By the time this episode airs, the newest version of the Canadian Organic Standards will have been published. This is a big deal! We only get an update to the standards every five years, and only after a multi-year process involving dozens of people, many of them volunteers, collectively devoting thousands of hours of their time to the endeavor.

To mark this momentous achievement, this episode we’ll take a look at the massive effort that goes into each cycle of updates to the Canadian Organic Standards, and we’ll learn why these updates are so important.

My guests this episode are Rochelle Eisen, who chaired a working group of the 2025 Review of the Candian Organic Standards, and Nic Walser, who sat on the Technical Committee.

If the updated standards have been published by the time you're reading this, you'll be able to find them here.

This episode, my interview with Dr. Juli Carillo, associate professor in the faculty of Land & Food Systems at UBC Vancouver.

Together with her UBC colleague Dr. Claire Kremen, Juli’s Organic Science Cluster 4 research is exploring how on-farm habitat can be amended to intensify beneficial ecological interactions. Translation: how can we increase and support biodiversity on the farm that in turn supports farm production goals? Juli joins me to outline her project and her results so far.

This episode, my interview with Dr. Loren Rieseberg, Professor of Botany at UBC Vancouver about his Organic Science Cluster 4 research.

Dr. Rieseberg and his team are combining genomics, ecophysiology, and participatory plant breeding with a goal of developing climate resilient veggie cultivars that are better adapted to organic production systems. Translation: this project wants to create improved, open-pollinated carrot and lettuce varieties for Canadian organic farmers, and Dr. Rieseberg joined me to tell me about combining traditional and technological breeding techniques in order to do so.

This episode, a focus on cover cropping north of the 60th parallel, where long days and short growing seasons limit the applicability of the standard advice about cover cropping that was developed for farmers much further south.

We’ll learn how the unique climatic and growing conditions in the north influence which benefits of cover cropping to prioritize and which species to plant, and the limitations to and challenges of growing a cover crop successfully.

You’re going to hear from two people in this episode: an Alaska-based soil scientist and a Yukon-based veggie grower.

Caley Gasch is a research assistant professor at University of Alaska Faribanks. She leads a research program focused on soil ecology, plant-soil interactions, how soils respond to environmental change and how we can build and maintain healthy soils.

Sarah Ouellette grows mixed veggies at Sarah's Harvest, 50km north of Whitehorse.

In this episode:

Tom Forge, a research scientist at the Summerland Research & Development Centre.

Kip Cantrell, garlic grower at Thistle Farm in the Creston Valley.

This document from Oregon State University Extension is a good primer on biofumigation.

Our guest for this episode is Lisa Zabek, Agroforestry Specialist at the BC Ministry of Agriculture, who joined us to explain how silvopasture systems work, the benefits these systems deliver when practiced well, and highlight examples of silvopasture in practice in BC.

For more information about Silvopasture practices, this BC MInistry of Agriculture page is a good place to start.

This podcast was funded by the Climate Agri-Solutions Fund. Funding for the Climate Agri-Solutions Fund has been provided by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada through the Agricultural Climate Solutions – On-Farm Climate Action Fund.

Farmer Rob Larson operates a mixed livestock operation that covers around 5000 acres Northwest of Fort St. John, in BC’s Peace country. The encroachment of wild rosebush onto some of Rob’s fields has been an ongoing challenge that Rob used to manage with repeated tillage. This approach is effective, but, as we’ll hear, also costly from both an economic and ecological perspective. So, back in 2017, Rob teamed up with the Peace River Forage Association to conduct a trial to explore whether winter bale grazing his cattle in areas of rosebush encroachment could suppress the advance of the rosebush and other woody perennials while improving his soil at the same time. In this interview, Rob will summarize the trial, as well as provide an update on the state of his field edges since then.

Later on, we’ll hear from Sandra Burton, a soil scientist who worked with Rob on this project.

This episode features two compelling arguments for the use of cover crops in field crop or vegetable production. In the first segment, we’ll learn about a Fraser Valley Dairy Farmer’s experience with planting a relay cover crop once his silage corn is established, and the benefits he’s realized from that effort.

After that, an Agriculture & Agri-food Canada researcher will tell us why it is so very important, if not imperative, that BC’s field crop and veggie farmers start including cover cropping in their weed management plans.

My guests this episode:

Holger Schwichtenberg of Holberg Dairy Farm in Agassiz, BC

Jichul Bae, Researcher at Agriculture & Agrifood Canada's Agassiz Research & Development Centre

This episode: the final chapter in our miniseries on rotational grazing in collaboration with BC’s Small Scale Meat Producers Association.

