Our Practicum Open House is an opportunity to virtually tour the Farm (from the perspective of the Practicum program), meet current staff, and ask questions about our Practicum program.
Saturday, September 19, 2020 | 12:00PM – 1:00PM PST
Wednesday, October 7th, 2020 | 5:30PM – 7:00PM PST
Online over Zoom
This week we are featuring Sunny M Specialty Coffee and Tea, a first-year vendor at our market! Sunny M is dedicated to exploring the diverse flavors of specialty coffee and tea as well as providing an enjoyable and fascinating tasting experience. We recently had the pleasure of chatting with owner, Mark Chao, to find out more.
We started late summer 2019. A few years ago, on a business trip to Portland, OR, my work partner took me to a specialty coffee shop – Coava which was my first experience to taste a remarkable coffee. The bright tropical fruit acidity attached with caramel-like sweet, multi flavors but perfectly balanced. It was a completely different experience I have ever had. Ever since, every city I visited, I feel excited to look for some local specialty coffee shops to fulfill my enthusiasm on the tastes and the aroma of special coffee. After experiencing many specialty coffees in different countries, I started to learn roasting coffee and began to explore and promote the opportunity of Taiwan’s fine tea. During the process of tracing the tea sources, I found that the product information was very opaque. Looking at the tea leaves on the table and the coffee in the cup, I was very curious about their origin. Fortunately, in the past years, the trends of Fair Trade, Direct Trade, and Transparency Report have prevailed in N. America and Europe. By learning from its spirit and get a glimpse of the current industry trend. I flew to origins, listening to the first-hand information from the tea and coffee farmers, to better understand the reality of the ecological chain. I then realized that to have an ethical coffee or tea, we need efforts and lucks. 2019, I decided to spend more time with my family and pursued my hobbies – Coffee & Tea. In July, landed in Richmond, B.C, and in December, registered a company name ” SUNNY M SPECIALTY COFFEE & TEA”.
In order to serve good cup of coffee & tea, chain of values required fastidious attention to detail from farm to cup; and each step in between. We always look for 3 criteria when sourcing, 1. How they take care of the farm and how they manage it. 2. Are they self-motive to improve better quality of their produces 3. What is its purpose? For teas, we work directly with the farmers. For coffee, we source through agents who visit coffee farms regularly and work with farms to achieve better quality. Green coffee beans with quality score 84+ is our minimum standard.
For coffees, we split into two categories. One is modern traditional and the other is what we called third wave. Modern traditional is roasted to fit into the taste between the traditional coffee and the third wave coffee. Third wave coffee represent light roast, focuses in aromas, fruity body and sweet aftertaste. Each category contains 3 different types of coffee, and each coffee has their unique flavors. We review and taste each of them to avoid overlap similar flavors on a menu.
For Tea, we provide tea with different types of process (e.g oolong, red oolong and black tea) and varieties. We carry only few types of teas at this moment but we are still source for more traceability teas with good quality.
We would like to invite our customers to taste and to feel how different the pure natural coffee and teas are without any artificial flavors or any additions. There are multiple amazing natural flavors in our beans and teas for our customers to explore and to experience.
We like the natural environment at UBC and we think people who come to UBC farm have the same goals, to enjoy natural, to support local and to have healthy and quality life.
Wush Wush has unique aromas (e.g bubble gum), tropical fruit sweetness and long aftertaste which make coffee appreciation incomparable. Our Red Oolong tea made with hybrid processes (Invented by Taiwan Tea Research Centre) which create its superb flavors in aromas and tastes. Amber(one of our Red Oolong Tea) will be my choice. These will definitely be the coffee/tea for the rest of my life.
