Making Positive Change to Farmland Biodiversity in BC Susan Smith, Alison Speirs, and Dave Zehnder Farmland Advantage is a research and development project that works with farmers to conserve and enhance critical natural values in British Columbia. These natural values are often referred to as ecosystem services, which are services of a natural environment that… Keep Reading
How one woman’s journey to worm-free fruit led to the birth of a new business Marilyn Roberts In the early 1900s, Kaslo was a major fruit producer in British Columbia, sending boxes of huge cherries as far away as England. Hence, there are many old overgrown orchards in the area. When I bought a place… Keep Reading
Hamsa Eliza Gooderham A love affair with plants began 30 odd years ago out of Brenda Elder’s basement and grew, literally, into the fine enterprise that it is now; a certified organic wholesaler of bedding plants to the Nelson and Slocan Valley area. We took over the business after a decade of working for Brenda… Keep Reading
An Important Solution for Conservation of Bees and Other Insect Pollinators Saikat Kumar Basu Insects such as bees (Order-Hymenoptera), some species of flies (Order-Dipetra) and beetles (Order-Coleoptera), moths and butterflies (Order-Lepidoptera), under the Class-Insecta and Phylum-Arthropoda constitute an important army of natural pollinators that help in the process of pollination in several important crops and… Keep Reading
Michael Ekers and Charles Levkoe Originally published by Ecological Farmers Association of Ontario in Ecological Farming in Ontario, Volume 37, Issue 2. This is part 2 of a 4 part series on research into unpaid farm labour. While the research was conducted with farms in Ontario, much of the findings likely carry over to BC.… Keep Reading
An Ecological Partnership in Biological Control Marjorie Harris, BSC, P.Ag. A magical event takes place each spring in Walter Harvey’s orchard. As the sun warms and thaws the landscape into frost free days, the Ladybugs that spent the winter huddled together in the cracks and crevices of Snowy Mountain’s rocky faced peak emerge in the… Keep Reading
Gabe Cipes Editor’s note: Aquaponics is a hotly debated topic in the organic sector. As the BC Organic Grower strives to make space for open discussion on all things organic, these pages provide an excellent forum to examine aquaponics in an organic context. The fate and state of the world now depends on innovation in… Keep Reading
Blain Hjertaas Holistic Management is a decision making system that helps us make better decisions. It teaches us to make decisions that are simultaneously sociologically, environmentally, and economically sound. The end result is happy people, healthy profits, and regenerating soils. Holistic Management emphasizes principles of regenerating the soil. Our modern industrial approach to agriculture has… Keep Reading
Editor’s note: We’re taking a detour from the usual Organic Standards focus of Footnotes to explore the inspiration that can strike while working in the field. A farmer’s life is more than physical labour and paperwork—spending so much time in the natural world opens a window into art for many, including Cathie Allen, who wrote… Keep Reading
Rebecca Kneen Most of us in BC live on unceded territory—territory that was appropriated by settlers from Indigenous peoples without treaty. We are beginning, finally, to explore the implications of this condition on our relationship with the land and our Indigenous neighbours. We are learning that we live within a great contradiction: we want to… Keep Reading
