Organic, Biodynamic, Regenerative: What’s Really Healthy for Our Soil?

Farm to Globe: Transforming Our Food Systems presents:

Organic, Biodynamic, Regenerative: What’s Really Healthy for Our Soil?

Nowadays, as we stroll up and down the aisles of the grocery store and peruse the weekend farmer’s market, we are confronted with a lot of choices. Organic certification, produced using biodynamic methods, grown on a no-till farm – but what do any of these mean? In this webinar we are going to be taking a deep dive into the various new ‘types of agriculture’, what they mean and why they all seem to boast being the healthiest for our soil. Join our panelists for an exploration of these new methods and how focusing on our soil health is driving a revolution in agriculture.

About the Presenters

Barbara Schellenberg is the general manager of Pasture to Plate and the daughter of founders Jasmin and Felix Schellenberg. Barbara is also currently the director of the Agriculture Advisory Committee and the Small Scale Food Processors Association. She has a history as a restaurant owner and chef, and is even the CEO of Ethical Soda, a brewed kombucha line. Pasture to Plate is all about People, Animals and Healthy Soils and is certified organic while also utilizing biodynamic practices. Ranch headquarters are situated in Redstone, British Columbia, and the Butcher Shop is located on Commercial Drive. The bottom line at Pasture to Plate is sustainability for all – Healthier Lifestyle, Ethical Treatment, Environmentally Conscious.

 

Corine Singfield is a regenerative agriculture consultant, farmer and researcher. She is the current board director at Organic BC, as well as the Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC. She holds a Masters in Soil Sciences from the University of British Columbia, where her research explored developing land management strategies for farmers, looking at ecologically sound ways to veer away from farm intensification and back to integrated livestock/crop/perennial systems. Corine has been a farmer for almost two decades. She has a deep commitment to creating integrated and closed-loop agricultural systems that merge production and ecosystem functions.

 

Tim Nerbas currently serves as Past Chair on the Soil Conservation Council of Canada and sits on the Soil Carbon Advisory Committee in Saskatchewan. Tim served as President of the Saskatchewan Soil Conservation Association and served as chair of the Western Applied Research Corporation at the Scott Research Station. He spent five years with the University of Saskatchewan and Agriculture Canada as a pedologist on Soil Survey. Tim provided pedology expertise on the Boreal Ecosystem and Atmospheric Study in northern Saskatchewan. He also spent 10 years as extension specialist with the SSCA promoting conservation agriculture. Tim obtained his MSc in Soil Science from the U of S. Presently his wife and he operate NRG Farms Ltd, a mixed farming operation in NW Saskatchewan.

 

Camil Dumont After completing an interdisciplinary BA at UBC with a focus on Political Science and Creative Writing, Camil Dumont completed his MSc. at UBC in 2017 in the Faculty of Land and Food Systems. Prior to completing his Master’s degree, Camil worked for a decade, seasonally, at the Vancouver Park Board, in horticulture. Camil is a founder of Inner City Farms Society (ICF), a Vancouver urban farm, in 2009. Camil has been Head Farmer and Executive Director of ICF since 2010. Elected in the 2018 civic election to represent Vancouverites as Commissioner at the Board of Parks and Recreation, he currently sits as Chair of the Vancouver Park Board. Camil is a lifelong environmentalist, a dad, a baseball player, a home chef and a connector of people. He loves his family, his community, his city and our little blue planet, very much.