We have a workshop in Richmond which is by appointment only. However, from late July until end of Aug, we will have a pop-up coffee & tea shop at 2nd-floor BlackBall Taiwanese Dessert shop in Richmond. Please check our website or IG for more information. www.sunnymspecialty.com
Market Dates| Instagram | Website | Facebook pageSome groups feel the brunt of harms in the food system caused by shocks like COVID-19 more than others. Food systems also concentrate power and resources. How might redistribution of risks and benefits play a role in building resilient food systems? Join experts Dr. Charlotte Coté, University of Washington, Dr. Ernesto Méndez, The University of Vermont, Dr. Sieglinde Snapp, Michigan State University, Dr. Mary Hendrickson, University of Missouri, and Dr. Neva Hassanein, University of Montana in discussing redistributive policy tools towards the “5D of Redistribution”: Decolonization, Decarbonization, Diversification, Democratization, and Decommodification.
Dr. Charlotte Coté
Dr. Charlotte Coté, (Tseshaht/Nuu-chah-nulth) is an associate professor in the Department of American Indian Studies at the University of Washington. She is the author of the book, Spirits of Our Whaling Ancestors. Revitalizing Makah and Nuu-chah-nulth Traditions. Her other publications include, “Indigenizing” Food Sovereignty: Revitalizing Indigenous Food Practices and Ecological Knowledges in Canada and the U.S.,” and “Food Sovereignty, Food Hegemony, and the Revitalization of Indigenous Whaling Practices.” Her current book (in Press) focuses on the revitalization of Northwest Coast Indigenous foodways. Dr. Coté is founder/chair of the UW’s annual “Living Breath of wǝɫǝbʔaltxʷ” Indigenous Foods Symposium
Dr. Ernesto Méndez
Dr. Ernesto Méndez is a Professor of Agroecology and Environmental Studies at the University of Vermont, where he co-directs the Agroecology and Livelihoods Collaborative (ALC). His research and teaching focus on agroecology, agrifood systems, participatory action research (PAR), and transdisciplinary research approaches. He has over 25 years of experience working with smallholder farmers and Indigenous communities in Latin America and collaborating in agroecology efforts across the world. He has authored or co-authored over 50 peer-reviewed articles and chapters, as well as edited three books. Ernesto was born and raised in El Salvador and maintains deep connections with his Central American roots.
Dr. Sieglinde Snapp
Dr. Sieglinde Snapp (she/they) is a Professor of Soils and Cropping Systems Ecology in the Department of Plant, Soil and Microbial Sciences and Associate Director of the Center for Global Change and Earth Observations. She founded the Global Change Learning Lab in Sub-Saharan Africa. Sieg Snapp’s research interests include agricultural systems, sustainable crop management, integrated nutrient management, and soil health. A key focus in her lab is harnessing biology through cover crops, and diversity to enhance carbon sequestration, nitrogen fixation, and phosphorus cycling. She investigates the ecologically sound design of agriculture through multidisciplinary approaches, long-term field experimentation, participatory action research and systems modelling.
Dr. Mary Hendrickson
Dr. Mary Hendrickson is an Associate Professor in the Division of Applied Social Sciences at the University of Missouri. She is a rural sociologist whose passion is making the world a better place through food. She studies the way food production and consumption have changed over the past few decades, and how farmers, eaters and communities can create more sustainable food systems. She teaches sustainable food and farming courses at MU, and was a Fulbright Scholar to Iceland, teaching sustainable agriculture. From 1997-2012, she worked to create local food systems in Missouri as an extension sociologist, gaining valuable on the ground experience in transforming food systems.
Dr. Neva Hassanein
Dr. Neva Hassanein is a Professor of Environmental Studies at the University of Montana. An engaged scholar, she and her students help strengthen Montana’s food system through community-based research projects and active partnerships. Hassanein’s recent scholarship develops the concept of “food democracy,” the idea that people can and should meaningfully participate in shaping the food system, rather than remain passive consumers on the sidelines. Her work has explored various issues, such as farmland loss, regional markets, pesticides, the US organic program, and biotechnology. Active beyond the academy, Hassanein is currently serving her fifth year on the Missoula City-County Consolidated Planning Board.
The Building Resilient Food Systems During COVID-19 and Beyond series is brought to you by the Centre for Sustainable Food Systems (CSFS), the BC Food Web, the Faculty of Land and Food Systems (LFS), and the Royal Bank of Canada. This webinar series aims to address fundamental questions about our food systems during this pandemic.
