How to Sneak Biodiversity Habitat into your Farm’s Forgotten Spaces

Published on February 1, 2023 in 2023/Climate Change/Crop Production/Grow Organic/Land Stewardship/Winter 2023

By Carly McGregor

Research conducted by Carly McGregor, Matthew Tsuruda, Tyler Kelly, Martina Clausen, Claire Kremen, and Juli Carrillo, University of British Columbia

In collaboration with Drew Bondar, Connor Hawey, and Christine Schmalz, Delta Farmland & Wildlife Trust

A research collaboration between the University of British Columbia (UBC) and Delta Farmland & Wildlife Trust (DF&WT) showed how marginal spaces on farms can promote biodiversity by helping beneficial insects flourish. It is already known that these marginal spaces—when managed appropriately—benefit soil health, but they can also be a tool for farmers to support a thriving insect community.

It’s no secret that insects and farmers have a complicated relationship. While pest insects can have a devastating impact on crops, a healthy population of diverse pollinators and pest predators can make the difference between an uninspired, meager crop and a lush harvest.

Conventional farming techniques can harm biodiversity in any number of ways: synthetic pesticides have toxic health effects on organisms beyond just targeted pests; herbicide sprays reduce plant diversity and thus access to nutritional resources for other wildlife; and the frequent disturbance of natural areas can destroy wildlife habitat. That said, growers are continually caught in cost-benefit calculations, often stuck on the pesticide treadmill to maintain yields and quality harvests.

Organic farming represents a pushback against some of these practices, but comes with the added stress of not being able to rely on synthetic chemicals.

Beyond natural pesticide alternatives, another key tool in the organic grower’s belt is the effective management of non-crop zones on farms, which falls under both the crop diversification and integrated pest management pillars of organic farming. Non-crop zones can include marginal areas that aren’t ideal for growing crops, alleyways between crop rows or along field edges, and set-aside fallow fields.

Predatory ground beetle found in a grassland set-aside. Credit: Tyler Kelly.

Left alone, non-crop zones can likely provide some benefits to biodiversity, but several research studies suggest that selectively planting certain plant species in these zones can enhance their potential, especially for beneficial biodiversity such as pollinators and natural predators of crop pests (insects and birds). Several organizations in BC run stewardship programs that promote the establishment of these ‘habitat enhancements’ on farms, one of which is the DF&WT, located in Delta, BC. The DF&WT’s Hedgerow Program assists growers with the selection and planting of hedgerow trees and shrubs in crop field margins, and their Grassland Set-Aside (GLSA) program offers cost-share benefit that supports growers in establishing and keeping GLSAs for up to four years. While previous research has shown that these habitat enhancements can improve soil health, the specific effects of these enhancements on pollinators, pest insects, and natural biological control was unknown.

Our research group collaborated with the DF&WT to evaluate the success of habitat enhancements to support beneficial insects, focusing on pollinators and natural enemy insects. For field margins, we assessed DF&WT-planted hedgerows and compared them to unmanaged trees and shrubs—what we call ‘remnant’ hedgerows—as well as unplanted grassy margins. We also investigated grass-dominant ‘traditional’ GLSAs planted through the DF&WT GLSA Program, and flower-supplemented ‘pollinator’ GLSAs, which a Delta grower began planting a few years ago in an effort to support pollinators by providing diverse flowers as a foraging resource.

We observed a clear preference for the flowers on planted hedgerows by honey bees and bumble bees. We weren’t surprised, as these bees are known to love members of the rose family, including the Nootka roses planted in DF&WT hedgerows, and the Himalayan blackberry that often invades and overtops shrub plantings. We also observed slightly more ground beetles (important natural enemies of spotted wing drosophila, a highly destructive berry crop pest rampant in the Lower Mainland) in the hedgerows compared to grassy field margins.

While hedgerows appear to support more honey bees and bumble bees than grassy margins, our results showed a similar liking to both margin types by the wild pollinator community as a whole. These results may be driven by smaller wild pollinators, such as sweat bees and flower flies. Collectively, they tend to prefer the smaller weedy flowers found both in grassy margins and hedgerows, as their mouthparts do not allow them to access nectar from larger or more tubular flowers. Grassy field margins thus likely support wild pollinators in a similar capacity as hedgerows, but perhaps offer resources that are preferred by smaller bees and flower flies. We also found that they support far more pollinators than within actively-managed crop fields. Grassy field margins can also support parasitoid wasps, which may provide some biological control for spotted wing drosophila populations, since several of the weedy plants common in field margins have extrafloral nectaries that feed parasitoids.

Moving to the much larger set-asides, we observed that these supported pollinators better than active crop fields did, both with and without added flowers. Honey bees were most abundant in the pollinator (i.e. flower-supplemented) GLSAs, while bumble bees were far more common in both the traditional (i.e. grass-dominant) and pollinator GLSAs compared to the active crop fields. When examining the whole wild pollinator community, pollinator GLSAs had the highest abundance and diversity, and active crop fields had the lowest, with traditional GLSAs coming in second place.

A non-crop zone (grassy margin) with pollinator sampling traps next to a plowed crop field. Credit: Carly McGregor.

We observed many beneficial insects directly foraging for nutrients on the abundant flowers in pollinator set-asides, which suggests that this type of set-aside was providing its intended resource. Comparatively, since traditional set-asides provided few floral resources (we either observed only clovers in these fields, or no flowers at all), the higher abundance and diversity of pollinators at traditional sites suggests they may supply nesting sites for ground-nesting bees. These bees include bumble bees, which opportunistically nest in abandoned rodent nests, and many species of sweat bees, which burrow their own nests in undisturbed open ground areas. Both types of potential nesting habitat are often found in traditional set-asides. In addition to supporting pollinators, we found a much higher abundance of predatory ground beetles in pollinator set-asides compared to crop fields.

Altogether, these findings provide evidence that grassland set-asides provide key resources for beneficial insects in an agricultural setting. This is another great reason to include set-asides in regular crop rotations – they can support soil health and beneficial insects!

Our research supports non-crop areas as holding great potential for supporting beneficial insects on farms. We found that each type of non-crop area—from unmanaged grassy margins, to planted hedgerows, remnant hedgerows, and both grass-dominant and flower-supplemented set-asides—best supports some portion of the beneficial insect community. If we were to leave organic growers with one takeaway from our research, it would be that the best land management practices likely involve the inclusion of a range of natural and enhanced habitats across farmland. Although integrated land management is no simple feat, careful and diversification-minded habitat management can help harness the often-untapped conservation potential that lies in those otherwise-forgotten marginal spaces on farms.

piee-lab.landfood.ubc.ca
worcslab.ubc.ca
deltafarmland.ca

Carly McGregor is the Lab Manager for the Plant-Insect Ecology & Evolution Research Lab and is a big fan of how fuzzy bumble bees are.

Featured image: Bumble bees visiting goldenrod flowers. Credit: Carly McGregor.

Op-ed: Towards a National Agricultural Labour Strategy That Works for Farmers and Farm Workers

Published on February 1, 2023 in 2023/Organic Community/Organic Standards/Winter 2023

By the National Farmers Union

For decades, Canada’s farm numbers have been going down, farm size has been increasing, and more farms have come to rely on hired workers as a consequence. The ongoing loss of farms and the current shortage of farm labour have the same root cause: a cost-price squeeze that results in inadequate returns to the work of farming, whether done by the farm operators or farm workers. Paying high prices for inputs and receiving low prices for commodities results in farmers subsidizing their farms with off-farm jobs, pressure to keep wages to farm workers low, the exit of skilled people from the sector to pursue more remunerative and less precarious sources of income, and a lack of new entrants to replace retiring farmers.
Yet, there are many young people who would like to make farming their life’s work. They are interested in having good jobs on farms and/or operating their own farms. Canada is a wealthy country and has the ability to ensure they have rewarding careers—if we have an Agricultural Labour Strategy that is designed to ensure farm labour is properly compensated, safe, and dignified.

We reject a view that seeks to reduce labour costs by maximizing the use of technology (robots, automation, self-driving tractors, etc.) and adopting a “just-in-time” approach to the employment of Temporary Foreign Workers (TFWs). Canada’s National Agricultural Labour Strategy must recognize the full humanity of farmers and farm workers, the role and meaning of work in their lives, and the multiple contributions to a healthy society that result from the dignity of work. In other words, the people who work on their own farms or as employees on farms are not merely “productive units” that enable input companies, commodity traders, and food processors to maximize their profits.

The crisis in farm labour goes beyond a labour shortage that threatens Canada’s food production capacity. It is also an alarm bell for Canada to heed before we lose the essential skills and knowledge carried by the people who do the work of agriculture.

We in the NFU believe we need an Agriculture Labour Strategy that respects and values the work of farming—whether it is done by farmers or farm workers.

Are labour shortages having a negative impact?

The failure of the agri-food sector to provide returns to labour has resulted in a loss of farms, and an inability of the agriculture and agri-food sector to reliably attract and retain needed workers. This worsens the farm income crisis, accelerates rural depopulation, and contributes to a decline in the quality of life for rural residents. These factors drive a vicious circle of decline. When farmers on small and mid-sized sustainable farms are unable to secure a liveable income, they are unable to hire farm workers at competitive wages. The long-term loss of farmers depletes the pool of local people with the required skills. Retired farmers have become an important but time-limited source of labour on the prairies where farm size has increased dramatically. If and when there is nobody available to hire, work goes undone, resulting in higher risks, more farm stress, lower production, higher costs, and lower incomes. A lack of labour also inhibits farms from adopting or continuing practices that are better for the land but take more time.

Labour shortages also mean existing workers (including farm owners) work for longer hours and must cover a wider range of tasks. The strain that results often induces undercompensated, skilled farm workers to leave the sector, further worsening the loss of farm productivity.

