DARC TEST

Diversified Agroecosystems Research Cluster

Our research cluster is developing novel approaches to assess linked social and ecological outcomes of diversified agroecosystems.

Uniquely positioned as a research excellence cluster based at the University of British Columbia’s Centre for Sustainable Food Systems, our team members use ecological, social, economic and systems analysis perspectives to improve soil and water quality, minimize nutrient losses, protect biodiversity, and support climate resilience and food sovereignty.

The Diversified Agroecosystems Research Cluster aims to leverage the research excellence represented by CSFS members and global partners to evaluate diversified agroecosystems. Using ecological and systems analysis perspectives for integrated research on bioenergy, water resources, and food production, members will work to maximize crop yields, improve soil quality and biodiversity, and minimize nutrient losses to the environment. The network brings together leading researchers worldwide to create a novel, next-generation, grassroots generated and open-data food systems approach to assessing linked social and ecological outcomes of diversified agricultural systems.

UBC Research Excellence Cluster on Diversified Agroecosystems

Diversified Agroecosystems Cluster is renewed

The Diversified Agroecosystems Cluster has been renewed for the next 2 years. This is a major UBC grant hosted at the CSFS and is a collaboration with researchers across North America.

The Centre for Sustainable Food Systems at the UBC Farm is on the cutting edge of climate adaptation and resiliency in agriculture, according to a recent feature by BioLab Business.

UBC Strategic Plan

Data Helps Drive Diversified Agroecosystems Research

Our data-driven cluster is featured by the UBC Strategic Plan: "Charting a pathway towards a sustainable food system in a way that is holistic and multidisciplinary is the goal of UBC’s Diversified Agroecosystems Research Cluster."

Diversified Agroecosystem Research Cluster

Developing a Long Term Agroecological Research Station

Establishing the UBC Farm as a living laboratory for developing long-term experimental protocols to examine trade-offs and synergies in diversified agroecosystems, and places it as the central hub in a Coordinated Distributed Experimental Network (CDEN) of diversified research farms around the world.

2018-2023

Organic Cluster III Recipients

Three linked UBC Farm projects led by Cluster members have been awarded funding through Organic Science Cluster III, an initiative of the Organic Federation of Canada funded by the AgriScience Program of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Canadian Agricultural Partnership

October 17, 2019

The 'wicked’ sustainability problem of agricultural intensification

Public talk with Dr. Sieglinde Snapp “Action research tackles the ‘wicked’ sustainability problem of agricultural intensification", hosted by the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability.

Summer 2019

Lobby Gallery Exhibition: Nature & Nourishment

In photographs from Asia, Africa, and the Americas, this exhibit took you around the world through the eyes of food systems researchers to explore the agrobiodiversity-food security nexus.

Develop a Coordinated Distributed Experimental Network

The principal objective of the cluster is to develop a Coordinated Distributed Experimental Network (CDEN) to build a global dataset on diversified farming practices and ecosystem services. The UBC Farm will be a central hub in a Coordinated Distributed Experimental Network (CDEN) of diversified research farms. The cluster will develop and implement long-term experimental protocols to examine the trade-offs and synergies in diversified agroecosystems, using the UBC Farm as a living laboratory, alongside 7-10 other leading research universities in Canada, USA, and Latin America.

Advance an open source technology platform for Data-Driven Agroecology

The cluster aims to advance an open-source prototype farm management software to aid in the integrated assessment of farming systems outcomes on organic, integrated, smallholder and diversified farming systems. Over the past year, a prototype for a farm management software application at the UBC Farm has been developed. The long-term plan is to work with Cluster members and their networks to build a digital experimental monitoring network that can be used to inform data-driven agroecology.

Meet Our Members

Cluster Initiatives

Three-day Coordinated Distributed Experimental Network (CDEN) Research Design Workshop

June 12-14, 2018 at the UBC Farm

The Cluster hosted its first CDEN Research Design Workshop at UBC Farm, with local and global researchers. The goal of the workshop was to establish the CDEN experimental design and develop collaborative and transformative action research - moving from applied and fundamental research questions in agroecosystem research to action. The workshop included discussions on replicated experiments on crucial areas such as nutrient management, biodiversity and food security. See workshop discussion notes here.

The research included characterising the level of diversification across farm systems over time, and space to explore socio-ecological outcomes, and investigating the barriers to diversification across scales. In addition, investigating diversified systems and trade-offs between ecosystem services including biodiversity, soil health, labour, profit, food and nutrition security, cultural values.