This webinar discussion is based on a concept note by the Working Group on Redistribution for Food Systems Transformation (Dana James, Evan Bowness, Tabitha Robin, Angela McIntyre, Annette Desmarais, Colin Dring, and Hannah Wittman). The Working Group is supported by the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies.
From seasonal migrant workers producing food in unsafe working conditions to Black and Indigenous communities struggling to afford their next meal, COVID-19 has laid bare the foundational inequalities in Canada’s food system. Join Jolene Andrew, Just Transition Coordinator for the Working Group on Indigenous Food Sovereignty, Paul Taylor, Executive Director of FoodShare Toronto, Christina Lee 李嘉明, Project Manager for Transformation Projects & Food Programs with Hua Foundation, and Colin Dring, PhD candidate in Land and Food Systems, Integrated Studies in Land and Food Systems, for a discussion on the racial inequalities that exist in our food system, and the systemic changes required to ensure just, sovereign, and reliable food access for all.
Jolene Andrew
Jolene Andrew, raised in Witset in her Gitxsan – Wit’suwet’en Heritage, living in unceded Salish territories. She has worked in non-profits developing Indigenous lead initiatives for 18 years, from canoe & cultural development to organizational strategic planning, to build decolonial approaches to Indigenous community engagement, and community development. Centring her practice on land based leading, Jolene engages with systems to build harmonious practices towards socio-ecological balance. With grassroots approaches to building community, she looks at how Indigenous cultures intersect with new system design to implementation, driven by community involvement. Presenting her land based leadership work at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women 2018, and is involved in an Energy-Focussed-Asset-Based-Community Development project with 5 remote communities in northern canada, acting as Indigenous Leadership advisor to the Coady International Institute, a community development leader around the world and the Pembina Institute, leader in transitioning to clean energy.
Paul Taylor
Paul Taylor is the Executive Director of FoodShare Toronto, and a lifelong anti-poverty activist. Growing up materially poor in Toronto, Paul has used his experience to fuel a career focused not just on helping others, but dismantling the beliefs and systems that lead to poverty and food insecurity, including colonialism, capitalism, white supremacy, and patriarchal structures.
Christina Lee 李嘉明
Christina Lee 李嘉明 (she/they) is the Project Manager for Transformation Projects & Food Programs with Hua Foundation, and a 2.5 generation Cantonese settler living on unceded territories including the lands of the three title-holding Nations: the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), skx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlílwətaʔ/sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil-Waututh). She has a wide-ranging portfolio of work including program-building, public engagement, community-based research, and policy analysis.
Colin Dring
Colin Dring works towards food system justice and sustainability in community with intersectional change makers. He is a community developer, a facilitator, a researcher, a connector, and inquisitive by nature. He has over ten years of experience in the field of community food security, agricultural and food system planning, community development, and agri-food policy.
Before pursuing his doctoral studies, Colin completed a Master’s of Science in Rural Planning (University of Guelph, 2012). Colin currently serves as Chair of the BC Food Systems Network, Secretary of the Sustainable Agricultural Education Association, and was a past member of the Working Group for Food Justice with the Vancouver Food Policy Council. Colin is now pursuing his doctoral studies at UBC’s Faculty of Land and Food Systems. He studies how colonial governments, in the unceded, ancestral territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil-Waututh) nations, attempt to shape agricultural futures in contexts of difference, complexity, and unpredictability. This work inspires Colin’s studies and actions oriented towards an application of decolonizing, anti-racist, anti-patriarchal, anti-heteronormative framings to advance sustainable and equitable food systems and greater civic engagement through food and agricultural planning.
The Building Resilient Food Systems During COVID-19 and Beyond series is brought to you by the Centre for Sustainable Food Systems (CSFS), the BC Food Web, the Faculty of Land and Food Systems (LFS), and the Royal Bank of Canada. This webinar series focuses on answering fundamental questions about the resiliency of our food system during and beyond COVID-19.
