’t put anything in there relative to the impact of lower yields on the area of land that must be cultivated to produce the same amount of food, and whether this has a net positive or net negative impact on the environmental footprint of agriculture. But this can be added to the mix as well, especially when people question the need to maintain high yields.

Compost

- UBC Farm integrates chicken manure into the farm’s soil input program. This is done by using mobile coops and movable fencing, colloquially known as “chicken tractor,” allowing the chickens to eat pests and fertilize multiple spaces on the Farm.
- UBC Farm orders organic compost from Net Zero Waste in Abbotsford, BC, made from locally recycled organics. (IE Kitchen scraps and yard trimmings)
- UBC Farm’s compost pile is at the far North-East corner of the farm. It is tarp covered, and turned regularly.
- For very invasive weeds, or diseased plant matter, there is a small compost area in the South forest where it goes OR it is picked up by UBC to go to their In-Vessel digester.
- In-Vessel composting at UBC: A project created by AMS Sustainability, where food waste is collected from food outlets, student residences, private housing and other campus buildings.
- Key Info: In 2009/10, over 550 tonnes of campus food waste was diverted from the landfill by this project. It is the first of its kind at a Canadian university.
- IHREG orders organic compost from West Creek Farms, their Organic Soil Enrichment mix made of Fir bark and mushroom manure.
- Research about UBC Farm composting and past initiatives
- SEEDS project: (2015) Interactive model for UBC Farm compost facility, Gupata et al.

Workshops

- CSFS at UBC Farm aims to increase Vancouverites’ food literacy and sustainable living skills by offering a wider range of food production and transformation workshops and short courses on topics ranging from urban gardening to cheese making to wild foraging.
- 50+ workshops per year; and several short courses
- Custom workshop programming is offered
- Website

Chickens

- The farm is home to a flock of approximately 100 egg-laying hens. And yes, an average of one egg per day (about 6/week when healthy). Only female lay eggs. No need for a rooster. Laying hens will lay unfertilized eggs regardless of a rooster around, and we are not currently looking to hatch any chicks.
Key Info: One hundred years ago, animal husbandry was generally done in combination with vegetables and fruit production. That is because having animals on farm (also called integrated farm system) leads to many benefits. For example, the chickens provide eggs, but they also eat pest grubs in the soil and their manure is an excellent fertilizer.
- Chickens’ eggs are a value-added product at the Farm and are sold at the UBC Farmers market.
- If people ask: in the past, at the end of the season the hens are sent to “retire” to a free-range chicken farm on the Sunshine Coast.

Practicum in Sustainable Agriculture

- Established in 2008, the Practicum in Sustainable Agriculture is an six (or four) month part-time (Thurs-Sat) experiential learning program designed for aspiring farmers, urban gardeners, environmental educators, and students with an interest in applying their learning about sustainable agriculture and food systems. Students bring a diversity of backgrounds and life experience to the practicum.
- 14 students per year for a total of over 100 graduates to date, with an estimated roughly 50% of them actively farming at this moment.
- Student have access to a production plot, for which they have responsibility for growing several crops for their own market stand which operates from August to September.
- Includes about 15 field trips, several guest speaker sessions, and numerous farm-staff led educational sessions.
The application process is open between September and October; and academic credits (6-9) are available, though the program is often taken as a non-credit certificate program. .
- Website
- Key Info: Ask your audience what they think is the average age of a Canadian farmer.
- According to 2016 Canadian census, the response is 55 – most rapidly increasing division.
- Just over 9% of farmers are of age 35 or below (although the absolute number of operators has risen by about 700 nationally).
- Which sparks the question: who will be growing our food in the future? CSFS at UBC Farm addresses this challenges by growing the future generation of growers and sustainable food system advocates.
- Key Info: You can link the practicum program to the Farmland Access Research Project by explaining that not only CSFS at UBC Farm trains farmers but is also actively trying to find solution to make these farmers successful once they are ready to farm. Access to farmland is the most important barrier to emerging farmers farming.