What is the Feeding Growth & COVID-19 workshop series?
Join us for our new workshop series: Feeding Growth & COVID-19. This workshop series will feature many Feeding Growth alumni as we come together to learn how to build resilience in times of adversity. This three-part series will air approximately every three weeks starting on July 31, from 3pm to 4pm. Workshop titles are subject to change. Please register for any (or all) of the workshops here.
What, When & Where?
COVID-19 Round Table Story Sharing – July 31st
Please join Brian Saul (Co-Founder of Fluid Creative) as we have a fireside chat about how local food companies have fared during COVID-19. This will be an opportunity to share ideas and learn from one another.
Has your business been thinking about making the switch to e-commerce but hasn’t taken the plunge yet? Join Gayle Palas, President of Grounded Strategies, Marc Wandler (CEO), and Clinton Bishop (COO) from Susgrainable to learn how your business can make the transition to e-commerce.
How to Prepare for a Future Pandemic – September 11th
How can a small business prepare for a pandemic? Please join Ali Samei (Director of Operations at Left Coast Naturals) and Carrie Wertheim (Regional Manager at Vancity) as they discuss some strategies your business can implement to prepare for a potential second wave.
Some new arrivals for UBC Farm’s resident wildlife have recently been spotted by our summer biodiversity monitoring team! Our array of remote wildlife cameras have been capturing images of a mother coyote and her two pups frequenting the farm grounds, and the biodiversity team had a close encounter with a barred owl and her two owlets while they were out surveying for bumblebees. Seeing baby wildlife on the farm isn’t just adorable, it’s also a good indicator that local wildlife consider UBC Farm a safe place to bring their young. Remember, if you encounter wildlife around UBC or in your communities, give them lots of space and do not approach them. Especially a mother with her young!
A first-year vendor at our market this week we are featuring Corbicula Pollen! Corbicula Pollen collects, harvests, and produces bee pollen from the lower mainland with the mission of bringing customers a local healthy product that can be used as an excellent source protein and to help prevent allergies. We recently had the pleasure of chatting with co-owner and beekeeper extraordinaire, Casey Aelbers to find out more.
What are the three most important things you think people should know about Corbicula Pollen?
We strictly source our honey and pollen from British Columbia mostly from Vancouver Metro Area, and the Island.
Everything is produced by small beekeepers.
We own 350 pollen traps and partner with many local beekeepers to place them. This not only provides a diverse range of sources for our pollen but provides local beekeepers with additional income.
You and one of your business partners, Carolyn, are both beekeepers; how did you get started beekeeping and how did you start Corbicula Pollen?
I was originally interested in beekeeping because I really enjoy gardening and spending time outside and I liked that it provided travel opportunities and the chance to be a business owner.
Carolyn and I met in Kwantlen University’s Commercial Beekeeping programme and decided to start Corbicula Pollen from there.
What is your favourite part about beekeeping? Do beekeepers get stung frequently?
It is chaos but you are witnessing nature at its finest, and you are always seeing bees doing amazing things. I find it therapeutic.
I have been stung over 200 times but it really depends on how gentle you are with your hives and the clothing you wear. Some beekeepers choose to wear full suits to pretty much avoid getting stung.
Could you tell us a bit about a hive setup and your process?
We have stacks of frames containing combs on top our hives which the bees deposit the honey into and then cap of wax. The bees lower the moisture content of the honey by flapping there wings this lowers the temperature from 30 to 17.8 degree. We harvest the honey by removing the combs with a hot knife, the honey is then centrifuged and filtered. The neat part about beekeeping is you really don’t need to own your own land farmers, are usually happy to let you set up your hives on their land because they are getting a free pollinator service.
How did you settle on the name Corbicula Pollen?
The corbicula is part of the bees’ leg that acts as a pollen sack. We liked it because it sounded cool, modern, and like something people could relate to. Often beekeepers choose more cutesy, old-fashioned names for there businesses and that is something we wanted to stay away from.
What are some of the health benefits of bee pollen? Why does it come in so many beautiful colours?