This week we are featuring a first-year vendor at our market, The Corn Shack! The Corn Shack provides fresh-picked Chilliwack sweet corn to people all over the lower mainland. We recently had the pleasure of chatting with co-owner Aaron Gibbons to find out more.
The Corn Shack has be around for 10 years. My uncle has been farming in the valley for many years. We decided quite a few years ago to start expanding into some of the farm markets when they gained popularity as we found it a great way to meet customers who shared the same passion for local great food that we did.
Well this might not be a recipe but I would challenge anyone reading this who bought corn from us to eat a cob raw (not kidding). I seriously eat one just about everyone morning as a tester, people think it is pretty weird but I promise its delicious and it’s something that people just don’t think about eating raw even though we eat just about every other vegetable raw why not corn. Cutting the kernels off the cob raw and putting them in a salad is really good too. My wife makes really good basil and chili flake butter, you just finely chop up the basil and mix the butter with chili flakes, it’s super tasty.
Sourcing any food product locally is so important to us. Not trucking something in from thousands of kilometres away when it can be brought in from the valley is critical to everyone.
We really wanted to push further west this year into some of the Vancouver markets. It is a bit of a challenge due to distance and making sure we keep our corn fresh and sweet. But we felt it was worth the challenge because I’m sure there are a lot of customers at these markets that will love this product.
The Corn Shack has three stands that are all open 7 days a week in Surrey as well as many of farm markets in the lower mainland including White Rock Farm Market, Main St Market, Coquitlam Market, New West Farm Market, Ladner Village Market. People can find more details on our Facebook page @TheCornShack
Market Dates| Instagram | Facebook page
Entering their second year at our market this week we are featuring, Chef Pola Culinary! At our markets, Chef Pola Culinary sells baked, sugar- free, and gluten-free, organic granola. In addition to making delicious granola, Chef Pola Culinary provides brand management to natural and functional food products from around the world. We recently had the pleasure of chatting with the owner and ten-year patron of our market, Pola Schacter Ley, to find out more.
In our 7th year as chef pola culinary inc. My husband and I basically merged our talents and skills after many years of working independently in different capacities of the food and natural products industry. I had 20 + years in food service, hospitality, and catering industry. Steven had many years in sales, distribution food brokering, importing and brand management.
By choosing every ingredient with intention and purpose. Building relationships with business partners who are like minded, transparent and practice sustainable farming and or sourcing with integrity and balance.
I have learned how to think on my feet, solve problems, be creative, communicate clearly and bring energy to the table. Love what you do, be professional, and enjoy the process.
They have to have a point of difference, match our standards and brand values. We have to be passionate and love the products; we cannot work with a brand we wouldn’t use ourselves. There has to be a health benefit or a functional advantage. The people we partner with have to like and trust with open communication on both sides. Our goal is to create a win-win situation for both parties and build a long term successful growth.
My granola of course.
I have been a patron for over ten years, signed the petition when they tried to expropriate the land, and been a part of this community (west side Vancouver) for 30 years. I like the fact that UBC farm is a learning centre, is organic, and has a wonderfully friendly vibe.
Currently in BC only – at both Stongs locations Dunbar & North van. Meridian Farm markets, Greens organic –Kits, Famous Foods –East Van, On Vancouver Island in Market on Yates, Lifestyle Market, and Mount Douglas market, in the Yukon – Riverside grocery and Ferraro Foods in Trail & Rossland BC with more stores coming soon.
We received a huge number of thoughtful questions from the audience during our July 23, 2020 webinar on migrant agricultural workers, many of which the presenters didn’t have time to answer live. Below are our panelists’ responses to your questions, with resources for further reading. We look forward to continuing this critical conversation!
Non-compliance with the Quarantine Act does not appear to have been a major issue in the pandemic. Medical experts have asserted that migrant agricultural workers have contracted the virus locally. A greater challenge is that migrant workers’ movements are being restricted well past 14-day self-isolation or quarantine, and that they are facing local stigma and racism that frames workers as a source of the virus (Grant, 2020). Advocacy organizations such as Justice for Migrant Workers have established a know-your-rights guide for workers in relation to the Quarantine Act.