Carrying flats of strawberries. Credit: Tim Mossholder.

Has the supply and demand related to agricultural workers changed in recent years?

With the exception of the supply managed sectors, Canada’s agriculture markets are structured to keep prices paid to farmers as low as possible. This is due primarily to the monopoly power of the main agri-business corporations purchasing commodities, and is reinforced by trade agreements and export policies that require Canadian products to compete at home and abroad with those produced in countries with much lower wage rates and weaker labour standards. The “demand” for labour is tightly linked to the ability to pay, thus the leakage of Canada’s food dollars to multinational corporations elsewhere reduces the amount of revenue available in our own food system that could support a larger number of farmers and farm workers.

The supply of agricultural labour in Canada is constrained by low wages and working conditions, discouraging young people from pursuing agricultural careers. While trade agreements allow Canada to easily import low-priced agricultural products, workers’ mobility to come here, and to move within Canada, is tightly controlled at the border and by the rules governing TFWs. In addition, the restrictions on TFW mobility and their lack of rights contribute to the undervaluing of farm labour across the board.

How can we help keep workers in the agriculture and agri-food sector, and better support the recruitment and retention of under-represented groups?

Many farm workers are racialized and/or are from disadvantaged communities that are under-represented in better-paying sectors of the economy. The Farm Labour Strategy needs to increase equity within the sector, and between agriculture and other sectors of the economy, with policies that ensure both farmers and farm workers are able to earn livable incomes.
All farm workers in Canada should have the coverage they need under provincial and territorial labour laws, including the right to associate and form a union.

All TFWs in agriculture should be entitled to permanent residency status. Many TFWs have been coming to Canada seasonally for over 30 years. If we want to keep these workers in the agriculture and agri-food sector and attract even more high-calibre, skilled foreign workers, we need to ensure they have access to and can benefit from all the rights and protections afforded to Canadian workers.

Globalization has entrenched an imbalance between farm product prices and the living wage level required for farm workers in Canada. A Basic Income Guarantee and/or changes to the Employment Insurance (EI) system are needed to address this problem. The EI system should recognize the seasonality of agriculture work and the need for a year-round livable income for farm workers. With a liveable year-round income, people employed as farm workers could continue the essential task of growing food for Canadians without worry of seasonal income loss, climate change disruptions (drought, fires, etc.) and without increasing food costs for consumers.

Improving Business Risk Program design to ensure labour intensive operations have adequate support and a Guaranteed Basic Income program that takes into account the specifics of agricultural work should be explored so that all agricultural producers can continue the essential task of growing food for Canadians.

In addition to low wages, our farm worker members consistently voice how a lack of quality, affordable, and conveniently-located housing is a major deterrent for remaining in the sector. Canada must invest in rural public housing; rural schools; rural public transit; and child-care facilities. More investment in rural health care and more affordable access for both farm operators and farm workers to supplementary health and dental benefits and workers’ compensation insurance is also needed.

Small and medium enterprises in local food processing should have priority for grants to allow them to upgrade their facilities to improve working conditions in order to attract and retain skilled workers. The benefits of such support go beyond the success of the enterprises themselves, as smaller operations which are distributed across Canada generally have a greater net impact on their local economies and regional food security by providing both jobs in the community and value-added revenue for local producers.

Do most workers have the skills they need to be successful?

Some agricultural production and processing jobs go unfilled because there are not enough people with the necessary training. Improved training programs, funding to support on-farm training, and recognition of skills acquired in previous work situations would help close this gap. This is particularly true for small and medium enterprises in the food processing sector, such as provincially licensed abattoirs. For example, in BC, the only training program for meat cutters graduates 12-14 new butchers a year. This post-secondary institution (Thompson Rivers University) reports that after five years, only two of those graduates will still be working in the industry. A recent study by the BC Abattoirs Association estimates that the need for trained meat cutters is 200 immediately; and another 400 will be needed within two years.

The NFU Ontario report, Reframing the Farm Labour Crisis in Ontario, notes that farmers identified the need for Human Resource management training, with upwards to 60% saying that they didn’t have the time or knowledge to provide a variety of HR policies to their staff. In the same report, farm workers identified a number of top agricultural skills they wished to acquire, including training on soil health and amendments, weed and disease identification, horticultural and crop care, irrigation, livestock care, training for construction and infrastructure, tractor & heavy equipment use, and marketing and customer service.

How can agriculture help ensure workers have the skills needed for transition to a more resilient and adaptable economy?

Canada needs publicly-funded financial support for transitioning to more climate-friendly agricultural methods, including research into agronomic methods that are not input-dependent and hiring agronomists to provide free and reliable extension services to promote best management practices. The NFU recommends establishing a new Canadian Agriculture Resilience Agency to deliver coordinated research and extension to support a just transition to profitable, low-emission, climate adaptation.

The Agricultural Labour Strategy also should provide financial support for on-farm training. Most farmers learn how to grow food while on the farm. Government financial support for both farm employers as “trainers” and for farm workers as “trainees” for on-farm training/education will enable farmers to share best environmental farming practices.

With increasing automation and use of digital technology in farm machinery, the government needs to promote on-farm innovation by assisting farmers and farm workers to access open source information, share their own knowledge, skills, and creativity to create and use appropriate technologies while strengthening social relationships within their enterprises and communities.

Are automation and labour-saving technologies being adequately utilized?

Farmers take many factors into consideration when deciding whether to adopt new technologies. A better question might be ‘do automation options fulfill the expressed needs of farmers?’ More automation with bigger machinery risks increased soil compaction, reducing water infiltration and holding capacity in soil, and making farms less resilient to weather extremes we’re now experiencing on a regular basis due to the climate crisis. Farmers highly value their autonomy as decision-makers, which automated technologies can impinge upon. For example, proprietary computer systems mean the farmer is dependent on dealers’ technicians to make repairs, adding costs and delays that can have major consequences.

Are there barriers to the development and adoption of automation and labour-saving technologies?

High capital costs of automation may exceed potential savings for small and medium sized producers and processors. Automation may reduce farmers’ ability to adjust operations in response to unexpected situations or conditions. Reliance on Artificial Intelligence and algorithms programmed into machinery has the potential to generate landscape level errors, hazards, damage and losses when the automated system fails to comprehend the complexity of the situation and applies the wrong solutions.

Energy costs and emissions from automation can increase GHG emissions when it involves replacing human energy with fossil fuel energy; sustainable farming methods often require more, not less, labour inputs.

Automation can be used for worker and farmer surveillance with unacceptable implications for privacy, fairness, and autonomy. For example, the world’s largest farm machinery company, John Deere, is also investing heavily in big data applications and has entered into partnerships with seed and commodity trading corporations that exacerbate the power imbalance between farmers and the companies they deal with.

The United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) reported in 2020 on the technological tools greenhouse employers use to monitor migrant farm workers on the assembly line. UFCW observed that the assembly-line workers who do not achieve quota are docked pay or have their shifts reduced. The use of surveillance to increase productivity of farm workers is an unacceptable level of control. It is not only incompatible with worker dignity, but can create occupational health and safety problems from repetitive strain and overwork, as documented in Amazon warehouses.

Are there barriers to expansion of automation and labour-saving technologies in the processing sector?

Solving the abattoir labour shortage is extremely important for livestock farmers, but increased automation cannot replace skilled, trained workers. Rather than investments in automation technologies we need the government to invest in the expansion of butchery training programs and support for small-scale, local, and regional abattoirs.

We need an employment and immigration program that allows livestock producers, butchers, and meat-cutters access to temporary foreign workers who are given pathways to permanent residency so abattoirs and livestock producers can benefit from their skills year-round.

The severe shortage of trained butchers threatens the viability of small and medium sized cut-and-wrap facilities, and a special immigration program to fast-track skilled butchers to be employed in provincially inspected abattoirs and community butcher shops is urgently needed.

Increased capacity in these enterprises is needed to address unacceptable delays and bottlenecks that are constraining the ability of farmers to serve growing demand from customers who wish to buy locally raised livestock.

What gaps in labour market information need to be filled?

We need to know more about the differences in income, profits, wages, etc. between large corporate operations and smaller, family-run farms. We need to know whether—and by how much—larger operations are actually able to increase what they pay their workers.

We need data on wage averages or range of wages paid across the agri-food sector, especially in provinces like Ontario, where primary agricultural workers are not regulated by minimum wage laws.

What priority solutions should federal and provincial/territorial governments pursue to address labour shortages?

Canada needs to provide Permanent Residency for All Temporary Foreign Agricultural Workers.

All farm workers need to be guaranteed labour rights, including the right to unionize.

A Basic Income Guarantee, along with Employment Insurance reform (increasing rates and eligibility for all those who labour in the agricultural sector), wage subsidies, and/or increases to minimum wage rates are urgently required to ensure farmers and farm workers can have economically and socially sustainable careers producing food for Canadians.
Rural, agricultural work will be more attractive if the government invests in rural services and amenities, including affordable and conveniently-located public housing; affordable childcare; schools; health care services and access to affordable supplementary health and dental benefits; inter-community public transit; and other cultural and recreational amenities.

What government service, programming and/or engagement related to labour, needs to be immediately changed?

Open work permits for all Temporary Foreign Workers: until the government creates a dedicated immigration stream for agricultural workers, all TFWs should be issued open work permits which will allow them to change employers if necessary. They should also be granted all the rights and privileges of Canadian workers under provincial and territorial labour laws. Farm workers frequently experience low wages, poor working conditions, precarious employment, lack of needed services for quality of life, discrimination, and at times mistreatment and threats of violence. Enduring such conditions should not be the price of working in Canada for anyone, including TFWs.

