Stacey Santos The robots have arrived to help with weed management on the farm, but where do you start? How do you know what’s right for your crop, your acreage–and your budget? Thankfully, a number of options have emerged for managing agricultural tasks with robots, along with a crop of experts who are working on… Keep Reading
Ryan Kilthau In 1996, founders Mickey McLeod and Robbyn Scott opened a coffee roasting café on Salt Spring Island with the mission of bringing sustainable coffee to their island community. Salt Spring Coffee was born, and the freshly roasted coffee quickly became an island favourite, sparking conversations with customers about coffee quality and sourcing. In… Keep Reading
Andrew Bennett How resilient is your farm to the boom and bust of water extremes, and how can you improve? For many, the first thought is better irrigation equipment. The main reason farms call me is for water plans to get funding for upgrades. You know the problems: patchworks of old mismatched nozzles, pipes that… Keep Reading
Emma Holmes As BC’s organic industry specialist, I have been able to meet many members of our organic community across the province. I also get to collaborate with other experts at the Ministry of Agriculture, and am keen to highlight them and the important work they do, so you can get to know them—and hopefully… Keep Reading
By Anna Helmer I have hauled out my Biodynamic books to perform my annual winter Biodynamic brush-up. Brush-up isn’t the right term to use because it implies that I once understood it all, and now just need to remind myself of a few things. If only that were the case. No, it’s more of an… Keep Reading
By Nicolas Walser It’s that time again: the review of the Canadian Organic Standards! Every five years, the Canadian Organic Standards undergo a revision and an updated version is published. Organic standards need to evolve to address emerging challenges, technological advancements, and scientific research. The last revision was published in 2020—always be sure you are… Keep Reading
By Annelise Grube-Cavers This fall, as part of the BC Organic Conference, attendees had the opportunity to tour the Summerland Research and Development Centre. It was quite exciting to wander around the 80s era research center perched on a hill above Okanagan Lake (if you get excited about that kind of thing, of course, and… Keep Reading
Reflections on Farmer Mental Health By Alys Ford Fourteen years ago, during our first season of commercial farming I made a pretty classic rookie mistake. I planted many hundreds of feet of tatsoi, with the intention of growing it to full size as a bunched green to substitute for the spinach that, at the time,… Keep Reading
2023 BC Organic Conference Recap By Stacey Santos Mentorship. Perseverance. Kindness. Relationships. More than words, these ideas were penned and posted to a board at the 2023 BC Organic Conference—a nod of appreciation by and for the organic community, who came together for our first in-person conference in three years. Held at the Penticton Trade… Keep Reading
Effects of Organic Amendments on Soil Health Indicators in an Indigenous Farm in the Northern Peace River Region of Canada By Tiffany Traverse [Editor’s note: This research was presented at the First International Forum on Agroecosystem Living Labs, October 4-6, 2023, Montréal, QC, Canada, and is shared here with gratitude. This article was prepared with… Keep Reading