Researchers have found that the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program has enabled employers to increase expectations of worker productivity (many migrant farmworkers have extensive experience and training from repeated years of work in Canada, along with pressure not to lose their positions), while eliminating market pressure to attract Canadian workers by increasing job quality and wages (Binford, 2019). Many Canadian workers are indeed employed on farms, particularly recent immigrant workers in the Lower Mainland and workers from Quebec in the Okanagan. However, broadly speaking, the wages and job quality have not been sufficient to attract Canadian workers who have other options.
Agriculture is one of Canada’s most dangerous job sectors (Preibisch, 2014). While Canada has historically provided migrant workers with access to basic social protections (including provincial health insurance), it has begun to move away from these provisions with the introduction of second-generation temporary migration programmes. The Stream for Lower-Skilled Occupations, for instance, requires migrant workers to undergo a waiting period before they become eligible for provincial health insurance, during which they rely on their employers to provide them with private health care insurance (Hennebry, 2016). In addition to these policy barriers, researchers have found that employer mediation, language differences, and hours of work significantly impact migrant workers’ ability to access health care (Hennebry, 2016).
Many labour-migration scholars have called for a migrant-centred approach to labour-migration that would provide permanent residency on arrival, eliminate tied work permits, and the ability to participate as peers in shaping their own lives, livelihoods, and Canada’s food system. Workers would have a genuine set of choices (e.g. to settle in Canada with their families or to migrate). Researchers have also called attention to the importance of addressing root causes of migration, including trade liberalization processes that undermine viable agrarian livelihoods in workers’ countries of origin (Weiler, 2018).
Weiler and McLaughlin discuss some of the pros and cons of various reforms and practices toward the end of their article, “Listening to migrant workers: should Canada’s Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program be abolished?”
Researchers and advocacy organizations have underscored the importance of permanent residency on arrival, which would end tied work permits and the differential treatment of migrant workers (e.g. by enabling them to change employers, access full Employment Insurance benefits, etc.) (Weiler, 2018).
Migrant agricultural workers are “tied” to a single employer, which means that their visas hinge on remaining employed by that employer. If they lose their job and are unable to secure a work permit for another, they can be repatriated. In short, a person’s access to labour rights, human rights and freedom of mobility in Canada is significantly attached to their immigration status (Goldring, 2011).
Permanent residency on arrival would go a long way toward eliminating migrant workers’ differential treatment. It would provide workers with the ability to change jobs (e.g. if a hailstorm devastates a crop and there is no work left at the initial farm that hired them, or if they encounter substandard housing or workplace conditions). Many social entitlements are only available to people with permanent residency or citizenship, such as full Employment Insurance benefits, access to free English/French-language training through settlement services, and greater practical access to workplace safety insurance in the event of workplace illness or injury (numerous workers have experienced barriers to accessing the latter if they are no longer in Canada).
Why not a ‘pathway’ to permanent residency? Researchers focusing on groups of migrant workers who do have a two-step pathway to permanent residency (e.g. caregivers, meatpacking workers) have noted that the interim period before a worker gains permanent residency is precarious. A two-step process for obtaining permanent residency can, paradoxically, heighten workers’ vulnerability. For example, Jill Bucklaschuk’s research on meatpacking workers in Manitoba showed that workers felt compelled to stay silent about workplace injuries and pain and avoided seeking medical treatment because they did not want to jeopardize their prospect of gaining permanent residency (Bucklaschuk, 2018). In addition, researchers Luin Goldring and Patricia Landolt have found that entering Canada with a precarious immigration status (e.g. a temporary permit) has lasting negative effects on that person’s job quality even if they later obtain a secure status (Goldring, 2011).
A person with permanent residency on arrival would not be obligated to stay in Canada, give up any other citizenship, or become a Canadian citizen.
What about access to the federal government’s open work permit initiative for workers experiencing abuse, launched in 2019? Researchers like Fay Faraday have noted that the threshold of what counts as “abuse” is extremely high (Faraday, 2016). Advocates have also observed that there are considerable barriers for workers to apply: processing times are long, and applications can only be filed online in French or English, both significant barriers for migrants who don’t have access to computers or who don’t speak either language (Mojtehedzadeh, 2020).