Bee pollen is super high in protein ( approx 1 TBSP- 2g of protein), and a good source of vitamins A and B. It is also really useful for those with seasonal allergies as it gives small exposures to these allergens. Since our pollen is all from BC, it exposes people to the local allergens and is especially beneficial for people here. The diversity in colour comes from the flora diversity in BC, yellow is the most common colour, but trees will often have brown pollen and many berries have grey. The colours range from the flowers the bees are choosing sometimes we find that hives in the same area choose totally different flowers.
Why did you choose to come to the UBC Saturday Market specifically?
I heard really good things from other vendors and I liked the concept of the UBC Farm visually. I also have lived in the area and I know the customers here are loyal.
If you could only have one of your products for the rest of your life what would it be?
I would definetly say bee pollen because of the health benefits.
Where else can customers find you? And is there anything else you want them to know for this season?
We will be at farmers markets in Vancouver, Conquitlam, and New Westminster this year, see our website for details. And if you have any questions about beekeeping feel free to reach out!
This week we are featuring Solasta Chocolate, who are entering their third year at our markets! Solasta Chocolate provides a diverse range of scrumptious chocolates to suit every chocolate lover in the Lower Mainland. We recently had the pleasure of chatting with owner and UBC alumni, Martin Gregorian, to find out more.
How long has Solasta been around? How did you get started?
We have been around since 2016. I started by making chocolates for friends and they loved them so we expanded to farmers markets and now wholesale.
What inspired you to personally start making chocolate?
The endless possibility of flavour combinations and the multiple ways you can use chocolate to create pieces of edible art.
What are the three most important things you think people should know about Solasta
We give a percentage of our sales to the SPCA and Burnaby Family Life.
We have chocolate for everyone including no sugar added and vegan.
We won a international chocolate award.
What inspired the vegan, keto, and sugar free chocolates?
We like to give our customers options. Keto and no sugar added option were our top requests!
How do you go about creating a new chocolate?
Lots of trial and error. I go through about 10 iterations before I come up with a final recipe. I do lots of taste testing as well with customers and get feedback.
Why did you choose to come to the UBC Saturday Market specifically?
I love the atmosphere at UBC Farm. It is so relaxing! The customers are top notch and most importantly I am a UBC alumni!
If you could only have one of your chocolatess for the rest of your life which one would it be?
Milk
Chocolate Peanut butter, cookies and sea salt.
Where else can customers find you? And is there anything else you want them to know for this season?
White Rock Farmers Market, Ladner Village Market, New Westminster Farmers Market, Coquitlam Farmers Market, Burnaby Farmers Market and many stores that can be found on our website.The best part of being in the chocolate business is when customers tell me they are in love with our chocolates!
Cory Spencer – 2009 Graduate of the UBC Farm Practicum
What is your occupation?
I own a 130 head goat dairy and cheese making operation called the Haltwhistle Cheese Co. We produce a variety of raw milk goat and cow’s milk cheeses.
Cory was originally a software developer. Learn more about his unique career change and journey to farming!
What path did you take after your practicum to arrive at your current occupation?
After the practicum I trained with cheese makers in both the UK and France, before returning home, purchasing our first 32 goats, and building a goat dairy.
Building Resilient Food Systems During COVID-19 and Beyond
Farmers: Lessons Learned During the COVID-19 Pandemic
From labour shortages to supply chain delays, COVID-19 has ushered in a host of new challenges for B.C. farmers. How are farmers responding to the day-to-day disruptions caused by pandemic? As food insecurity becomes tangible for many British Columbians, how might farmers use this current crisis as an opportunity to reinvent the agricultural sector? Join Nadia Mori, Regional Agrologist with the B.C. Ministry of Agriculture, Eric Gerbrandt, Research Director for the BC Blueberry Council, Raspberry Industry Development Council, and BC Strawberry Grower’s Association, and Leo Quik, Chair of BC Young Farmers, as they explore the lessons learned by farmers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
About the Presenters
Leo Quik
Leo Quik is a family partner in a second generation cut flower farm situated in beautiful Chilliwack, BC. He also acts as chair for the provincial young farmers committee, BC Young Farmers. Being a young farmer himself, Leo is passionate about issues which affect incoming generations of farmers. He considers himself fortunate to be part of a family that has collectively worked hard over the past 30 to build an established agricultural business. All that seemed to come crashing down when Covid hit, and suddenly things didn’t look so “bloomy” anymore.