This one features a long-form conversation with rancher Joseph Moilliet of Avely Ranch, a sheep and cattle operation in Vavenby, British Columbia. Management-intensive rotational grazing is a major pillar in Joseph’s approach to sustainable livestock management.

Rotational grazing is the main focus of this conversation, but you’ll also hear Joseph talk about other practices he uses to improve the health and productivity of his soil, such as winter bale grazing and an avoid-tillage-at-all-costs approach to pasture rejuvenation.

Mentioned in this episode:

Check out the Small Scale Meat Producers Youtube Page!

You'll find lots of videos about fencing and rotational grazing at the SSMPA Youtube page.

This episode: the next chapter in our miniseries on rotational grazing in collaboration with BC’s Small Scale Meat Producers Association. In the first two episodes, we learned about the fundamental principles of rotational grazing from forage specialist Woody Lane. Woody described the ideal approach to management intensive rotational grazing if we want to get the most out of this system.

But! It’s called ‘management intensive grazing’ for a reason. Conducting our grazing this way is labour intensive, which can make it difficult, when things get busy, to avoid violating the fundamental principles that Woody described.

My two guests in this episode are here to tell you that that’s okay, sometimes at least, to break the rules, and to give examples of how they break the rules on their own farms.

My guests this episode:

Joseph Moilliet of Aveley Ranch in Vavenby, who we'll hear a lot more from in the next episode.

Steve Meggait of Fresh Valley Farms in Spallumcheen, who also featured in episodes 44 & 45 of this podcast.

Mentioned in this episode:

Check out the Small Scale Meat Producers Youtube Page!

You'll find lots of videos about fencing and rotational grazing at the SSMPA Youtube page.

Lisa has spent a lot of her career in vineyards consulting with farmers on beneficial management practices, including cover cropping. She’s a big believer in the positive role cover crops can play both in both the mid-row and under the vines, and so I asked her to join me to summarize the benefits of cover cropping in the vineyard. We also talk about species selection, the tools required, circumstances where she advises against the use of cover crops, and plenty more.

The last few years, farmer and videographer Sarah Stewart has been working with Organic BC on some extension work that has involved a pretty big focus on emerging technologies for mechanical weed management. She’s learned a tonne about autonomous weeding robots and the use of lasers and electricity, and the increasing role that artificial intelligence is playing in the age-old battle to keep the weeds at bay. But gathering information was only half the job. The other half was to share it. Among other things, Sarah has produced videos about her findings and hosted equipment demonstrations around BC and coordinated conference panels and, behind the scenes, helped me produce the episodes about weeding agritech that you may have already listened to on this podcast.

I asked Sarah for an interview because it recently struck me how well-positioned she is to talk about the strengths and limitations of the newest generation of weeding agri-tech. What you’ll hear is that she’s bullish on the role she expects these tools will play on BC farms over the long term, but perhaps not right away. Listen to hear why!

Then: a segment of my conversation with Dr. Jichul Bae, a researcher at Agriculture and Agrifood Canada based at the Agassiz Research and Development Centre. Jichul focuses on weed management and is an expert on herbicide resistant weeds. I had requested an interview with Jichul to talk about the strengths and limitations of weeding agritech. We ended up having a wide-ranging conversation. I’ll only be sharing a piece of it here, in which we talk about how good weeds are at adapting to our weed management strategies, especially when we rely too much on one form of management, regardless of the form in question. I’m including this segment here because, in the midst of all the hype around the promise of the newest generation of mechanical weeding technology, Jichul wants us to consider that no single approach should be thought of as a panacea.

This episode of the Organic BC Podcast was funded by the Governments of Canada and British Columbia through the Sustainable Canada Agricultural Partnership. Opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the host and guests and not necessarily those of the Governments of Canada or British Columbia. The Governments of Canada and British Columbia and their directors, agents, employees, or contractors will not be liable for any claims, damages, or losses of any kind whatsoever arising out of the use of, or reliance upon, this information.

First: Gabriel Demarco. Gabe is the head winemaker and viticulturalist at Cave Spring Vineyard in the Niagara region of Ontario. I reached out to Gabe because at his vineyard he’s been working with a battery-operated vineyard robot called TED. It’s manufactured by Naio, an agritech company located in france. In Canada, the TED is distributed by Haggerty Agrobotics, whose president, Chuck Haggerty, we heard from in episode 53 last year.

Then: Matthew Carr. Matt is the BC Operations Manager for the Vegetable Division of Monette Farms, which grows organic and conventional produce for distribution in Western Canda and parts of the western US. Matt has been using a robotic weeder called The Smart Cultivator, manufactured by Stout primarily to tackle weeding in horticultural crops.