When given the opportunity to settle permanently with their families, studies in the USA have shown that some farmworkers choose to establish their own farms, which are often based on agroecological principles (Minkoff-Zern, 2019). Choice is key here (i.e. not assuming that workers must become farmers), as is public support for agroecological farm viability in general.
Numerous migrant advocacy organizations across Canada have targeted short-term and ongoing campaigns on this issue (e.g. Justice for Migrant Workers, RAMA Okanagan, Fuerza Migrante, Migrant Workers Alliance for Change, Migrant Rights Network, etc.). They often issue simple calls to action (e.g. phone campaigns, petitions, meeting with elected representatives, etc.) through their newsletters and social media.
Because of globalized capitalism, many countries face pressure to remain internationally competitive by decreasing the cost of labour and increasing conditions that induce productivity. Some have cited Canada as a “model” for best practices in international labour-migration, although many scholars dispute this (Hennebry, 2012).
Some journalists have praised Portugal during the pandemic. Portugal announced that all migrants with open residency applications will be granted regularized status. However, others have pointed out that workers have fallen through the safety net, even under the new policy (Waldersee, 2020).
The pandemic has increased public scrutiny of issues that researchers, activists and journalists have been documenting for decades. It remains to be seen whether that will translate into systemic changes or minor reforms.
Researchers have underscored the need for governments to address both short-term issues in the pandemic, including investment in provincial compliance teams that conduct proactive, unannounced inspections and consistency in access to free language interpretation services at hospitals (Hennebry, 2016), and longer-term changes like ending tied work permits and permanent residency on arrival (Weiler, 2018). Thus, the challenge appears to be less about government capacity than government priority
Elizabeth Ha with OPSEU/OFL/ACLA has been doing extensive solidarity work with migrant workers. In addition, the UFCW has a long-established Agricultural Workers Alliance.
Sending-country governments often face pressure to maintain access to the Canadian labour market because they are competing with other countries. Leigh Binford’s book “Tomorrow We’re All Going to the Harvest” discusses how this pressure affects sending-country liaisons in Canada that are, theoretically, meant to uphold workers’ rights (Binford, 2013).
Regarding civil society organizations in Mexico engaged in migrant worker support, Irma Pineda Santiago has been doing important work: No conozco organizaciones, pero Irma Pineda Santiago ha estado haciendo un trabajo importante en México.
The inability to easily change employers, systemic racism, and deportability are key barriers to accessing justice in Canada. Some recent examples include a migrant worker who was fired for speaking out about a COVID-19 outbreak, a Jamaican migrant worker who had his workers’ compensation cut off after suffering injuries on the job, and a report that Ontario police kept migrant workers’ DNA samples illegally.
This article in The Star discusses working conditions on poultry farms.
This article in The Star includes perspectives from migrant workers on the shortcomings of open work permits.
Some employers are indeed making efforts to meet legal requirements for worker safety. However, many advocates have pointed out that employers and agri-industry organizations have a greater capacity to freely contribute to media coverage of this issue than workers. For example, there is currently a legal complaint from a worker who argues he was fired after speaking to the media about an outbreak at his workplace. A series of recent articles have also documented the food crisis that many migrant workers have been experiencing while in quarantine.
Contributors: Anelyse Weiler & Kate Hodgson
Practicum Field Mentor & Field Lead
Half of my time at the UBC Farm is spent working as the field lead for our Brassica Field, elbow deep in curly kales and magical romanesco cauliflowers, as well as leading our hoop house and tunnel crops, marvelling over deep purple eggplants and gently fertilizing farmer sweat. The other half of my time is spent with our UBC Farm Practicum, acting as field mentor for eager new farmers, sharing knowledge, hands on experience, passion, and excitement.
I starting working as the CSA Assistant mid-season, while still in Practicum myself. I then returned to the farm the following season to join as Field Mentor / Brassicas Lead, and have now taken on the hoop houses & tunnels there as well.