Eric Gerbrandt
Eric Gerbrandt is a plant scientist with a focus on applied horticultural management of berry crops, including blueberry, raspberry, strawberry and haskap. Through his role as Research Director for the BC Blueberry Council, Raspberry Industry Development Council and BC Strawberry Grower’s Association, he facilitates a diversity of research projects with researchers in industry, government and academia to improve the bottom line for berry growers in British Columbia.
Nadia Mori
Nadia Mori is a recent Saskatchewan transplant where she had worked with the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture as a Forage and Range specialist. Now a Regional Agrologist for the Metro Vancouver area, she has switched out her ATV for a Compass card but enjoys the collaboration with the diverse agricultural community of the Lower Mainland. Nadia obtained her BSA in Agriculture as well as her MSc in Plant Sciences from the University of Saskatchewan. Before her 17 year stint in Saskatchewan, Nadia actually lived in Switzerland where she grew up on a small mixed dairy farm.
Dr. Hannah Wittman
Dr. Hannah Wittman’s research examines the ways that the rights to produce and consume food are contested and transformed through struggles for agrarian reform, food sovereignty, and agrarian agriculture. Her projects include community-based research on farmland access, transition to organic agriculture, and seed sovereignty in BC, agro-ecological transition and the role of institutional procurement in the transition to food sovereignty in Ecuador and Brazil, and the role that urban agriculture and farm-to-school nutrition initiatives plan in food literacy education.
Saturday Farmers’ Market Vendor Feature: A Bread Affair
A frequent vendor from the start of our market this week we are featuring A Bread Affair! A Bread Affair crafts delicious, organic bread and baked goods, by connecting with our local farmers, our community, and our earth. We recently had the pleasure of chatting with store manager, Flora Poole, to find out more.
How long has A Bread Affair been around? How did you get started?
A Bread Affair was established in Langley in 2006. And we are in our 9th year at Granville Island. We have been participating in Farmers Market throughout Vancouver and the Lower Mainland for over 10 years.
Tanya Belanger, the founder, and the owner wanted to focus on quality. Against factory farming and industrial food production, she wanted to work with her hands and establish a loaf that was healthy and sustainable.
What are the three most important things you think people should know about A Bread Affair?
A Bread Affair is the first Certified Organic Artisan Bakery in British Columbia.
We not only focuses on providing a tasty organic product but also stand to promote the best produce Vancouver has to offer. From sourcing grains from farmers in the Fraser Valley to sourcing apples from the Okanagan, and blueberries from Bradner, we stand by our home and its offerings, promoting a sustainable and locally focused way of life.
We stand by our values of promoting local, sustainable production and creating healthy and organic food. We stand against industrial production, factory farming, and ‘cheap and fast’ centered production.
Why did you choose to come to the UBC Saturday Market specifically?
To be apart of local agriculture. Co-founder Pat McCarthy’s legacy was his focus on the importance of building connections with local farmers and agriculture. As initially expressed, A Bread Affair stands to promote what Vancouver has to offer. A lot of the produce we receive from UBC is often used in our store on Granville Island.
You mention on your site bring sustainable principles and environmental practices into baking, what are some ways you do this?
All bread that is not sold is donated to non-profit organizations around Vancouver. There is no product that lands in the landfill. If not donated, it is given to livestock. Helping the local production cycle.
Many of our packages are biodegradable or recyclable.
Our delivery fleet is all powered by natural gas.
All food scraps are composted.
By using certified organic flour, no round up (herbicide) is sprayed into the earth or wheat.
What goes into sourcing ingredients for your bread?
Quality – you can only produce a quality product with quality ingredients.
Organic – Is it organic?
Local – Where is it sourced?
What is the advantage of using organic varietal flour compared with conventional varieties?
Non-organic flour is a mix of milled wheat. We have better control over the end product when using one organic varietal because the flour is milled to our specification. Having a local partnership helps our ability to achieve this as well. It all comes down to understanding that when dealing with mass processing, the quality changes. In sourcing organic grains, we are upholding our standards of quality, as well as providing a healthier alternative to bread made with conventional varieties
If you could only have one of your baked goods for the rest of your life which one would it be?
