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
Shauna MacKinnon From extreme flooding to drought and previously unheard of temperature variability, climate change is a serious matter for BC organic growers. While agriculture is feeling more than its share of climate change impacts, a set of solutions exist where farmers and ranchers play a key role. Land-based climate solutions can avoid and absorb… Keep Reading
Intergenerational Soil Stewardship: Our Only Hope? Marjorie Harris BSc, IOIA V.O. P.Ag Soil, specifically topsoil, is the foundation of life on this earth. Earth is the only planet with healthy fertile soil on it that we know of yet, in the whole of the universe. Fertile soil is a little-understood mixture of biology and geology… 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
Marjorie Harris BSc, IOIA V.O. P.Ag When I think of the ‘wholeness’ of a bioregional ecosystem and imagine the inner workings to identify which biological organisms could have the greatest influence on the entire system, nothing seems to compete with the influential power of the domesticated honey bee. This industrious pollinator flies great distances to… Keep Reading
Shanti Heywood This story first appeared on the Young Agrarians website. Protecting my home was just something I had to do. People keep commenting on how brave I was—but I like to think everyone has some grit inside of them somewhere to fight when they have to. My heart goes out to those who have… Keep Reading
Tanya Brouwer Agricultural activities are often blamed for the demise of the planet’s environmental systems. It is not uncommon to hear about deforestation, drained wetlands, and dying grasslands when referencing agriculture. Yet the Canadian Organic Standard specifically states that “organic agriculture should sustain and enhance the health of soil, plants, animals, humans and the planet… Keep Reading
An Inspector’s View Stuart McMillan This story originally appeared in The Canadian Organic Grower, Spring 2018, with thanks. There are a number of great reasons to be an organic inspector. For myself, the primary one is getting to meet so many fantastic farmers, ranchers, and operators of organic operations across the diverse regions of Canada.… Keep Reading
Seeking Balance, Seizing Passion Michael Marrapese We’re in the East Cascades at the Northern tip of the Sonoran Desert,” Jon Alcock explains. “We’re on the former shores of Lake Penticton, which was a glacial lake 12,000 years ago. It deposited these great mineral soils that are perfect for wine grapes and orchards. We’re in a… Keep Reading