Canada needs an agricultural labour strategy that puts the people who labour – farmers and farm workers – at the centre. It must start with policies that ensure the price farmers receive for the product will return to the producer the cost of production, including a reasonable return on investment, management and labour. This principle holds whether the buyer is a commodity trader operating internationally, a food processor serving the Canadian market or supermarket owners buying local produce: all need to pay prices that allow their suppliers to maintain safe and equitable working conditions for all farmers and workers.

nfu.ca

The National Farmers Union is a voluntary direct-membership, non-partisan, national farm organization made up of thousands of farm families from across Canada. Founded in 1969, the NFU advocates for policies that promote the dignity, prosperity and sustainable future of farmers, farm workers, their families and their communities.

Featured image: Workers in the field on a rainy day harvesting strawberries. Credit: Tim Mossholder.

Further reading:

Reframing the Farm Labour Crisis: nfu.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Reframing-the-Farm-Labour-Crisis-NFU-O-Farm-Labour-Study_compressed.pdf

Canadian Farm Resiliency Administration: nfu.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/CFRA.25.02.pdf

Improve Plant Immunity

Published on February 1, 2023 in 2023/Crop Production/Grow Organic/Preparation/Soil/Tools & Techniques/Winter 2023

Microbially Friendly Farming

By Dr. Judith Fitzpatrick

[Originally published in Heart & Soil Magazine]

Imagine that you were intelligent enough to diagnose a disease, prescribe the correct antimicrobial, and manufacture it.

Plants with a healthy microbiome do this!

The plant and microbes work together to perform this miracle.

Organic farmers need 97% less of any kind of pesticide than those using mineral fertilizers. Mineral fertilizers are genocidal for the soil microbes that protect the plant from pathogens and adverse conditions, produce nutritionally-deficient food, and pollute the environment.

Plants Send Signals for Microbes

In regenerative organic farming, which we will refer to as Microbially Friendly Farming (MFF), the plant secretes approximately 30% of its photosynthate to generate the specific microbial population that it requires for nutritional needs and health.

The major stimulation for the plant to build this population is the plant’s hunger for the N, P, K (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium), and other soil minerals that the microbes can deliver. When the plant is provided mineral N, it does not nourish this microbial population, and the plant loses the ability to protect itself from pathogens and stresses such as drought.

Microbially Friendly Farming

From here forward we will use the word plant to refer to a plant that has not been poisoned by a high mineral fertilizer regimen and has developed a healthy microbial population. We will use the term Microbially Friendly Farming (MFF) to refer to agricultural practices that maintain microbial populations above 250 µg (one-millionth of a gram), microbial biomass carbongram of soil and a F:B (fungi:bacteria) ratio above 0.5.

Microbes Support Each Other

The microbial population in the rhizosphere is controlled by the organic molecules that the plant exudes and the nutrients available in the soil. Microbes are the pickiest of eaters. They can only dine on very special diets and require the support of a population of other microbes that supply some of their dietary needs. This is why we can only grow about 1% of soil microbes in the lab – we know about the other 99% because we can detect their DNA, see them microscopically, and measure some of their metabolism.

Healthy Plant, Healthy Seed

Like us, plants receive their initial microbiome from the seed of the mother plant which are as important in establishing a healthy microbiome for the plant as they are for us – e.g. children born by caesarian birth have different microbiomes than those born vaginally and have immune deficits that are attributed to not being inoculated with their mother’s vaginal and fecal microbes.

Microbes Stimulate the Immune System

The microbial population in the rhizosphere descends from the seedling population and expands with plant/root growth and recruitment from the surrounding soil. The seedling feeds the microbes with root exudates and the microbes send chemical growth molecules to stimulate plant growth. Hence these microbes are called plant growth promoting bacteria. As with humans, the overall health of the plant is a critical component of disease resistance.

The interaction between the microbes and the plant is very similar to how the microbes in our guts stimulate our immune system, which also doesn’t develop in the absence of microbes.

Cells that Respond to Infection and Pathogens

Microbes enter the plant through root tips via a process called rhizophagy. The plant extracts 40% of the N it requires, as well as other nutrients, before it releases these microbes back into the soil via root hairs. Some of these microbes enter the plant’s circulation system and interact with receptors that appear on all plant cells, called Microbe Associated Molecular Patterns (MAMPS), which recognize and bind to common structures on the surfaces of microbes. This binding leads to an intracellular molecular chain reaction that stimulates the cell to produce more MAMPS and many protective antioxidants. Thus it produces a cell that is more alert to microbes and is more prepared to respond to infection.

In addition to MAMP receptors, the plant has Pathogen Associated Molecular Patterns (PAMPS), that recognize and bind to structures that are unique to pathogens. Binding to a pathogen receptor stimulates the cell to make more PAMPS, making the plant both more sensitive to the pathogen and causing the plant to produce large amounts of antioxidants that are harmful to pathogens. This sometimes causes the cell to commit suicide (apotosis) to save the spread of the disease.

Making Specific Antibiotic

This exposure to pathogens also stimulates the plant root to increase the production and secretion of the foods that attract the microbes that make the antibiotic that combats the particular pathogen.

The microbes making this antibiotic then multiply in the root area making the antibiotic available to the plant. Thus with MFF, a plant in partnership with microbes develops a strong immune system by upping the number of MAMPS and PAMPS and is more resistant to disease and requires much less pesticide.

Thousands of Essential Nutrient Antioxidants

Perhaps the biggest wins for MFF are that the thousands of essential nutrient antioxidants produced by these plants provide protection against cancer, inflammation, and disease in our bodies, and they are what give fruits and vegetables good texture and flavor leading to better eating habits. These thousands of essential nutrient antioxidants are not plentiful in conventional farm produce and are not currently listed as nutrients by the USDA.

Microbes also stimulate the production of Damage Associated Molecular Patterns (DAMPS), which recognize and bind components of damaged cells, especially those of leaves, and promote healing. Moreover, it has been demonstrated that the chemical odors produced by these damaged cells are specific to the insect causing the damage, and these plant-produced odors attract insects that antagonize the attacker.

Microbes make antimicrobials in large part to protect their territory from other microbes. So the microbes surrounding your plant are big defenders against pathogenic soil bacteria, e.g. good nematodes are the best protectors against pathogenic nematodes.

Defensive Fungal to Bacterial Ratio

Interestingly, it has also been observed that a proper fungal to bacterial ratio results in a bacterial population that is more prepared to defend itself from predators. The proper ratio varies depending on soil and crop. For agricultural crops, it is usually between 0.4 and 1. The proper ratio also tells you that you are not decreasing your soil fertility (organic carbon).

Mycorrhizal fungi that colonize approximately 90% of all plants are fungi that are totally dependent on the plant for nutrition. A plant root exudate awakens the fungal spore – which has only a day to grow to the plant where it enters a cell and is fed. When established, the fungi sends out hypha to collect P, N, K, S (sulfur), and water, which it brings back to the plant cell and trades for carbon and amino acids. The fungal hypha of a colonized plant can increase the root area as much as 1000%, making significantly more water and nutrients available.

Immunity Network

The hypha are also able to form a network connecting trees and are known to send immune signals from diseased trees to other trees in the network that increase their resistance to the disease. These fungi also very efficiently protect plants from drought by modifying the root structure, allowing it to absorb more water. Protecting a plant from the stress of drought makes a plant more disease-resistant, as well as increasing yield.

The soil microbial community and economy has thrived for 3 billion years. It has checks and balances and has adapted to soil and water conditions all over the globe.

Like our own society, it contains opportunists that take advantage when a defense system is poor, or society is weakened.

Healthy Microbial Biomass

The current best indicator of a healthy soil microbial community is a healthy microbial biomass and F:B ratio: it tells the nutrient level and nutrient balance of the soil and can indicate if it is improved. It provides information that chemical tests cannot, e.g. most soils have plenty of P, but it is in a form that only fungi are able to make available to the plant. It tells you N is low, but it doesn’t tell you that MFF can increase the number of microbes that can deliver N and fix N from the air.

Financial, Environmental, and Health Benefits of Healthy Soil

As you can imagine, creating and maintaining a healthy immune system requires plant energy which is probably why the yields of MFF practices are on average about 10% less than those of mineral fertilized farming. However, studies show that when microbially friendly farming is optimized, the financial loss is compensated for by tastier, more nutrient dense produce, lower fertilizer, water, and pesticide costs, and better resistance to drought.

Increase financial return by building soil structure which increases the water-holding capacity which decreases erosion and water costs, increases drought resistance, and increases soil carbon which has been shown to increase yields, and, over time, decrease fertilizer needs. With the maturation of the soil carbon markets, growers can contribute to farm income by selling carbon credits.

Understanding the plant health microbial synergy is even more critical now that the cost of mineral N is up as much as 400% and pesticides costs are also rapidly rising per the USDA- Economic Research Service.

Microbially Friendly Farming controls plant pathogens and increases plants’ ability to withstand stress. Plants are fully equipped to diagnose a disease, prescribe the correct antimicrobial, and manufacture it. They simply need a healthy microbiome to interact with microbes in healthy soil.

Dr. Judith Fitzpatrick, Ph.D., Prolific Earth Sciences Founder and Principal Scientist, is a microbiologist and a recognized leader in the development of on-site diagnostic tests. She was the founder and CEO of Serex from 1985 until its sale to a Canadian Pharmaceutical Company in 2002. At Serex, she developed more than 15 medical diagnostic tests with unique reagents and methods of testing.

Judy combined her expertise in diagnostic testing and manufacturing with her profound belief in the mission to help improve farming practices.

The “Sweet Spot” for Farms to Enhance On-farm Biodiversity

Published on February 1, 2023 in 2023/Climate Change/Crop Production/Grow Organic/Land Stewardship/Tools & Techniques/Winter 2023

By Kenzo Esquivel and Patrick Baur

[This article originally was originally published with the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) and is shared here with gratitude.]