The Double Brown Butter Valrhona Cookie is my ultimate weakness. Put it in the oven for 15 secconds and it melts in your mouth.
Where else can customers find you? And is there anything else you want them to know for this season?
Our own store at 1680 Johnston St, Granville Island on Triangle Square, our wholesale location in Langley, and at several other farmers markets across the Lower Mainland. We want to thank all our customers for supporting us during this time. Thank you for coming to the market and seeing us! We love to see your faces and it is from your local support that we can continue providing you with great products!
Building Resilient Food Systems During COVID-19 and Beyond
Eating Close to Home: Fostering Local Food Production During COVID-19
As COVID-19 outbreaks and restaurant closures have exposed the fragility of the industrial food system, local food producers are stepping in to pick up the slack. For many local farmers, processors, restaurant-owners, and community workers, COVID-19 has opened a window of opportunity to put control back into the hands of local communities. Join Éliane Verret-Fournier, Manager of Market Development for the BC Ministry of Agriculture, Emma Bryce, an expert in regenerative farming practices and small-scale meat production, Dr. Lenore Newman, author of “Lost Feast: Culinary Extinction and the Future of Food” and is the Director of the Food and Agriculture Institute at the University of the Fraser Valley, and Katie Koralesky, PhD student in the UBC Animal Welfare Program, as they share their reflections on how we can seize the moment to call for a more localized, resilient, and sustainable food system.
About the Presenters
Éliane Verret-Fournier
Éliane Verret-Fournier is a Manager of Market Development for the BC Ministry of Agriculture. Her work is aimed at building the local market and encouraging British Columbians to purchase local foods. She delivers on the Buy BC program, the province’s domestic marketing program, promoting B.C. food and beverages to ensure consumers can easily identify and enjoy local food products, while supporting farmers and businesses throughout B.C.
Emma Bryce
Emma Bryce serves as treasurer for British Columbia Young Farmers (BCYF). After completing her Bachelors at Kwantlen in 2013, Emma moved to Chilliwack and began her studies at the University of the Fraser Valley, earning her Certificate in Livestock Production and Diploma in Agriculture Technology. While studying at UFV, Emma worked in a range of agricultural fields, including managing a small lavender farm in Abbotsford and milking at a dairy in Rosedale, then became an Assistant Agriculture Technician at UFV. Emma also owns a small farm in Ryder Lake, where she has raised a variety of animals for meat including pigs, goats, chickens, ducks geese, and turkeys.
Dr. Lenore Newman
Dr. Lenore Newman the author of “Lost Feast: Culinary Extinction and the Future of Food” and is the Director of the Food and Agriculture Institute at the University of the Fraser Valley, where she holds a Canada Research Chair in Food Security and the Environment. Dr. Newman researchers global food trends, farmland use, and emerging agricultural technologies.
Katie Koralesky
Katie Koralesky is a PhD student in the Animal Welfare Program. Her research focuses on the human dimension of animal welfare. Most recently, she has used realistic evaluation to understand how interventions work on dairy farms and institutional ethnography to understand how animal welfare law enforcement and sheltering shape what happens to animals.
Building Resilient Food Systems During COVID-19 and Beyond
Essential Labour, Essential Lives: Migrant Agricultural Workers and COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic has reshaped many Canadians’ understanding of essential labour. Now, more than ever, it is undeniable that undocumented and migrant workers form the backbone of our economy. At the same time, migrant workers in the agricultural and food processing sectors are being denied access to basic rights and protections, and are contracting COVID-19 at alarming rates. If migrant labour is essential, why not migrant lives? Join our panel of community organizers and researchers for an exploration of the barriers facing migrant workers, and the protections that are required to ensure their health, safety and dignity.
