The flower industry has a thorny environmental problem — and plastic is just part of it
The flower industry has a thorny environmental problem — and plastic is just part of it October 3, 2022 Dr. Kai Chan, CSFS Associate and professor at the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability and the Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries, discussed the environmental impacts of the industrial farming of flowers. “Depending on where the […]
How a Garbage-Bin War Schools Humans and Birds
How a Garbage-Bin War Schools Humans and Birds September 21, 2022 Sulfur-crested cockatoos are trash-can bandits in the suburbs of Sydney, Australia. Humans use tools to protect their bins, and the birds then go the extra mile to break in. The human-bird innovation arms race is “a really exciting idea,” says Dr. Sarah Benson-Amram, Departments […]
Food Insecurity Affects Nearly 1 in 6 Canadian Households
Food Insecurity Affects Nearly 1 in 6 Canadian Households September 16, 2022 “We know that food insecurity takes a major toll on people’s physical and mental well-being and adds significant costs to our healthcare system,” says Dr. Jennifer Black, CSFS Associate and Associate Professor of Food, Nutrition, and Health. In her recent research, Dr. Black […]
B.C. researchers tout promising progress on oral insulin tablets
B.C. researchers tout promising progress on oral insulin tablets September 8, 2022 Researchers led by CSFS Associate Dr. Anubhav Pratap-Singh have developed oral insulin tablets as a replacement for daily insulin injections. “These exciting results show that we are on the right track in developing an insulin formulation that will no longer need to be injected before every […]
Lawns gone wild: How being lawnmower lazy boosts biodiversity
Lawns gone wild: How being lawnmower lazy boosts biodiversity September 1, 2022 “We need to think more about resource use and the stuff we put on the ground, and think more about biodiversity. We’ve lost many, many of our pollinators because of that obsession with the bowling green type lawn.” Forestry professor and CSFS Associate […]
Artificial intelligence could make our food safer — but at what cost?
Artificial intelligence could make our food safer — but at what cost? September 1, 2022 A study led by Land and Food Systems Dean and professor, Dr. Rickey Yada, looked into how artificial intelligence can help make our food supply safer. Through various tools such as image analysis and product scanning, AI’s data-driven approach can help food producers […]
How raccoons became the ultimate urban survivors
How raccoons became the ultimate urban survivors August 18, 2022 Researcher Dr. Sarah Benson-Amram, Department of Forest and Conservation Science/Zoology, Faculty of Forestry and Science, discussed her research that looks into the intelligence of raccoons. Benson-Amram leads the UBC Urban Raccoon Project, a CSFS project that uses wildlife cameras to estimate abundance and monitor the […]
Power of Two: Matthew Vasilev and Katie Selbee of Twin Island Cider
Power of Two: Matthew Vasilev and Katie Selbee of Twin Island Cider July 14, 2022 “We met at UBC Farm over eight years ago – I was completing a Sustainable Farming Practicum there and Matthew was a new farm volunteer.” Katie Selbee, a UBC Farm Practicum grad, and Matthew Vasilev, a former volunteer at the Farm, run […]
Hound found: on the hunt for truffles in British Columbia
Hound found: on the hunt for truffles in British Columbia July 6, 2022 Dr. Shannon Berch, adjunct professor with the Faculty of Land and Food Systems and an associate member in Botany at the University of British Columbia, comments on the science of truffle cultivation. Berch leads the Truffle Establishment in British Columbia, a project […]
Food programs should be part of school
Food programs should be part of school June 29, 2022 “Children have the right to adequate, nourishing food. Yet, one in six B.C. families worries about or lacks enough money for food.” Dr. Jennifer Black (Faculty of Land and Food Systems), an associate here at the CSFS, co-wrote about why B.C.’s next budget should support universal […]