Looking out across his 20 acres in California’s Central Coast, a farmer reflected on his journey: “One of the things I’m probably the proudest of in our tenure here on this home farm is providing habitat and diversity,” he said. “It was a very barren place when we first got here.”

This farmer and others who prioritize on-farm biodiversity generally reap significant benefits and satisfaction from their investments. Eventually. Yet not every farmer is in a position to put the up-front time, energy, and money into diversifying their farms ecologically and economically. Despite valuing these ecological practices, many have little option but to continue down the path of specialized, input-intensive farming.

Diversified farming practices include common strategies like cover cropping, composting, and hedgerows. These and other ecological farming techniques can help a farm’s bottom line and its ability to weather disease, droughts, and floods. Cost-sharing programs, like California’s Healthy Soils Program and EQIP, exist at both state and federal levels to help farmers adopt diversified practices. Yet nationwide, adoption remains very low.

In our recently published study, we show how some diversified farms have found a “sweet spot” to expand their crop portfolio and adopt ecologically based practices like hedgerows or cover crops. Farms that sell to national or international wholesale markets tend to face steep market pressures that not only fail to reward diversity, but actively hinder it. Meanwhile smaller farms may have the interest and the incentive to diversify but lack the means to seize the opportunity. Thus, most of the highly diversified farms we identified in our study fell somewhere in between, with medium-sized acreage and farm businesses.

Map of research sites. Credit: Patrick Baur and Kenzo Esquivel

Why do mid-scale farms adopt diversification practices at higher rates?

Many growers we interviewed lacked the resources to float the up-front costs. “We’d like to have it all covered,” sighed one farmer with a 5-acre vegetable farm, “but we don’t have the money to cover [crop] everything.” These limited resource farmers face significant financial restraints due to short or uncertain land tenure and limited access to capital. These were also the smallest farms, ranging between one and 20 acres. While farmers in this group often expressed desire to adopt more diversification practices, they often lacked the time, money, and financial stability to cover the cost of biodiversity-enhancing practices that might take years to pay off. “If you’re leasing, you’re not going to plant perennials,” explained one technical assistance provider. While some limited resource farmers were aware of cost-sharing programs, they told us that the applications were overwhelming and took too much time.

Other growers, meanwhile, had the financial means but found themselves locked into market channels that could not accommodate a more diverse rotation of crops, or which actively discouraged certain forms of on-farm biodiversity due to food safety fears. “What used to be a windbreak is now a hazard,” said one large-scale grower when asked about hedgerows. “We’re pretty much forced to abide by the rules that are given to us [by our buyers],” explained another. Such wholesale growers, operating at the other end of the spectrum with farms of 500 acres or more, were limited by requirements imposed by their buyers, slim margins in the wholesale market, and high land values. From strict planting schedules to restrictions on compost and non-crop vegetation motivated by food safety concerns, these wholesale growers faced inflexible market constraints to increasing on-farm diversity. Consolidated supply chains in the region leave few other market options for growers who operate at this scale, and their management philosophy tends to emphasize control and “cleanliness” over diversity.

Thus, limited resource farmers and wholesale growers, while vastly different in size, both face significant hurdles to adopting diversified farming practices. While conditions at either end of the spectrum are discouraging, we discovered that mid-scale farmers, ranging between 20 and 350 acres, were often able to circumvent these constraints. However, higher levels of diversification practices did not automatically emerge through “right-sized” farm scales alone. Mid-scale farmers also had the highest levels of secure land tenure and access to capital and resources. Critically, they had also built relationships with buyers (e.g., high-traffic farmers markets, high-end local retailers) who shared their values and were willing to pay a premium for the produce they grow. The combination of financial security and sympathetic buyers gave these mid-scale growers a degree of autonomy and control not available to either the limited-resource or wholesale farmers. The mid-scale farmers we interviewed told us they chose how to grow their crops and where to sell their crops because they had the economic security to weather the short-term risks and wait for long-term returns on their investment in cultivating highly biodiverse farms.

A view of varied lettuce crops. Credit Patrick Baur and Kenzo Esquivel

Policies should mitigate scale-specific barriers

Policies aiming to help farmers invest in on-farm biodiversity must consider that different types of farms face unique barriers and incentives to diversify. Small-scale farmers will benefit from targeted policies that alleviate limitations in time, money, and social capital. In particular, policies that secure long-term land tenure for new-entry and socially disadvantaged farmers and increase access to water, technical assistance, and diverse markets beyond direct-to-consumer should be prioritized. Existing incentive programs should streamline application processes, increase publicity, provide enrollment assistance, and create opportunities for farmer-to-farmer sharing of personal success stories with programs like EQIP.

Meanwhile, large-scale wholesale growers need help negotiating the restrictive demands of their supply chains. Our findings suggest new avenues for policies to create more robust alternative markets that value and encourage diversification. We also see an opportunity for regulations that push wholesale buyers to reward growers for their diversification practices. Food safety policies are another important area for intervention. Making headway on adoption of diversified farming practices among wholesale farmers may require supplementing the “pull” of incentives at the farm level with the “push” of new biodiversity-based procurement requirements at the buyer level and further down the supply chain.

While our study is limited to organic lettuce farms on California’s Central coast, we believe that researchers and policymakers in other regions may find the construction of a similar “farming model” typology a useful framework to identify the enabling factors and structural barriers that different types of farmers face. In particular, we see strong resonance between this “sweet spot” for biodiversity-based farms and the broader attention to an “agriculture of the middle” as a pathway to restore local and regional food economies damaged by consolidation and concentration in many farm sectors.

Helping farmers invest in and reap the benefits of diversification means identifying and dismantling scale-specific barriers and promoting the financial and market conditions that allow farmers to settle on business models and scales that are neither too big nor too small to diversify, but just right.

Full study: bit.ly/3HQGZMO

Companion Study: bit.ly/3HrXFsp

Kenzo Esquivel is a PhD candidate in Environmental Science, Policy, and Management at UC Berkeley. Patrick Baur is an Assistant Professor in Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems in the Department of Fisheries, Animal, and Veterinary Sciences at the University of Rhode Island

Featured image: Lettuce farm in California. Credit: Patrick Baur and Kenzo Esquivel.

GM Seed Secrecy Threatens Organics

Published on February 1, 2023 in 2023/GMO Updates/Seeds/Winter 2023

By Lucy Sharratt

WARNING: This seed packet could soon be full of undisclosed genetically modified (GM) seeds.

The biotechnology industry is pushing to take over the regulation of genetically engineered (genetically modified or GM) seeds and foods, and establish corporate self-regulation in place of government oversight. The Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food is considering letting corporations conduct their own environmental safety assessments of many new gene-edited seeds with no government oversight, and decide if they want to disclose that their new product is genetically engineered. The Minister of Health has already decided that many gene edited foods don’t need any government safety checks. The proliferation of unknown genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in the food system is a serious threat to the future of organic farming.

Seed Packet Warning Sent to the Minister

At the end of last year, hundreds of farmers in the Prairies sent seed packets in the mail to the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food. These envelopes were empty of seeds but carried an important message to the Minister about the threat to organic farming if she allows the sale of unassessed, undisclosed genetically engineered seeds.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is proposing to allow companies to sell many new gene-edited GM seeds—those that have no foreign DNA—without notifying farmers, consumers, or even the federal government. This exemption will mean that companies will do their own environmental assessments and leave farmers dependent on companies to find out if seeds are gene-edited.

The biotechnology industry has launched a public relations campaign to characterize gene editing techniques as “plant breeding innovation” or “precision breeding,” and argue that gene-edited seeds should not even be defined as GMOs. However, gene editing is genetic engineering. This is the science, and it is also the definition in the Canada Organic Standards.

The Canada Organic Regime is overseen by the CFIA and includes the enforcement of the organic standards, which prohibit the use of genetic engineering. The Canada Organic Trade Association says, “It is the CFIA’s responsibility to ensure the environmental safety of all genetically engineered plants and the protection of the organic integrity. CFIA must continue to regulate all genetically engineered plants under the Seeds Act—including those produced through the new techniques of gene editing.”

CropLife Influence Exposed

A 2022 investigation by French-language CBC found that a CFIA document summarizing the agency’s proposals to remove regulation was actually authored by the biotechnology and pesticide industry lobby group CropLife Canada. The history of the Word file shows that CropLife’s executive director was the creator of the document.

This revelation led the National Farmers Union, CBAN, and 13 other groups to call for the CFIA President to be replaced. The groups said, “It appears that key aspects of the proposed guidance…were requested by self-interested industry groups and have been incorporated into the CFIA regulatory guidance.”

The CFIA has explained that CropLife authorship of the document was a technical mistake in the process of exchanging draft documents for comment. However, this mistake was only possible because the CFIA sent CropLife this proposal summary for their input. Farm groups such as the National Farmers Union were not asked to review it.

The CFIA consulted with farmer organizations in the summers of 2021 and 2022. However, as Garry Johnson, President of SaskOrganics said, “If the government is sincere about hearing from farmers, when their proposals would have such a major impact on organic farmers in particular, they should choose a time that is much less demanding on all of us.”

Minister Pledges GMO Transparency

In response to the media story, the Minister of Agriculture told organic farmers that they don’t need to worry; that she will make sure farmers have transparency about new GM seeds coming to the market. However, the Minister has not yet secured mandatory reporting and the CFIA continues to meet with CropLife to discuss the industry’s proposal for “voluntary transparency.”CropLife is pushing to be the arbiter of information for farmers. It wants to manage a public list that relies on biotech companies to voluntarily disclose their GM seeds. In fact, CropLife has its own private, voluntary product notification system ready to roll. This is a tactic to avoid regulation and mandatory reporting.
The biotech industry wants the Minister to accept voluntary corporate notification as sufficient transparency. However, there would be no way to know that this list was complete or to verify the information on the it.

