Building Resilient Food Systems During COVID-19 and Beyond
Webinar: What’s a food system anyway? Unpacking the global and local food system.
Join Navin Ramankutty, Professor, Faculty of Arts, School of Public Policy and Global Affairs (SPPGA) and Faculty of Science, Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability & Will Valley, Senior Instructor in the Faculty of Land and Food Systems and Academic Director of the Land, Food and Community Series as they teach you the fundamentals of what comprises a food system and what factors influence it. This will be a great primer for future talks in our series, so be sure to register for this and the whole series below.
About the Presenter
Dr. Ramankutty (Left) & Dr. Will Valley (Right)
Navin Ramankutty’s research program aims to understand how humans use and modify the Earth’s land surface for agriculture and its implications for the global environment. Using global Earth observations and numerical ecosystem models, his research aims to find solutions to the problem of feeding humanity with minimal global environmental footprint. Ramankutty has given multiple lectures on Sustainable Farming and Food Systems affiliated with CSFS and instrumental in Global Sustainable Food System Research and Policy at UBC Farm.
Will Valley is a senior instructor in the Faculty of Land and Food Systems and the academic director of the core curricula in the faculty, the Land, Food, and Community Series. His research focuses on sustainable food system education, K-12 food systems, food literacy development, urban agriculture, and community-engaged scholarship. He is also co-director of Inner City Farms, an urban farming non-profit in Vancouver, BC. Will’s dedication to food system thinking being taught at UBC makes him an asset and key collaborator of CSFS.
We want to hear from you about your experience in vegetable production! Take the BC Vegetable Farmer Survey and your responses will help UBC researchers learn more about the challenges facing vegetable producers, including labour, field management, profitability and seed. Participants are entered to win one of twenty $50 gift cards for Lee Valley Tools!
University Affairs Feature: UBC Farm Truffle Orchard
Photo Credits: University Affairs
Did you know that the UBC Farm is home to some of the world’s most sought-after mushrooms?
Shannon Berch, adjunct professor in UBC Faculty of Land and Food Systems, is at the forefront of a 10-year bid to grow truffles in BC’s temperate climate. This year, her research has started to pay off!
Always wanted to learn how to grow your food but don’t know where to start? Have you tried but been met with frustration? This beginners-level gardening workshop will go over all the basics you need to know to start growing your own vegetables: Soil health basics, planting (from seed and transplanting), watering, fertility, harvesting, plant health, troubleshooting, and information about the most common vegetable plant families and what they need to thrive!
About the Instructor
Mik Turje has been working in community food and agriculture for over a decade. First as a small-scale organic farmer on Vancouver Island and in Richmond where they grew a variety of veggies for farmers markets, CSA’s and high-end grocery stores. Then as a community development worker in the Food and Urban Agriculture movement. Mik was the Urban Agriculture Coordinator at The Stop Community Food Centre in Toronto for many years, where they taught a full slate of gardening workshops and mentored new gardeners. Mik now runs a small food security organization in Renfrew-Collingwood
Save money, and gain access to a wider variety of garden veggies by starting your own seedlings! This workshop will go over everything you need to know to start your own vegetable seedlings. Topics will include (but are not limited to): what potting mix to use, moisture and light requirements, troubleshooting, and how to build your very own DIY seedling setup.
About the Instructor
Mik Turje has been working in community food and agriculture for over a decade. First Mik worked as a small-scale organic farmer on Vancouver Island and in Richmond where they grew a variety of veggies for farmers markets, CSA’s, and high-end grocery stores. In addition, Mik has worked as a community development worker in the Food and Urban Agriculture movement. Mik was the Urban Agriculture Coordinator at The Stop Community Food Centre in Toronto for many years, where they taught a full slate of gardening workshops and mentored new gardeners. Mik now runs a small food security organization in Renfrew-Collingwood
Cancelled: Learning the Art of Japanese Cuisine: Chirashi Sushi
Due to the ongoing response to COVID-19 in Canada and around the world, we have decided to cancel upcoming community workshops for the next month.