This episode of the Organic BC Podcast was funded by the Governments of Canada and British Columbia through the Sustainable Canada Agricultural Partnership. Opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the host and guests and not necessarily those of the Governments of Canada or British Columbia. The Governments of Canada and British Columbia and their directors, agents, employees, or contractors will not be liable for any claims, damages, or losses of any kind whatsoever arising out of the use of, or reliance upon, this information.

This episode, part two of our miniseries on rotational grazing in collaboration with BC’s Small Scale Meat Producers Association. The first two episodes will cover the fundamentals of managed rotational grazing in the context of the home farm or ranch. In this episode, part two of my conversation with Dr. Woody Lane, in which we discuss what Woody calls the four principles of managed rotational grazing, and address some of the skepticism that Woody hears from farmers when he presents workshops on the subject.

My guest for the first two episodes of this series is Dr. Woody Lane. Woody is a livestock nutritionist and forage specialist from Oregon. Woody has devoted much of his career to promoting the benefits of rotational grazing and teaching others how to implement successful rotational grazing techniques on their farms. He has written multiple books about management-intensive rotational grazing, including Capturing Sunlight: Skills & Ideas for Intensive Grazing, Sustainable Pastures, Healthy Soils, & Grassfed Livestock.

Mentioned in this episode:

Check out the SSMPA Youtube Page!

The Small Scale Meat Producers collaborated on this miniseries and have a great youtube page featuring lots of videos about grazing and fencing. Check it out!

SSMPA Youtube Page

This episode, we launch a miniseries on rotational grazing in collaboration with BC’s Small Scale Meat Producers Association. The first two episodes will cover the fundamentals of managed rotational grazing in the context of the home farm or ranch. In this episode, we’ll learn about the rationale for managed rotational grazing, also referred to as management intensive grazing, and the main concepts and tools that need to be understood in order for this approach to grazing to be effective.

My guest for the first two episodes of this series is Dr. Woody Lane. Woody is a livestock nutritionist and forage specialist from Oregon. Woody has devoted much of his career to promoting the benefits of rotational grazing and teaching others how to implement successful rotational grazing techniques on their farms. He has written multiple books about management-intensive rotational grazing, including Capturing Sunlight: Skills & Ideas for Intensive Grazing, Sustainable Pastures, Healthy Soils, & Grassfed Livestock.

Check out the Small Scale Meat Producers Youtube Channel for plenty of videos about rotational grazing and livestock fencing! https://www.youtube.com/@smallscalemeat

Mentioned in this episode:

Check out the SSMPA Youtube Page!

The Small Scale Meat Producers collaborated on this miniseries and have a great youtube page featuring lots of videos about grazing and fencing. Check it out!

SSMPA Youtube Page

At one point in my interviews with Emily we went on a bit of a tangent about becoming a more efficient carrot producer. I think this will be relevant to any small-scale farmer who’s considering scaling up one or more crops in order to sell bulk quantities to wholesale buyers...Emily does a great job summarizing the changes she had to make.

First: Brandi Smith of Bessette Creek Farm in Lumby.

Then: Anna Helmer of Helmer's Organic Farm in Pemberton.

This episode: The GAP Audit & Emily's Final Thoughts

Referenced int his episode: BC's On-farm Food Safety Funding

*****

This episode is part three of a miniseries about Good Agricultural Practices (GAP), a food safety certification designed for particpants in the fresh fruit & veggie supply chain. Increasingly, food distributors and grocery stores are requiring their suppliers to hold GAP certification.

This requirement has concerned many small-scale fruit & veggie growers, who believe that GAP certification was designed with a bias toward large-scale farming systems. They argue that GAP is too expensive and too inflexible to the alternate ways that diversified, small-scale farms operate. The result, they argue, is that the requirement of GAP certification by retailers and distributors represents an unfair barrier to their participation in those markets.

Access to wholesale markets is important to Emily Jubenvill, a diversfied small-scale farmer in the North Okanagan. In 2024, she applied for GAP certification in order to preserve her relationship with a few grocery stores in her region.

In this series, we'll track Emily's effort to obtain GAP certification, and talk to a couple of other small-scale farmers who obtained GAP, as we try to either confirm or disprove the concerns about GAP outlined above.

Optional background materials:

A previous episode of The Organic BC Podcast on this subject

Understanding the Safe Food for Canadians Regulation

Canada GAP website

This episode: In Pursuit of GAP Certification.

*****

This episode is part two of a miniseries about Good Agricultural Practices (GAP), a food safety certification designed for particpants in the fresh fruit & veggie supply chain. Increasingly, food distributors and grocery stores are requiring their suppliers to hold GAP certification.