The workshop laid the foundation for an experimental network of diversified farming systems research and developed research on thematic areas:

Methodological Standards and Protocols
Diversification Transitions
Experimental Campus Farm Network
Observational Agroecology and Big Data

The Cluster is continuing the development of these research areas and collaboration.

A Living Laboratory for Water Sustainability at UBC Farm

Cluster researcher Dr. Mark Johnson received funding to establish a “living laboratory for water sustainability” at UBC Farm through UBC Sustainability Campus as a Living Laboratory initiative.

Mark’s team is working hard to install and test soil moisture sensors, flow meters, data loggers, and an integrated weather station so that the laboratory is continuously collecting data and situated to inform management practices during the next growing season.

This project will:

Advance water innovation at UBC by integrating research, teaching, and learning on water sustainability with academic, public sector, and industrial partners
Enable long-term water and climate monitoring at UBC Farm
Inform the development of the UBC Farm Water Management Plan and Irrigation Plan with innovative and evidence-based strategies that can be applied across UBC Campus and beyond
Reduce UBC water use and UBC Farm water footprint
Enable learning and knowledge mobilization through engagement with diverse campus and agri-food communities on water conservation
Advance UBC Farm as a platform for innovative water sustainability research for urban agriculture and climate change that can inform best practices on water management and irrigation

Data Driven Agronomy and Farm Management Tools

Cluster members Dr. Dorn Cox and Dr. Zia Mehrabi are leading teams developing open-source farm management tools that will enable farmers to make data-informed decisions about their management practices.

Dorn is a founder of FarmOS, an open-source web-based application for farm management, planning, and record-keeping. Zia is the project lead of LiteFarm, an open-source farm management app developed by UBC undergraduate students. Additionally, Zia plays a leading role in the establishment of a Data-Driven Agronomy Working Group at the CGIAR.

As part of the LFS 496 Career Development Internship program, two undergraduate students trialled FarmOS using UBC Farm datasets. Their main goals were to determine how compatible FarmOS is with UBC Farm’s current data management system, and how well FarmOS provides the capabilities that UBC Farm’s system currently lacks. They documented this trial and provided recommendations to the FarmOS development team in a summary report. With undergraduate engagement through internship and work-learn programs, we will trial LiteFarm and other farm management tools in 2019, with a focus on integrated pest management and biodiversity monitoring, integrated nutrient management, and integrated water management.

PWIAS International Roundtable on Citizen Science and Agrobiodiversity in 2019

Cluster members Dr. Hannah Wittman, Dr. Navin Ramankutty, Dr. Loren Rieseberg, Dr. Matt Mitchell, Dr. Zia Mehrabi, and Dr. Claire Kremen have received funding for and planned an International Roundtable on Citizen Science and Agrobiodiversity at the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies in May 2019.

The purpose of the workshop is to debate and socialize thinking about innovative monitoring solutions at the intersection of food security and biodiversity conservation, in particular the development of assessment models for agrobiodiversity and food security that involve citizen science initiatives and new policy. Invited participants include both Cluster members and external researchers who are experts in agrobiodiversity, food security, and citizen science.

Coming Soon

Documentation of framework, protocols, and strategies for long-term measurement and tracking of agroecological indicators at UBC Farm
Documentation of UBC Farm Crop Rotation Strategy
Documentation of UBC Farm Harvest and Processing Guidelines
Documentation of organic management practices related to nutrients, irrigation, and pests at UBC Farm

Partnerships and Collaborations

Delta Farmland & Wildlife Trust

A new partnership with Delta Farmland and Wildlife Trust, a non-profit organization that promotes the preservation of farmland and wildlife habitat on the lower Fraser River delta through co-operative land stewardship with local farmers, has been established to conduct research on impact assessment of restoring semi-natural habitat on farmland led by cluster members Juli Carrillo and Claire Kremen.

Certified Organic Associations of British Columbia (COABC)

COABC, the organization that oversees the BC Certified Organic Program and its multiple certifying bodies, has signed on as partners to two key cluster research projects: Foodlands Trust, funded by the Investment Agriculture Foundation, and LiteFarm, funded by the Weston Foundation.

Ecological Farmers Association of Ontario (EFAO)

EFAO is a Guelph-based membership organization that supports farmers to build resilient ecological farms and grow a strong knowledge-sharing community through farmer-led education, research and community building. Cluster member Zia Mehrabi will attend the EFAO Annual Conference (December 2019), where he will foster and expand upon relationships with farmers and industry stakeholders engaged with the development of LiteFarm. He will be leading workshops and focus groups with conference attendees to receive feedback on the functionality of the app as well as ideas for future development directions.