This lack of transparency would go far beyond the existing problem of unlabelled GM foods in our grocery stores. Some GM foods and seeds would be sold, planted, and eaten without the public, farmers, and government knowing that they even exist.

Removing regulation would remove the ability of the federal government to request information from companies about their new unregulated GM foods and seeds. There would be no way to track and trace these secret, unregulated GMOs.

In an October 2022 letter to the Minister, SaskOrganics, the National Farmers Union, and the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network (CBAN) argued that “transparency and traceability will only be possible if the CFIA and Health Canada retain their regulatory authority over all genetically engineered products such that, prior to release into the environment or onto the market, the departments require submission of information from product developers and have the ability to provide it to Canadians in a timely, trusted, and accessible way.”

The CFIA is stuck with an irreconcilable contradiction. The CFIA, federal government, and Minister have all publicly committed to “transparency,” but the CFIA is proposing to remove the very regulation that would ensure it.

Act Now to Stop Corporate Self-Regulation

In May 2022, Health Canada announced that it will not regulate gene-edited GM foods, and will propose amendments to the Novel Food Regulations to formalize these changes. This is an acknowledgement that the Minister of Health can still reverse Health Canada’s new regulatory guidance that exempts these foods.

In a January 2023 letter responding to SaskOrganics, the Minister of Agriculture said she has asked the CFIA and Agriculture Canada “to propose options to ensure traceability and transparency of genetically engineered plant varieties to maintain the integrity of Canada’s organic food production system.” However, the solution needed can only be secured if organic farmers, organic sector groups, and the public continue to communicate with the Minister.

The Endgame is Complete Corporate Control

CropLife members include the biggest seed and pesticide companies in the world. These companies would clearly be the beneficiaries of an open door to sell unregulated GMOs. These corporations would be free to put many GM products on the market without the costs of submitting safety data to regulators, could cut their confidential safety studies down to a bare minimum, and could keep their GMOs a market secret and thus avoid the risk of consumer boycotts. The proliferation of undisclosed GMOs would also remove the competition: by contaminating the entire food system with secret GMOs, over time, organic production and other non-GMO choices would become unviable.
Actions and updates are posted at: cban.ca/NoExemptions

Lucy Sharratt is Coordinator of the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network (CBAN), a project of the MakeWay Charitable Society.

Featured image: Letters and seed packets. Credit: Canadian Biotechnology Action Network.

Organic Stories: Grounded Acres, Skwxwú7mesh territory

Published on September 1, 2022 in 2022/Climate Change/Crop Production/Fall 2022/Grow Organic/Marketing/Organic Community/Organic Stories

Digging into Community

Darcy Smith

Mel Sylvestre has been farming for almost 20 years, and she’s pretty sure she’ll never run out of lessons learned. From last year’s heat dome, to this year’s cold, wet weather, to figuring out just what type of kale customers want, every farming season brings new challenges—and new opportunities.

She farms with Hannah Lewis, her “partner in life, partner in business,” at Grounded Acres Organic Farm on what is today known as the Sunshine Coast. Of their five-acre property, “about two acres, give or take, is farmed in some way.”

Mel and Hannah grow mixed vegetables and have about 100 laying hens, and they get their food to their community through the Sechelt Farmers’ Market, their farm stand, local restaurants, and a collaborative community box program put together by a local organization.

The vision for Grounded Acres was to open up an acre of land and grow from there. They knew they could make enough revenue out of an acre to keep them going, and build from there wisely. They were also keen to learn what people wanted in their new community. “We did a lot of market research,” Mel says, “Our first year we did a blind shot in the dark—we grew as much and little as we could of everything and let things fly, so we could see what the enthusiasm was for. In one region everyone wants green curly kale, in another people want Lacinato kale, and you don’t know why.”

Grounded Acres apprentice crew working in the fields. Credit: Grounded Acres Organic Farm.

As they get to know their community, Mel and Hannah are also learning the land, which was first opened up over a century ago. First a strawberry farm, then planted in potatoes, it had been 30 to 50 years without having tillage of any sort when they arrived. The land isn’t classified as agricultural soil: it’s class four, or with improvement class 3, loamy sand. Mel says “it’s extremely sandy, and in some parts extremely rocky. In other parts, folks a century ago did the work of removing rocks.”

The good news is Mel is familiar with improving soil. Before moving to the coast, both Mel and Hannah spent almost a decade working at UBC Farm, which has the same soil class. “We came with a shovel when we visited the property. I dug a hole and said, ‘Ah, same soil’.”

Mel originally trained as a musician and sound tech, but when the industry began turning to technology and opportunities dwindled for sound techs, she landed on an organic farm in the outskirts of Montreal teaching children. Despite being raised in the middle of cornfields and dairy cows, she hadn’t been interested in farming until, she says, “I was watching people in the field and thought, ‘Hey, that looks fun’.” One day, they needed help, so Mel “picked up a hoe, went out and helped, and fell in love.” From there, she got another farm job.

Sometimes, Mel says “I wish I had started with an apprenticeship, or working more intentionally on the farm. Things just kept happening, and life brought me from one farm to another.” She ended up in BC in 2005, and farmed with Saanich Organics on the island for six seasons.

Curious hens provide eggs to the Gibson’s community. Credit: Grounded Acres Organic Farm.

Eight years into her farming journey, she had a window where she could return to university, and studied plant and soil science at UBC. That led her to UBC Farm, where she “discovered a new love, teaching and helping other folks getting into farming.” UBC farm is also where Mel had the opportunity to get into seed production.

UBC Farm is where she found a different kind of love. Hannah was already working in the Indigenous garden at UBC Farm when Mel arrived, but it took them a year—and realizing they were neighbours—before they started connecting. “We didn’t overlap much at the farm, our rhythms in the day were quite different, but we discovered we lived a block from each other, and every time I was taking the 99 bus from East Van she was on the bus. We call it a 99 romance—the 99 brought us together.”

Mel knew she didn’t want to stay in the city long-term, but Hannah was an educator by training. While she really liked gardening, Hannah wasn’t sure how she felt about farming—until she took UBC’s farm practicum and discovered she also loved working the land.

But, Mel says, “what Hannah loved even more was the Sunshine Coast. In my head I thought I was going to go back to the island where my community was, but she convinced me.” They started looking for property, and, Mel says, “I started developing my relationship with the land here.”

It took them three years to find the right piece of land, and by then Mel and Hannah had new twins along for the ride. “We have the lucky situation, the privilege, of having family that invested in our land,” which, Mel says, “was a life saver in the start-up of this business.” Hannah’s mother sold her condo in Vancouver and moved with the young family in order to help them buy the property. “Having the grandchildren in the picture helped.”

Mel is “thankful for the years I spent working on other farms. It’s a blessing and curse. I knew what I needed to be successful, but the curse was I knew how much money it would cost.” They started with zero savings, and Mel knew they would need $100 thousand in financing for the first year to even be able to make their loan payments. “That was the barebone minimum. It seems like a lot of money but it was just barely what I knew we needed to be resilient and get through those first few years, as well as be healthy for our family. We’re not 20 anymore,” Mel says. “We have twins and they’re two years old, and we had a lot of infrastructure to put in place: irrigation, greenhouses, washing station, cooler, workshop. There was a lot that needed to come together to make the farm possible.”

With a solid business plan, clear vision, and the confidence that comes from experience, they went in search of funding—and an angel investor from the community “came out of the woodwork, believed in us, and lent us the money that we needed,” Mel says.

Hannah and Chef Johnny Bridge satisfied with cauliflower. Credit: @joshneufeldphoto.

Mid-way through their second season on this piece of land, Mel reflects on how lucky they’ve been, despite a tough year. Crops are three weeks behind, and some have been lost due to weather and pests. “All the things from a cold wet spring,” Mel says. “That’s the name of the game. Every farm has pluses and minuses, and depending on the season, you’ll lose some and gain some.” They have sandy soil, so the heat dome—and accompanying water restrictions—was harder. The sandy soil helped them out this spring, while nearby farms are on clay soil, which never drains. “I feel for the beginners right now. The last two to three seasons were uniquely hard. It’s next-level hardship for farming.”

Mel has the “old equation” in her head, from when she was brought up to be a new farmer. Once upon a time, the first three years were supposed to be tough, and starting in years four to five, “it should be even keel, you should have your system down and understand the land enough to play around.” That magic three-to-five-year number is because “even if you know what you’re doing, there are still things to learn, on the land, in the area, what’s the pattern here, why aren’t the cover crops growing. There’s lots to troubleshoot.” But, Mel says, “that’s not the way it is any more. It could be year 10 before you start to feel like you’re coasting…”

At Grounded Acres, they’re “still really in the deep of it,” learning what their customers want, what ingredients chefs are looking for—there’s lots to figure out. But there’s good news: “one thing people have said even before we moved here, if you grow it, it will fly.” Even before the pandemic, young families were leaving the city and moving to the Sunshine Coast. Between the young families and established residents, there’s high demand for fresh produce. Marketing their product on the coast “has been a fairly easy ride compared to other regions I’ve worked in where there are a lot of other market gardeners per capita,” Mel says.

Mel out on the tractor on a long summer evening.
Credit: Grounded Acres Organic Farm.

As it turns out, on the Sunshine Coast everyone wants curly kale, but that hasn’t stopped Mel and Hannah from planting a variety. “We love the diversity. One will sell more, but there’s going to be a reason why we’re glad we planted the other,” says Mel. “Siberian kale is not my favourite in the summer—pests love it. But I always plant a bit because over the winter it’s going to rock it. We had the worst winter last year, it was so cold for so long, but we were still harvesting Siberian kale.” Mel remembers that the other varieties were skeletons, but the Siberian came roaring back and they were able to sell bags of braising greens. “Fresh kale on the stand in March—people will elbow each other out of the way to get it.”