We are monitoring the situation and will keep participants informed if further cancellations are required. We will provide full refunds to participants.
For full information on UBC’s response and guidance with respect to COVID-19, please view: ubc.ca.
Please reach out to us if you have any concerns at farm.team@ubc.ca.
About this Workshop
Join local Japanese food expert Kimiko Suzuki to learn how to make Kimiko’s two very special dishes, a chirashi sushi and one refreshing side dish using cucumber and pickled plums. “Chirashi sushi” means ‘scattered sushi’ because all the delicious toppings are scattered or strewn over the rice just before serving. Taste these dishes for yourself and leave with new recipes to try!
All dishes made are nut-free and vegan/vegetarian friendly.
About the Instructor
Kimiko Suzuki loves sharing her passion for locally sourced, simple and delicious dishes. Born and raised in Wakayama, Japan, she enjoyed the freshness, sweetness and richness of vegetables picked from her grandfather’s garden plot and learned true home-style Japanese cooking techniques in her mother’s kitchen. Kimiko teaches at Cook Culture and Well Fed Studio in North Vancouver, has been published in edible Vancouver Wine and Country 2019 Fall Edition, and is a contributing food writer for Vancouver Shinpo, a local Japanese newspaper.
Date and Time
DATE Saturday, April 18 | 2:30 – 4:30 pm (2 hours)
Join us for an informative talk on incorporating herbal medicine into your lifestyle. This talk offers gems for new and seasoned herbalists alike! We will discuss some back-to-nature home remedies and effective herbal medicines (including kitchen vegetables, spices, well known herbal medicines and wild plants) for common family health issues and ways of using herbal medicines in your home for common first aid, topical application and medicinal use.
There will be an opportunity to ‘sample the flavours’ of some gentle herbs during this talk (so bring a spoon and a drinking mug!).
About the Instructor
Katolen Yardley, MNIMH, RH (AHG) is a medical herbalist and nature knower with over 20 years of clinical and herbal medicine making experience in private practice in Vancouver, BC. She enjoys providing usable tools for optimal health through inspiration and education. She is the author of the “Good Living Guide to Natural and Herbal Remedies” (August 2016) and current president of the Canadian Herbalist’s Association of British Columbia. She is a clinic supervisor at Dominion Herbal College and adjunct faculty at Boucher Naturopathic College and offers seminars to the general public.
Join Shannon Berch, adjunct professor in the Faculty of Land and Food Systems who is at the forefront of a 10-year bid to grow truffles in BC’s temperate climate, at the annual Truffle Festival hosted by the Truffle Association of British Columbia at the UBC Farm.
From a slate of knowledgeable speakers learn about the wonderful culinary truffles that are native to BC, the Mediterranean truffles that are being cultivated here, the basics of truffle cultivation, how to find truffles with your trained truffle dog, and some tips on using truffles in the kitchen. See, smell and taste some of the truffles available in BC. All proceeds go to support the demonstration truffle orchard at the UBC Farm.
The CSFS will be at the 2020 BC Organic Conference at the Executive Hotel Vancouver Airport in Richmond. Our associates, staff, and students will be attending this conference, so be sure to check it out and say hi.
The Pacific Agriculture Show is on in Abbotsford from Thursday, January 30 to Saturday, February 1. The show features workshops and booths with all of the newest innovations in agriculture. Come visit us at our booth with friends and colleagues from LFS, the BC Food Web, the Litefarm app, and the labs of CSFS Associates Juli Carrillo (our interim Academic Director) and Sean Smukler. Ride a tractor, pick up some UBC Farm seeds and learn about all the innovative research happening at the CSFS at UBC Farm!
About this Workshop
About the Instructor
About this Workshop
About this Workshop
About the Instructor
About this Workshop
About the Instructor
The CSFS will be at the 2020 BC Organic Conference at the Executive Hotel Vancouver Airport in Richmond. Our associates, staff, and students will be attending this conference, so be sure to check it out and say hi.