Three case studies examine soil management practices in the face of climate change By Rachel Penner, BC Agriculture & Food Climate Action Initiative Improving soil health is one way producers can increase the resilience of their operations in the face of climate change. The BC Agriculture & Food Climate Action Initiative (CAI) has supported multiple… Keep Reading
Anna Helmer Would you mind if we talked about Biodynamic farming? There. That’s how you keep your readership small. Those of you still with me have fought through eye-glaze and eye-roll and have resisted page turn. You will notice that even I am struggling a bit to stay on topic, and if only you could… Keep Reading
Cultivating Climate Resilience in a Living Laboratory Constance Wylie Surrounded by forest and sea, the University of British Columbia is a quick 30 minute bus ride west of downtown Vancouver. A city unto itself, more than 55,800 students and close to 15,000 faculty and staff study, work, live, and play there. A small but growing… Keep Reading
Scaling Up Organic Vegetable Seed Production in BC Emma Holmes, P.Ag The organic seed sector will be getting a boost through a comprehensive project that includes seed production, business, and market supports. FarmFolk CityFolk, which has been working to cultivate local, sustainable food systems since 1993, will be leading the project with funding provided from… Keep Reading
Michael Marrapese Agriculture as we define it today has existed for roughly 12,000 years. Though the practices have been refined over millennia, modern farmers would still recognize the intent and the activity as ‘farming.’ We can find examples of plants we recognize as cereal grains, peas, barley, wheat, rice, and squash dating back 10,000 years.… Keep Reading
The Dangers of Investing in the Promise of the Techno-Fix Lucy Sharratt For 20 years, the world’s biggest seed and pesticide companies have profited from selling genetically modified (GM, also called genetically engineered) seeds that are tied to their brand name herbicide formulations. In fact, almost 100% of the GM crops now grown in Canada… Keep Reading
Plant Health Diagnostic Support for BC Producers Emma Holmes, P.Ag While we always hope that every farmer has a successful season and bountiful harvests, the reality is that there are endless factors to potentially derail those harvests. For me, the hardest part of farming was finding my crops decimated by pests or struggling to survive… Keep Reading
(Not Until You Understand the Message) Av Sing This article first appeared in The Canadian Organic Grower, with thanks. All too often when farmers start talking weeds, a common first question is “How do I get rid of a bad case of…?” when a more appropriate question is “I wonder why my field has a… Keep Reading
For Bees, Birds, and Fish (IEHD-BBF) Saikat Kumar Basu Global bee populations are showing an alarming decline due to a number of factors like environmental pollution, indiscriminate use and over applications of various agro-chemicals, industrial agricultural practices detrimental to nature, changes in the land use patterns, and parasitic diseases of bees as well as lack… Keep Reading
Emma Holmes, Organics Specialist, BC Ministry of Agriculture Studies examining soil microbes are showing huge potential to improve growing practices. A number of soil microorganisms have abilities to increase soil fertility, aid in nutrient and water uptake by the root system, and protect crops against pests and disease. Soil Bio-fertilizers If you grow legumes, you… Keep Reading