This requirement has concerned many small-scale fruit & veggie growers, who believe that GAP certification was designed with a bias toward large-scale farming systems. They argue that GAP is too expensive and too inflexible to the alternate ways that diversified, small-scale farms operate. The result, they argue, is that the requirement of GAP certification by retailers and distributors represents an unfair barrier to their participation in those markets.

Access to wholesale markets is important to Emily Jubenvill, a diversfied small-scale farmer in the North Okanagan. In 2024, she applied for GAP certification in order to preserve her relationship with a few grocery stores in her region.

In this series, we'll track Emily's effort to obtain GAP certification, and talk to a couple of other small-scale farmers who obtained GAP, as we try to either confirm or disprove the concerns about GAP outlined above.

Optional background materials:

A previous episode of The Organic BC Podcast on this subject

Understanding the Safe Food for Canadians Regulation

Canada GAP website

This requirement has concerned many small-scale fruit & veggie growers, who believe that GAP certification was designed with a bias toward large-scale farming systems. They argue that GAP is too expensive and too inflexible to the alternate ways that diversified, small-scale farms operate. The result, they argue, is that the requirement of GAP certification by retailers and distributors represents an unfair barrier to their participation in those markets.

Access to wholesale markets is important to Emily Jubenvill, a diversfied small-scale farmer in the North Okanagan. In 2024, she applied for GAP certification in order to preserve her relationship with a few grocery stores in her region.

In this series, we'll track Emily's effort to obtain GAP certification, and talk to a couple of other small-scale farmers who obtained GAP, as we try to either confirm or disprove the concerns about GAP outlined above.

Optional background materials:

A previous episode of The Organic BC Podcast on this subject

Understanding the Safe Food for Canadians Regulation

Canada GAP website

University of Wisconsin-Madison soil scientist Matthew Ruark joins us to talk about some research he co-authored on the use of cover crops to reduce nutrient pollution following a manure application, and how to limit the potential agronomic tradeoffs of this practice.

You can read a summary of the research we discuss here.

Marcelo Moretti is a Weed Science Specialist and an Associate Professor with the Department of Horticulture at Oregon State University.

This episode of the Organic BC Podcast was funded through Sustainable Canada Agricultural Partnership, a federal-provincial-territorial initiative. 

Opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the host and guests and not necessarily those of the Government of Canada or the BC Ministry of Agriculture and Food. The Government of Canada, the BC Ministry of Agriculture and Food, and their directors, agents, employees, or contractors will not be liable for any claims, damages, or losses of any kind whatsoever arising out of the use of, or reliance upon, this information.

Here's a link for listeners who want to be able to picture these tools as they listen.

Our guests will also summarize some of the options currently being tested by the AgRobotics Working Group, which is an initiative spearheaded by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture that brings representatives from government, academia and the farming industry together to discuss and test some of the new robotic technology available for farmers to consider.

Kristen Obeid is CoChair of the AgRobotics Working Group and a Weed Specialist with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food & Rural Affairs.

Chuck Haggerty is a farmer and the President of Haggerty AgRobotics.

This episode of the Organic BC Podcast was funded through Sustainable Canada Agricultural Partnership, a federal-provincial-territorial initiative. 

Opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the host and guests and not necessarily those of the Government of Canada or the BC Ministry of Agriculture and Food. The Government of Canada, the BC Ministry of Agriculture and Food, and their directors, agents, employees, or contractors will not be liable for any claims, damages, or losses of any kind whatsoever arising out of the use of, or reliance upon, this information.

The conference runs November 7 through the 9th and you can learn more/get tickets at organicbc.org

COG's Organic Production Handbooks, where you can try (I failed) to find the book Paddy refers to in our conversation.

Also: Annelise and Tristan shout-out someone they admire in our community. Want to do that? Record a voice memo, email it to farmer@unearthedorganics.ca, and I'll put it in a future episode.

This episode: you can't run a successful rotational grazing system without good fencing! Rancher Tristan Banwell guest hosts to interview fencing expert Axle Boris of Fencefast about the crucial considerations for using electric fencing in a rotaional grazing setup.

A couple of items mentioned in this episode:

Short Tumble Wheel Video referenced in episode

BC Agricultural Fencing Handbook

Also, guest host Tristan Banwell's farm was recently featured as part of Organic BC's Organic Innovation Series

This episode was supported by the BC Climate Agri-Solutions Fund. Funding for the BC Climate Agri-Solutions Fund was provided by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada through the Agricultural Climate Solutions On-Farm Climate Action Fund.

Here's a link to the BC Ministry of Agriculture & Food's dedicated web page for nutrient management...lots of useful info and tools here.