Most of my time is taken up by farming these days, leaving me with deep-ecology book club, cooking amazing farm veggies, and impassioned conversations with fellow friends and farmers!
Whenever I tell someone I farm, I’m met with the same response: slow confusion, and, “but what do you actually do?” – We grow food, my friends. We plant seeds into beautifully composted soil and we shower them with love and we weed endlessly while singing (okay, maybe that’s just me), and we use science, math, research, word of mouth, experience, books and stories, our community, and our hearts as well as our minds, to guide how and what we grow. We spend our days outside in the sunshine working hard, coming in covered in soil after harvesting jeweled rows of potatoes. We eat endless fresh vegetables and cook for each other and trade abundances of canned, pickled everything. We teach, we learn, we share, we celebrate. Sometimes, yes, we deal with dead rodents.
Sometimes we do the same task, multiple times, every week, for months (hellooo, carrot weeding!). Sometimes it feels like the aphids are hosting a free-for-all buffet on your sweet pepper plants. No job is love all the time, but for all you invest in yourself, a farm will love you back more than any other job I’ve found. There is nothing so satisfying as looking at a field and being able to see the results of your own day’s work, tangible, and alive. Farming is not for everyone. You’ve got to love it. You’ve got to passionately believe in creating a better world through sustainable agriculture. You’ve got to feel the burn behind topics of food security and sovereignty, seed security, food justice, social justice, and climate change. You’ve got to move faster than the average wireworm in your day’s work. And in return — knowing your life is committed to bettering our world, while you get to bite into fresh heirloom tomatoes straight off the vine, feeling the sunshine-filled juices drip down your chin, sweetness filling your taste buds. Every day is a celebration.
Senior Plant Growth Operations Technician and Food Security Coordinator
I work in a research/technology company working on sustainable agriculture solutions including a neem-based biopesticide. I am responsible for maintaining their plants for research on a farm, a greenhouse and in growth chambers. I also work as a coordinator for a produce food security initative: I coordinate growing food in several yards as well as purchasing excess produce from local farmers, to support them and providing that food to food insecure indiviuals in the community.
I did my Masters in Land and Water Systems at the same time! Got the job right after graduating! Previously I have done my permaculture design course, worked on a sheep farm in Australia, helped make compost in an Urban Farm in Australia and India, WWOOFed in South America and worked in soil science research in Australia for the government!
The practicum was so useful in getting jobs after graduating! I still grow and love zucchini….
I am completing a MSc in Soil Science in the Sustainable Agricultural Landscapes Lab at UBC. My research helps organic farmers meet their goal of producing food with a reduced environmental impact through enhanced nutrient management! For this work, I managed two seasons of field trials (2018, 2019) in collaboration with 20 organic vegetable farms in the lower Fraser Valley, Pemberton, and on Vancouver Island. I also teach sustainable soil management and I am finishing my term as an Articling Agrologist with the BCIA – soon to be a Professional Agrologist.
In the fall of 2015 I wrapped up the UBC Farm practicum while also completing my BSc in Agroecology from UBC. For the winter I spent several months “wwoof”-ing on small-scale farms in Switzerland and Denmark. I returned to BC in May 2016 to farmhand with Ice Cap Organics – an organic vegetable farm in Pemberton, BC; I returned for a second season in 2017. Between seasons as a farmhand I did a short stint with Richmond Food Security Society (RFSS) as a Community Program Coordinator. With RFSS I managed a community seed library and the Richmond community garden program (with 300+ gardeners!) – it was a great opportunity to see the non-profit and policy side of our food system in a very tangible way. After my second field season at Ice Cap I decided to get back to my love of science and started my Master’s in April 2018.
I can still be found occasionally working with Ice Cap Organics at the Vancouver Farmers’ Market. I am also collaborating with ES Crop Consult to develop options to help farmers meet the new BC Agricultural Environmental Management Code of Practice.
I’m always happy to chat! I love helping farmers find and use resources to make informed nutrient management decisions.