La pandemia de la COVID-19 ha modificado la forma en la que muchos canadienses entienden el trabajo esencial. Ahora, más que nunca, es innegable que los trabajadores indocumentados y migrantes forman la columna vertebral de nuestra economía. A su vez, a los trabajadores migrantes de los sectores de la agricultura y de la elaboración de alimentos, se les niega el acceso a derechos y protecciones básicas, y contraen COVID-19 a una velocidad alarmante. Si la mano de obra migrante es considerada trabajo esencial, ¿Por qué no así la vida de los migrantes? Los invitamos a unirse a nuestro panel con organizadores comunitarios e investigadores para explorar las barreras a las que se enfrentan los trabajadores migrantes y la protección que necesitan para garantizar su salud, seguridad y dignidad.
Fuerza Migrante (previously Migrant Workers’ Dignity Association, MWDA) is an organization dedicated to fighting exploitation and injustice by building autonomous migrant power from below, through mutual aid and communal self-defense. Our struggle is multi-dimensional, understanding that ending capitalist exploitation is impossible without directly confronting all forms of oppression (particularly gendered as most migrant farm workers identify as male) and the theft of territories by colonizers. By pooling our skills and resources together we aim to transform the world and be part of the struggles for migrant liberation in the stolen lands incorrectly understood as “Canada” and throughout the world.
Min Sook Lee
Min Sook Lee has directed numerous critically-acclaimed feature documentaries, including: Donald Brittain Gemini winner Tiger Spirit, Hot Docs Best Canadian Feature winner Hogtown, Gemini nominated El Contrato and Canadian Screen Award winner, The Real Inglorious Bastards. Lee is a recipient of numerous awards, including the Cesar E. Chavez Black Eagle Award, and the Alanis Obomsawin Award for Commitment to Community and Resistance. Canada’s oldest labour arts festival, Mayworks, has named the Min Sook Lee Labour Arts Award in her honour. Lee’s most recent feature, Migrant Dreams tells the undertold story of migrant workers struggling against Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) that treats foreign workers as modern-day indentured labourers. In 2017, Migrant Dreams was awarded Best Labour Documentary by the Canadian Journalists Association and garnered the prestigious Canadian Hillman Prize which honours journalists whose work identifies important social and economic issues in Canada. Lee is an Associate Professor at OCAD University, her area of research and practice focuses on the critical intersections of art+social change in labour, border politics, migration and social justice movements.
Anelyse Weiler
Anelyse Weiler is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Victoria. Her research explores the convergence of social inequalities and environmental crises in the food system, with a focus on struggles for migrant justice and decent work across the food chain. She actively contributes to several organizations advocating for food security, dignified employment, and migrant rights. Anelyse is a graduate of the Global Resource Systems program in the Faculty of Land and Food Systems and a previous Communications Coordinator at the CSFS.
Susanna Klassen
Susanna Klassen is a PhD Candidate at the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability, and a research associate with the Centre for Sustainable Food Systems at UBC. Her research looks at policy and governance interventions to improve food system sustainability, with a focus on organic certification and the relationship between agroecological diversification and job quality in organic agriculture. She works at the intersection of scholarship and activism through her engagement with several food systems organizations, including as Vice Chair of Food Secure Canada. Susanna is from German Mennonite heritage, and grew up as a settler in Treaty 4 Territory. She is currently a visiting scholar at Colorado State University, in the traditional and ancestral homelands of the Arapaho, Cheyenne and Ute Nations and peoples.
Building Resilient Food Systems During COVID-19 and Beyond
Webinar: The Role of Innovation in Building a Food-Secure Future
In early May, the Canadian government committed $252 million to help farmers and food processors manage through COVID-19, and it deemed workers in the food supply chain an essential service. Join Dr. Rickey Yada, Professor and Dean of the Faculty of Land and Food Systems, Dr. Anubhav Pratap Singh, UBC Food and Beverage Innovation Professor, and Dr. Peter Dhillon, CEO Richberry Group of Companies, as they discuss how Canada can plan for a more food-secure future and ensure Canada is able to withstand future pandemics.
About the Presenters
Dr. Rickey Yada
In 2014, Professor Rickey Yada was appointed Dean of the Faculty of Land and Food Systems at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, B.C. Prior to UBC, Dr. Yada was at the University of Guelph where he held numerous leadership roles, including Assistant Vice President Research, Canada Research Chair in Food Protein Structure, Scientific Director of the Advanced Foods and Materials Network (Networks of Centres of Excellence), and Founding Member of the Food Institute. He is, currently, the North American Editor of Trends in Food Science and Technology as well as serving on the editorial board of several journals. His areas of research includes: the structure – function relationships of enzymes (aspartic proteases) and carbohydrate biochemistry as related to nutrition and food quality.