Mel says they will always keep the diversity in their crop planning. “I think climate change is reinforcing what we’ve known as biodiverse small-scale farmers,” she says, and recommends that even within one crop, don’t plant just one variety, go for a few. “It surprises me every year, that one variety rocked it for four years but this year not so much. I’m always so glad I planted that other one. Climate change is running that message back home heavily about not putting all your eggs in one basket.”

Over the last hard winter five or six years back, Mel remembers people planting more and more overwintering brassicas like purple sprouting broccoli, or planting lots of greens in the spring. The risk there is picking up on that trend and over-committing. One person, at least, planted triple the amount and lost everything. “Mother nature is always like, ‘Oh you’re feeling confident, I’ll take your confidence away’.” Moments like that are there to “remind you not to bank too hard on that income, to have other avenues to make it through the season.”

“We live in a culture where we’re looking for that one book, that one person who’s going to teach us everything,” Mel says. “Farming is not that. I know folks that went to five, six, seven different farms to learn as much as they can. You will still learn until you die. There is no recipe in farming, there’s just a set of skills and knowledge you can keep accumulating.”

Mel highlights the importance of having a “troubleshooting mind” in the absence of a formula: someone can say, do it this way and this will be your result. “Maybe one year out of three that will be true. Other years, you get a cold spring and you have white fly now.” She is adamant that no one person on this planet can teach you—rather, it’s important to have diverse teachers. While there’s lots to be learned from books or online resources, that can be “a dangerous road. It doesn’t give you as much resilience in your toolbelt as just going through a season with one farmer locally in the region you want to farm.”

Grounded Acres Organic Farm Family: Hannah, Mel, Juniper, and River. Credit: Grounded Acres Organic Farm.

Community has been more important to their early success than Mel would ever have dreamed. Between Hannah and Mel, they have an incredible—and complementary—set of skills that are different and complete each other. Mel loves people but describes herself as “a blunt Quebecer who tells it like it is, which doesn’t always fly on the coast,” while she says “Hannah has this incredible way to put things in words. She’s spent a lot of time building who we are for the community.”

They landed in a new place mid-winter with small children. “We only had so much time to go around mingling and meeting people,” Mel says. Hannah spent the winter building the farm’s website and social media, telling their story. Coming from a teaching farm where Hannah was running a volunteer program, they wanted to open up their new farm to folks wanting to connect with the land. Between the pandemic and working from home, people were “aching to get out into nature. Our story spread like wildfire and we got so many volunteers. Our investor came out of that, too.”

A handful of the folks who started coming in that first year are still coming—“they are really committed and became our community,” Mel says. “We call them friends, we know everything about each other from weeding.” Mel has lived in small communities before, and knows that when you’re new somewhere you have to prove yourself. “People have to ask themselves, ‘Am I going to invest energy in building a relationship with this person?’ I think we’re in the book now!”

Overall, they have found that the community has been very welcoming. “Despite the fact that it’s small here, it’s mighty,” Mel says. “The farmers we’ve met have been very supportive. We can borrow from each other when we run out of pint containers, for example.” This kind of collaboration is especially essential because the Sunshine Coast is not in an agricultural area, and there’s a ferry between them and any supplies.

Community extends beyond their neighbours on the Sunshine Coast. Grounded Acres is certified organic. “The community that raised me as a farmer in BC was the certified organic community,” Mel says. “At a really young farmer age, I got into the importance of organic, and the importance of that community in itself.” Mel went to her first BC Organic conference her first year farming in BC. “It’s always a highlight of my year, not necessarily what I’m learning but who I’m connecting with, who I’m getting to rant with, have a beer with. That precious moment that every farmer needs, to feel that you’re not alone.”

Mel and Hannah started out with laying hens right away to respond to the community’s needs. Credit: Grounded Acres Organic Farm.

For Mel, being certified organic is about more than just what organic means. “At the end of the day we can make those practices happen without having certification, but certification is investing in keeping that community alive, that one thing that gives us a voice, makes us visible, makes us not just a trend.” The organic community in BC specifically has been together for many years, and Mel has “so much respect for the folks that put that system together, and the folks keeping it together.”

While there’s no one recipe to farming, Mel and Hannah have certainly pulled together many key ingredients, from their diverse skills to the people who support their farm in many different ways. “Diversity in the field, diversity in skills” is important, Mel says. “The jack-of-all-trades farmer thing is romanticized a lot, but it’s a harsh reality.” Bringing multiple skill sets and interests to the field is so important—even if someone is just looking for a business partner, don’t look for people who like doing the same things you do, Mel recommends.

“That’s one thing I appreciate about our farm every day. Hannah will put time into doing wholesale with chefs and going to market on the weekend. My favourite thing is to be alone on the farm, and she comes back so excited, it feeds her—and that in turn feeds me.” The foundation of Grounded Acres is the relationship between Mel and Hannah, “romantic partners who are good business partner matches as well, how lucky we are!”

groundedacresfarm.ca

Darcy Smith is the editor of the BC Organic Grower, and a huge fan of organic farmers. She also manages the BC Land Matching Program delivered by Young Agrarians.

Feature image: Queer community setting up tomato tunnels. Credit: Grounded Acres Organic Farm.

Biodynamic Farm Story?

Published on September 1, 2022 in 2022/Climate Change/Crop Production/Fall 2022/Grow Organic/Land Stewardship

Anna Helmer

The title of this column is borderline pretentious and potentially misleading. We are not a certified biodynamic farm. I am certain we do not meet the requirements and have faint hope of doing so because we fall well short of the ideal farm Rudolph Steiner describes in his lectures: we have no cattle, we purchase cover crop seed and cow manure, and we don’t make our own preparations. We’re working on it though. It could be called Aspiring Biodynamic Farm Story, or In-Transition to Biodynamic Farm Story.

For the sole sake of accuracy, it should be called: Biodynamically-Challenged Farm Story. This is more on point because I do believe that most farms and gardens where the growers believe in the availability of fertility forces greater than what comes in a bag or bucket are on the biodynamic path. Probably, like us, they just aren’t doing enough.

That’s where we are at. We just aren’t doing enough, but being a sensible middle-aged lady, I have no trouble decreeing that this is good enough. In fact, rather than risk failure, I work to lower standards until I meet them. That should explain the pretentious nature of the title.

Removing the word biodynamic entirely from the title would entirely remove the challenge of writing this article. Every time I go through the process, I learn a little bit more about both our practice, and the practice of biodynamic farming in general.

Skirting pretentiousness then, and hoping to have prevented any misleading impressions, I’ll leave it at that and continue my mission to convince everyone to run a biodynamically-challenged operation.

I have an earnest belief in two practical and effective biodynamic practices: firstly, the application of the compost and field preparations, and secondly, striving to make the farm its own source of fertility. That my conviction is endlessly undermined by difficulties explaining the wilder flights of biodynamic fancy is the challenge to be borne. I really can’t blame people for questioning all that—I just wish I could do a better job of explaining the useful bits.

To that end, I’ve started reading the Rudolph Steiner lectures again. I wouldn’t say it’s a punishment, exactly, because that would give the wrong impression. Penance would also be a poor choice of words, because I am not atoning for a mistake. It’s remedial. I need remedial reading.

Unfortunately, what happened is that someone recently asked me the old chestnut: so, what is biodynamic farming exactly—planting by the moon? My response was jumbled and garbled, confusing and unclear.

I can do better—and to do so, I am sending myself back to the beginning. The goal this time is to confidently deliver a concise and accurate biodynamic pitch: one that would convince a curious farmer to delve a little deeper, one that would indicate to a consumer that there is more to organic farming than they might imagine.

In the meantime, I am basking in the glory of my successful biodynamic cull potato compost pile. It has been completely transformed into very useful dirt. I can barely believe it. The greenhouse and the tissue culture seed potatoes were the initial beneficiaries and there has been much plant revelry.

Not so glorious has been the use of the other preparations this year. Such a cold wet spring would surely have called for the liberal and frequent application of BD501 (horn silica) but we are very reluctant to give the plants any extra warmth and light. It seems risky when at any moment a heat dome, or at the very least a heat wave, could descend, rendering it unnecessary and perhaps even detrimental.

I also held back on the BD500 (horn manure) because it did not even occur to me to use it. A rather bold admission, and perhaps penance was a good word choice after all. We were fairly consumed with trying to coax cold Pemberton mud into something more likely to grow potatoes. It was extraordinary. I am not sure Steiner really could relate.

I am never going to forget the compost preparations. I have a lot of cull potatoes coming online, a pressing need for good compost, and I know just what to do.

If only I understood why.

P.S. The Biodynamic Agriculture Association of BC will be hosting a preparation workshop this fall, likely at Helmers Organic Farm in Pemberton. Please email info@bcbiodynamics.ca to get on the mailing list.

Anna Helmer farms in Pemberton and realizes she had middle age all wrong. helmersorganic.com

Feature image: Cleaning potatoes. Credit: Helmers Organic Farm.

The More the Better? Multi-Species vs Single-Species Cover Crops for Carrots

Published on September 1, 2022 in 2022/Crop Production/Fall 2022/Grow Organic/Seeds/Tools & Techniques

By Frank Larney, Haley Catton, Charles Geddes, Newton Lupway, Tom Forge, Reynald Lemke, and Bobbi Helgason

This article first appeared in Organic Science Canada magazine and is printed here with gratitude.