BC Agricultural Climate Adaptation Research Network (ACARN)

Partnership with BC Agricultural Climate Adaptation Research Network (ACARN) was strengthened during 2019. Cluster members Sean Smukler, Zia Mehrabi, Susanna Klassen, Sean Kearney, Lisa Powell, Simone Castellarin, and Mollie McDowell participated in research engagement sessions at the ACARN Annual Meeting in Kamloops in December 2018, and multiple cluster members will attend the Annual Meeting in Kelowna in December 2019. Additionally, cluster members Juli Carrillo and Claire Kremen are collaborating with BC ACARN on a SSHRC Partnership Development Grant to assess the value of various types of restored habitats in Delta, BC for supporting populations of beneficial insects and how increases in these populations impact crop yields and profitability.

OpenTEAM

In September, 2019, a Memorandum of Agreement was signed with Wolfe’s Neck Center For Agriculture & the Environment for the CSFS to join the Open Technology Ecosystem for Agricultural Management (OpenTEAM) Collaborative. This network will create a farmer-driven, inter-operable technology platform to provide farmers with knowledge to improve soil health. This partnership will help link LiteFarm with the OpenTEAM Collaborative.

CGIAR

The Data-Driven Agronomy Community of Practice within the CGIAR’s Platform for Big Data in Agriculture, which Zia Mehrabi played a key role in founding, is finishing its second year in 2019. Zia is leading the working group for setting global baselines for technology access and has recently submitted a manuscript on the topic in collaboration with multiple other cluster members. Read the Community of Practice’s work plan here.

FAO Agroecology Team

Cluster members Zia Mehrabi, Hannah Wittman, Dana James, and Jenn Blesh are working with the FAO Agroecology Team to develop multi-dimensional assessment tools for agroecological outcomes that can be used in contexts around the world.

Food From Thought

The CSFS has partnered with Food From Thought, a research program at the University of Guelph aimed to position Canada as a global leader in the development of innovative solutions that improve both the sustainability and productivity of agricultural production. Cluster members Evan Fraser (the Scientific Director of Food From Thought), Zia Mehrabi, Hannah Wittman, and Tammara Soma, along with multiple other co-PIs from across Canada, have secured a SSHRC Insight Grant to study the social impacts of digital technology on Canadian growers.

Centro Vianei/InterAmerican Foundation

ISARA

The CSFS, led by cluster lead Hannah Wittman, has partnered with ISARA, an engineering school specialized in agriculture, agribusiness, and environment in Lyon, France, to develop a joint Agroecology MSc program for UBC and ISARA students.

Highlighted Publications

Haney, C. H., Wiesmann, C. L., Shapiro, L. R., Melnyk, R. A., O'Sullivan, L. R., Khorasani, S., . . . Ausubel, F. M. (2018). Rhizosphere‐associated pseudomonas induce systemic resistance to herbivores at the cost of susceptibility to bacterial pathogens. Molecular Ecology, 27(8), 1833-1847.

Heckelman, A., Smukler, S., & Wittman, H. (2018). Cultivating climate resilience: A participatory assessment of organic and conventional rice systems in the Philippines. Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems, 33(3), 225-237.

Lathuillière, M. J., Dalmagro, H. J., Black, T. A., Arruda, P. H. Z. d., Hawthorne, I., Couto, E. G., & Johnson, M. S. (2018). Rain-fed and irrigated cropland-atmosphere water fluxes and their implications for agricultural production in Southern Amazonia. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 256-257, 407-419. doi:10.1016/j.agrformet.2018.03.023

Mehrabi, Z., Ellis, E. C., & Ramankutty, N. (2018). The challenge of feeding the world while conserving half the planet. Nature Sustainability 1(1), 409–412.

Ramankutty, N., Mehrabi, Z., Waha, K., Jarvis, L., Kremen, C., Herrero, M., & Rieseberg, L. H. (2018). Trends in global agricultural land use: Implications for environmental health and food security. Annual Review of Plant Biology, 69(1), 789-815.

Connect

Collaborative Opportunities

The Cluster seeks partnerships with global, regional and local institutions, civil societies and agroecosystems networks to develop the Coordinated Distributed Experimental Network (CDEN) and Data-Driven Agronomy technology platform, and for co-creation of innovative strategies for diversified agroecosystems management that are specific to local contexts. For more information or to connect with the cluster, please email Hannah Wittman.

Contact

UBC Research Excellence Clusters is a joint initiative of the Provost and Vice-President, Academic and the Vice-President, Research and Innovation. Clusters receive financial support from the UBC Excellence Funds.