Dr. Yada serves in a leadership capacity to several research and industry organizations, some of which include Chair of the Board of Trustees, International Life Science Institute – North America; Board of Bioenterprise Inc.; Advisory Committee Member – Arrell Food Institute and Seeding Food Innovation Grant Program (George Weston Loblaws); Member of the Scientific Advisory Panel – Riddet Institute (New Zealand); and a Member of the Advisory Panel – AgResearch (New Zealand). He is also a Past President and Fellow of the Canadian Institute of Food Science and Technology and the International Academy of the International Union of Food Science and Technology, and is also a fellow of the Institute of Food Technologists. Dr. Yada has an honorary DSc from the University of Guelph and was the 2019 Harraways 1867 Visiting Professor, University of Otago, New Zealand.
Dr. Anubhav Pratap Singh
Anubhav Pratap-Singh currently holds the BC Ministry of Agriculture Endowed Professorship in Food & Beverage Innovation. His research group in the Food Nutrition and Health Program of the Faculty of Land & Food Systems explores novel technologies for preservation and quality extension of food products. Prof. Pratap-Singh shall discuss the evolving role of innovative and emerging technologies in the food sector, and shall discuss the linkages between industry and academia.
Peter Dhillon
Peter Dhillon currently serves as Chairman on the Ocean Spray Board of Directors. As Chairman, he is an ex-officio member of all Board Committees. Peter has played an active role on many organizations and boards. He was the director for the Vancouver Airport Authority, B.C. Ferries (where he was also vice chairman), the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency and Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. He was also on the Board of Governors of Simon Fraser University, the audit committee of the Vancouver 2010 Organizing Committee, the Canadian Olympic Committee, the Vancouver Hospital and the UBC Hospital Foundation (where he was a board member). He was also chair of the Vancouver Branch of Right to Play, an international humanitarian organization for children in communities affected by war, poverty and disease.
Peter is also known for giving back to the community with his philanthropic and charitable service, which has spanned a wide variety of important areas including health care, child humanitarian support, education, and sport. He has made significant financial contributions to many organizations including Kwantlen Polytechnic University, the Canadian Red Cross, the Canadian Olympic Committee, Arts Umbrella, and the Khalsa Diwan Society. At the University of British Columbia, he established the Rashpal Dhillon Pulmonary Fibrosis Research Endowment and the Rashpal Dhillon Track & Field Centre in his father’s memory. Most recently, Peter established the Peter P. Dhillon Centre for Business Ethics in partnership with the Sauder School of Business at the University of British Columbia.
Lennie Cheung, Moderator
Lennie Cheung’s doctoral research aims to help mitigate yield losses of potatoes and other staple crops by exploring their mechanistic interactions with disease-causing pathogens. A UBC Food Science alumni, Lennie was the first female and foreign researcher of Japan’s second largest natural gas provider. There, she spent three years helping set up a food science laboratory and building networks with partners from all across the food chain. Lennie also has work experience from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Summerland Research and Development Centre, and BC’s fruit and vegetable processing industry and food retailers.
COVID-19 Round Table Story Sharing – July 31st
How to Pivot to E-Commerce – August 24
How to Prepare for a Future Pandemic – September 11th
You and one of your business partners, Carolyn, are both beekeepers; how did you get started beekeeping and how did you start Corbicula Pollen?
Could you tell us a bit about a hive setup and your process? 
What are some of the health benefits of bee pollen? Why does it come in so many beautiful colours?
If you could only have one of your products for the rest of your life what would it be?
What are the three most important things you think people should know about Solasta 
If you could only have one of your chocolatess for the rest of your life which one would it be?
What are the three most important things you think people should know about A Bread Affair?
You mention on your site bring sustainable principles and environmental practices into baking, what are some ways you do this?
What is the advantage of using organic varietal flour compared with conventional varieties? 