In recent years, diverse cover crop mixes or ‘cocktails’, which contain as many as 15 different cover crop species, have gained popularity. Are these multi-species cover crop mixes any better than their less sophisticated counterparts (e.g., fall rye or barley/pea)? It’s a complicated system to untangle. Our early data suggests that the multi-species mixes can foster more active soil life, but that they could also have impacts on the following crop: they caused more forked carrots, which decreases profit. We also looked closely at how weeds in the cover crops affected soil fertility. Spoiler alert, they may be helping…

Cover crops can provide many benefits including enhanced soil organic matter and soil health, nitrogen retention, weed suppression, soil moisture conservation and, as a result of these, higher subsequent crop yields. Cover crops can be grown in the main season (replacing a cash crop in rotation) or seeded in fall to protect the soil from wind and water erosion throughout winter and early spring. In our study funded by the Organic Science Cluster, we compared how different cover crops impacted the soil, pests, and the following crop.

The control cover crop treatment which was essentially a fallow predominated by lamb’s quarters, cleavers, and redroot pigweed, July 30, 2018. Maybe weeds are not all that bad? …as long as they don’t go to seed before soil incorporation. Credit: Frank Larney.

Our research team collaborated with Howard and Cornelius Leffers who run an irrigated organic farm near Coaldale, Alberta. They specialize in carrots and red beets for restaurants, farmers’ markets and organic grocery stores, and they also grow alfalfa, winter wheat and dry beans. We evaluated seven cover crop treatments ahead of carrots. We have completed two cycles of the two-year cover crop–carrot rotation (Cycle 1: 2018 & 2019, Cycle 2: 2019 & 2020), with a third cycle (2021 & 2022) currently underway. Cover crops were established in June during the first year of each cycle as follows:

Buckwheat;

Faba bean;
Brassica (white + brown mustard);
Mix*;
Mix* followed by barley which grew until the first killing frost;
Mix* followed by winter wheat which survived the winter, regrew in early spring, then was terminated by tillage; and
Control (no cover crop, weeds allowed to grow).
*Mixture of five legumes, four grasses, two brassicas, flax, phacelia, safflower, and buckwheat (15 species in total)

Fagopyrum esculentum Moench, Polygonum fagopyrum L. Credit: Johann Georg Sturm.

In August, all treatments and the control were incorporated into the soil by disking. The control and treatments 1-4 were left unplanted over the winter; weeds were allowed to grow. Treatments 5 and 6 were seeded to other cover crops. In the second year of each cycle, carrots were planted in June and harvested in the fall. We took cover crop and weed biomass samples just before disking in August of the first year of each cycle. We measured the carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) concentrations of the cover crops, as well as the main weed species. In 2018, the multi-species, brassica, and buckwheat cover crops were more competitive with weeds. The faba bean cover crop was not competitive with weeds and had the same amount of weeds (by weight) as the control treatment.

Weeds can be a troublesome part of organic systems. In this case, we wanted to see if they were redeeming themselves as part of the cover crop, or in the case of the control treatment, by taking the place of a seeded cover crop. Weeds are no different from any other plant: they take up soil nutrients and when they break down, they put carbon (including organic matter), nitrogen, and other nutrients back into the soil. As long as annual weeds don’t go to seed, maybe they are making a useful contribution to soil health, similar to a seeded cover crop.

Since weeds were incorporated into the soil in August along with the seeded cover, the less-competitive faba bean treatment and the weedy control actually returned more total carbon to the soil (average, 2220 kg/ha C) due to greater weed biomass (weed “yield”) than buckwheat, brassica or the multi-species mixture (850–1330 kg/ha C). Moreover, being a nitrogen-fixing legume, the faba bean cover crop (including its weeds) returned the most nitrogen to the soil at 99 kg/ha N. After the carrot harvest, our team rated carrots into Grade A (visually appealing with no deformities: ideal for restaurants, farmers’ markets, and organic grocery stores) and Grade B (downgraded due to wireworm damage, forking, scarring or misshaping: suitable for juicing only). Grade B carrots are worth about one third of Grade A carrots.

Vicia faba. Credit: Dr. Otto Wilhelm Thomé, Flora von Deutschland.

Despite the differences we measured in the C and N contributions of the cover crops and the weeds, it wasn’t enough to affect the carrot yields. In 2019, Grade A carrot yield was statistically the same with all the cover crop options. For soil health, the multi-species mixture had more microbial activity than either brassica or buckwheat cover crops (this is based on microbial biomass C – an index of microbial mass – and permanganate oxidizable C – the active or easily-decomposable C). However, a possible downside of the multi-species mix showed up when we looked at the following carrot crop. In 2019, treatments 4, 5 and 6 resulted in a greater proportion of the Grade B category, including forked carrots. Forking and misshaping are caused by many reasons, including soil compaction, weed interference, and insect or nematode feeding on root growing tips.

We also looked at the value of fall-seeded cover crops (Treatments 5 and 6) and their impact on wireworm and nematodes. These pests might actually be helped by cover crops; they appear to have greater survival during the winter season when living roots are present. But having winter cover may lead to better carrot yields, too: in 2020, total carrot yields (Grades A and B) were 10% higher after the fall-seeded cover crops when compared to the spring – seeded brassica cover crop, which led to the lowest yielding carrots. So far, we haven’t seen any effect of the different cover crop treatments on root lesion nematode populations, but the fall-season cover crops led to a small increase in wireworm damage on the carrots (this only showed up in 2019). More soil analyses and the results from the 2021-22 season are still to come. The additional information will help us tease out the pros and cons of multi-species vs single-species cover crops for irrigated organic carrots.

To learn more about OSC3 Activity 8, please visit

dal.ca/oacc/osciii

The Organic Science Cluster 3 is led by the Organic Federation of Canada in collaboration with the Organic Agriculture Centre of Canada at Dalhousie University, and is supported by the AgriScience Program under Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Canadian Agricultural Partnership (an investment by federal, provincial and territorial governments) and over 70 partners from the agricultural community.

Feature image: Left to right: Charles Geddes (Weed Ecology & Cropping Systems, AAFC-Lethbridge); Howard Leffers (farmer-collaborator, Coaldale, AB); and James Hawkins (visiting Nuffield scholar, Neuarpurr, Victoria, Australia) in the 15-species cover crop, August 7, 2018. Credit: Frank Larney.

Footnotes from the Field: Nature’s Electromagnetism

Published on September 1, 2022 in 2022/Climate Change/Fall 2022/Footnotes from the Field

A Cooperative Energy Flow

By Marjorie Harris

Mother Nature is an ocean of electromagnetic waves traveling at the speed of light. It is now understood that nothing happens in the natural world that isn’t an electromagnetic event at some level.

It was just over 175 years ago in 1846, that Michael Faraday, known as the father of electromagnetism proposed the electromagnetic theory of light. He had discovered that light and electromagnetism were inter-related. The flow of light, charged particles, and electric currents were all governed by the same natural laws of electromagnetism. Shortly before Faraday’s passing in 1867, something spoke to him in the colours of the spectrum of light. While he looked out his western window past the distant rainfall he saw a beautiful rainbow that spanned the sky, and exclaimed, “He hath set his testimony in the heavens.”

Electromagnetism makes the world go round and round—every visible action starts with an invisible electromagnetic foundation, observed in the far distant cosmos macro displays of exploding supernovas, in the nearer Sun’s solar flares and coronal mass ejections, in our terrestrial atmospheric displays of northern lights, rainbows and lightening, and all the way down to microscopic movements of nutrients in the soil and phytoplankton pastures of the oceans, all demonstrating electromagnetism in motion.

On an electromagnetic level, nature operates cooperatively; this is far from the Darwinian concepts of competition and survival. Nature can be witnessed as the flow of energy dedicated to an incorruptible cooperative system set in motion by celestial events in galaxies far, far away.

Climate Changes and Nitrogen Fertilization

Galactic cosmic rays (GCR), are highly energetic, mainly positively-charged protons, whizzing through space at nearly the speed of light. Most of these charged particles have their origins outside of our solar system, coming from our own Milky Way galaxy, and beyond from distant galaxies. It is thought that they are the remnants of exploded supernovas. The climate and cloud cycle on earth is influenced to some degree by events occurring outside of our solar system that create galactic rays.

The earth is shielded by a magnetosphere as well: the Sun’s solar magnetic field helps to block incoming GCR’s. When our Sun is in a low sunspot period of its 11-year solar cycle, more galactic rays are able reach the earth’s atmosphere, increasing the low cloud cover. The result of more cloud cover is a cooler climate and more lightning storms. When clouds develop ice crystals the clouds separate into positively-charged tops and negatively-charged cloud bottoms. Lightning strikes are not random; lightning is guided to soils with high accumulations of positive charges. The soil develops positive charges for a number of reasons including microorganism and fungi activity. Fungi mycelium hyphae grow from positively charged tips and prefer to grow in the alkaline soils which result after fires.

Lightning is known to emit significant electromagnetic energy. Credit: Windows to the Universe.

Electromagnetic Energy of Lightning

Lightning is known to emit significant electromagnetic energy. These energy bursts react with the air, releasing atmospheric nitrogen aerosols that are washed down in rainfall to the soil and are bioavailable as nitrogen fertilizer for plants. Galactic cosmic rays create cooler temperatures, more rain, and nitrogen fertilization which promotes abundant plant growth.

The Birds & the Bees

The Earth’s magnetosphere also plays a vital role in bird migrations. It was recently discovered that some birds use the lines of the Earth’s magnetic field to find their way to their breeding and wintering grounds—they navigate the globe by actually being able to see Earth’s magnetic field lines.

Bees have a positively electric relationship with flowers. Bumblebee wings beat more then

200 times per second. The flight is so rapid it causes the bees to collide with the tiny air particles. As the bees collide with the air particles, electrons are knocked off of the bees creating a positive static electrically-charged aura around the bee. Flowers rich in nectar have an invisible negatively charged electric fields which stimulate the sensory hairs on the bee’s head and draw the bee toward them. As the bee lands on the flower, the negatively-charged flower pollen leaps onto the bees, sticking to the bee’s positively-charged hairs. Some of the bee’s positive charge shifts onto the flower, changing its electric field aura and telling other bees the nectar bounty has been plundered and to forage elsewhere. This helps bees be more energy efficient in their foraging activities.

We live in an electromagnetic soup that is influenced by forces on earth, the solar system, the Milky Way galaxy, and beyond—into a universe full of supernovas. Even the honey made by the humble bee depends on galactic cosmic rays originating in galaxies far, far way. Life truly is a cooperative, magical, and mysterious electromagnetic creation beyond comprehension!

Marjorie Harris, IOIA VO and concerned organophyte.

Feature image: Electric fields of flowers stimulate the sensory hairs of bumblebees. Credit: Bumblebee Conservation Trust.

References:
Faraday and the Electromagnetic Theory of Light. bbvaopenmind.com/en/science/leading-figures/faraday-electromagnetic-theory-light/
Electric fields of flowers stimulate the sensory hairs of bumble bees, Bumblebee Conservation Trust bumblebeeconservation.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/03-StaticElectricity.1_v2.pdf
7020–7021, PNAS, June 28, 2016, vol. 113 no. 26 pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1607426113
Kaplan, M. Bumblebees sense electric fields in flowers. Nature (2013). doi.org/10.1038/nature.2013.12480
NASA Researchers Explore Lightning’s NOx-ious Impact on Pollution, Climate, 10.22.09
National Earth Science Teachers Association windows2universe.org/earth/Atmosphere/tstorm/lightning_formation.html&edu=high
The bee, the flower, and the electric field: electric ecology and aerial electroreception link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00359-017-1176-6

Climate Mitigation through Agroforestry

Published on September 1, 2022 in 2022/Climate Change/Fall 2022/Grow Organic/Tools & Techniques

Emily Lorenz

This article first appeared on the FarmFolk CityFolk website and is printed here with gratitude.

Agroforestry integrates trees or shrubs with other crops and/or livestock. Trees can capture greenhouse gases through their branches, leaves, trunks, and roots, making them an important climate solution and aid in reducing emissions in agriculture. In addition to sequestration, trees improve soil structure with their root systems and add nutrients to the soil with fallen leaves. Trees prevent flash flooding on agricultural lands by slowing down water with their root systems. Agroforestry systems create diversified habitats for wildlife with hedges, fruit trees, dead wood, grazing animals and other crops. Woodlands are a place for climate solutions, beneficial outcomes for farmers, and a calming space to promote farmer well-being.

George Powell, previously employed by the University of Alberta and the Ministry of Forests research program, is now an independent consultant offering his depth of knowledge as an agrologist specializing in integrated production systems. Powell describes agroforestry as, “a whole family of land-use practices that in some way involve the purposeful integration of trees or shrubs with other agricultural production, other crops or with livestock systems.” Agroforestry systems are diverse and complex and often “not defined by what you’re producing, but more like how you’re producing it,” says Powell. Clear cutting for agriculture and eliminating native tree species has severe environmental consequences. Powell says, “That’s probably one of the bigger environmental issues we’re still facing in BC. A lot of small and large stream networks [are suffering]. Forest cover was eliminated up to the water’s edge, which has big consequences for water quality and wildlife habitat.”

Cattle thriving in the margins of woods and field. Credit: Big Bear Ranch.

Maintaining and planting woody plants has beneficial results for our climate. Trees and other woody perennials are a significant source of carbon capture. Powell has experience testing carbon levels in test plots of agroforestry models. He says, “Every tonne of woody material that you grow, about 50% of that is carbon. Large perennials turn over about 50% of their fine root material every year, which means huge soil organic carbon pools could be created. It’s a sequestration monster.” There are benefits for farmers to maintain trees on their land; benefits that include savings on time and labour as well as increasing soil health. Powell says, “With a forested system cleared for agriculture, the more trees and shrubs you retain there, the more you’re mimicking that structural setting and natural flows. The nutrient dynamics and the water dynamics completely change when you bring trees and shrubs into the picture. The soil erosion risks drop off because you have those deep-rooted components that you don’t have from most crops.”

Not only are trees and large woody perennials a climate solution, but agroforestry is an effective adaptation tool for farmers. Powell says, “I think the real strength of agroforestry for BC is in adaptation.” One of the largest benefits of agroforestry modelled farms is the diversification of species on the land. Powell says, “Having a diverse range of things that you’re producing is your first best strategy against climate change and annual variability in the climate extremes.” Windbreaks and temperature control are beneficial results of trees. Powell encourages the use of trees and shrubs for soil moisture conservation in terms of windbreaks.

Farmers can adopt several categories of agroforestry to diversify and strengthen their agricultural system. The list includes alley cropping, silvopasture, shelterbelts, hedgerows, timberbelts, forest farming, and integrated riparian management. Each method offers unique benefits and is typically chosen according to the qualities of the farming operation.

The integration of livestock and forest systems through silvopasture is a popular method of integrating trees on a farm. The approach of blending trees and animals in a system has numerous positive effects that benefit animal livelihood and our climate. In the winter, animals have an area to shelter from harsh temperatures and weather that is too extreme for them. Powell notes, “Trees and shrubs are largely water, they become big pools of long wave radiation and they radiate out that energy all around them. In wildlife terms, it’s called a thermal cover and the same principles apply to livestock.” Powell suggests setting up “living barns”, which are, “block or strip cuts into forests where you winter your animals in those strips and they benefit from the sheltering from the wind and the thermal radiation coming from the trees.” More importantly, in summer, shade is an important benefit that animals receive from tree cover. Heat stress occurs when an animal takes on more heat than its capacity to lose it. When they begin to experience heat stress, they seek shelter which a forest can provide easily.

Trees and shrubs offer a variety of nutrients that animals may not otherwise get. Fallen leaves and species that produce nuts and berries are nutritious to an animal’s diet. Beyond the numerous reasons that forested areas benefit livestock, the simplest encouragement is that certain species are meant to be integrated with trees. Powell says, “Livestock species were selected from forest-dwelling species. Cattle and chicken’s native predecessors are forest species. So they’re just happier with forest cover around. There are definite animal welfare benefits there.” Heather Young from Under the Oak Farm is preparing her farm for a silvopasture system. She strategically plants species of nut trees with the native and already established forest species and will introduce cattle onto in the coming years. Young plans to provide her cattle with the benefits of shelter from extreme climate variability and nutrients from the fallen nuts and foliage from the trees.

Forest farming is a unique technique for farmers to cultivate a high-value production crop under a canopy of trees. In addition to maintaining their forested area, they have planted numerous fruit trees with crops underneath to create a food forest. There are numerous benefits to forest farming. Young says, “In nature, trees grow with an understory of plants. If we reproduce that and let nature do its thing, it makes our life easier. We don’t have to weed as much, we don’t need to use nitrogen fertilizer, especially if you have nitrogen fixers. And, the trees provide habitat for birds that will eat your bugs.”

Hens as part of the agroforestry system. Credit: Big Bear Ranch.

Many small-scale farmers use alley cropping to optimize space on their farms. This agroforestry method involves planting rows of trees and/or shrubs to intentionally create alleys where crops are produced. For farmers who row-crop, this is a unique way of increasing income using a different profit source than their regular crops. Alley crops reduce erosion and can be a positive use of space where other crops cannot be planted. Strategically planted rows of trees can act as windbreaks and microclimates for other crops and livestock, increasing yield and quality of life. Alley cropping increases biodiversity and provides additional habitat for wildlife.

One or more rows of closely spaced trees and/or shrubs planted at the right angles to protect crops, soils, animals, and buildings from wind pressure are referred to as shelterbelts and hedgerows. These can be utilized along fence lines or as buffers between crops or animals. According to Powell, we need to restore the damaged waterways caused by agricultural clearing. He suggests, “Restoring those [waterways] in an agricultural setting would involve reestablishing buffers,” like hedgerows and shelterbelts. Rainer Krumsiek at Big Bear Ranch uses shelterbelts and hedgerows on their farm to create windbreaks for both their animals and wildlife. For Krumsiek, agroforestry is an important part of their farming operation. Krumsiek says, “Agroforestry helps with erosion control and nutrient balance. The moisture from snow accumulation and the fallen leaves from trees bring nutrients to the soil.”

Whichever approach farmers choose, agroforestry is regarded highly as a climate solution in agriculture. Trees are massive carbon sinks, add biodiversity to the farm ecosystem, and provide wildlife habitat, all contributing to climate mitigation. Farmers like Young note, “Our ability as agriculture to sequester carbon is more far-reaching than any technology we have so far.” Agroforestry systems benefit farmers in many ways. This includes saving time, labour, and financial costs over time; reducing erosion and increasing soil health; providing a natural canopy and windbreak for grazing livestock and poultry; providing nutrients to the ground below; spreading the risk in agriculture and increasing climate change variability.

When considering an agroforestry approach on a farm, it’s important to keep in mind that not all areas are appropriate for planting trees. Powell says, “When trees are applied to an area, you need to understand what varieties are native to that area and ecosystem, whenever possible. If the goal is to integrate livestock, it’s important to consider that not all livestock are appropriate for certain areas and species of trees. Find a local expert, speak to the local council and consult with First Nations communities.”

Approaching agroforestry by studying local agroecology is a good first step. Natural systems are thriving for a reason and farmers can learn a lot from natural ecosystems. Powell says, “It’s less energy to maintain a system the more of the natural cycles and processes you can retain. That’s what agroforestry does.” This approach can hugely benefit our climate, especially if more agricultural lands in BC incorporate agroforestry practices. Young says, “I am a firm believer that if we change parts of how we live, our emissions would decrease. A big part of how we live is choosing better agricultural practices.”

farmfolkcityfolk.ca

Emily Lorenz is the Engagement Coordinator for FarmFolkCityFolk and is passionate about supporting farmers and ranchers across BC.

Feature image: Alders fix nitrogen in wooded areas. Credit: Farm Folk City Folk.

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