This episode was supported by the BC Climate Agri-Solutions Fund. Funding for the BC Climate Agri-Solutions Fund was provided by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada through the Agricultural Climate Solutions On-Farm Climate Action Fund.

Some books Jacob recommends in the conversation:

Grizzlies & White Guys

21 Things You May Not Know About The Indian Act

Indigenous Writes

Shared Histories

This episode was funded by the BC Ministry of Agriculture & Food.

First up: Amy outlines the problem of farm-based greenhouse gas emissions, defines carbon sequestration, and suggests some practices that can lead to a net reduction in on-farm emissions. After that: Dieter raises his hand to say: not so fast! In our effort to reduce emissions, he says, we have to take into account our specific growing conditions in order to avoid increasing, rather than decreasing, our farm's contribution to climate change.

This episode was produced with support from the BC Ministry of Agriculture & Food. With special thanks to Emma Holmes, Organics Industry Specialist with the ministry for some help in producing this episode.

This time, we'll learn about cover cropping practices at Fresh Valley Farms, some of the vital tools and equipment in their operation, and Steve & Annelise' thoughts on the arrival of the word 'regenerative' in conversations about sustainable agriculture. You'll also hear their thoughts on where livestock fits in a sustainable food system, and their perspective on running a business with your spouse. 

Here's a link to a short video of the Tumblewheel Steve talks about.

Be sure to catch part two of this focus on Fresh Valley Farms. Next time, Steve & Annelise will talk about how and why the word 'regenerative' has gained momentum in conversations about sustainable agriculture, vital tools & equipment around the farm, cover cropping, and more!

Molly interviewed Tom so we can learn about the biology of plant-parasitic nematodes, how they impact tree fruit and other horticultural crops, and how growers can deal with them in organic production systems.

This episode, we go into more detail about the five year rotation  that the Helmers use to produce their potatoes, and how this rotation allows them to farm more or less without any off-farm soil inputs. We'll also cover a number of other topics that burn on the mind of a modern organic potato whisperer like Anna. 

The score for the second segment in this episode is called Glacier by SalmonLikeTheFish and is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License.

Using organic and biodynamic practices, the Helmers produce 15 varieties of beautiful potatoes that they have sold at farmers markets in BC's lower mainland for decades, and Anna joined me on the phone to tell me all about the farm. And she had a lot of interesting things to say, so I've divided our conversation into two parts. In this episode, we'll hear about the history of the farm, how the Helmers market their potatoes, and Anna will take us through a season of production on the farm.

In the next episode, we'll go into more detail about the five year rotation  that the Helmers use to produce their potatoes, and how this rotation allows them to farm more or less without any off-farm soil inputs. We'll also cover a number of other topics that burn on the mind of a modern organic potato whisperer like Anna. 

After that, we hear from Alyssa Belter of Plenty Wild Farms on the impact of extreme weather on her farm production in recent years.

The guests in this episode are Jesse MacDonald and Chris Pagliocchini

Herein, Manish talks about his lab's efforts to develop a microbe-based biopesticide that could be sprayed on crops like wheat and corn in order to protect those crops against fusarium wilt. Manish also describes research of crop wild relatives as a key to gaining insights for biopesticide development, the potential for plant breeders to factor beneficial microbe relationships into their selection practices, and the regulatory hurdles involved in developing these new techniques.

Manish, who heads the Raizada Lab at the University of Guelph, describs the evolution of the science behind biofertilizers, which centres on the use of microbes to provide nitrogen to plants, cites examples of successful commercialization of this technology, and describes the current challenges limiting a wider adoption of biofertilizers by farmers.

Also: a BC-based farmer responds to a questionnaire about the impacts of climate change on his farm.

Reid mentions:

The DIY Electric Farmer group on Facebook

DIY Electric Car

Reid's Youtube page

Enless Sphere

This episode of the Organic BC Podcast was funded by The BC Ministry of Agriculture and Food.

This episode, five BC farmers (and your host) talk about the challenges of 2021's chaotic weather events. With thanks to:

Chris Bodnar

Mike Broersma

Cameron Bell

Hermann Bruns

Molly Thurston

This episode is all about the British Columbia Certified Organic Program (BCCOP), the first province-wide organic program that existed in BC, and at present, fairly unique in North America because of its regional focus and its use of the peer-review process. There's so much to say about this program. It represents a through-line from the grassroots of the organic movement to the current regulatory environment. It was the first program in the world to implement a low-risk component. And it comes with built-in flexibility to innovate by creating certifications for emerging sectors like cannabis and aquaculture. Herein, we learn about the program's history and highlight a current debate about the program's basis in peer-review.

This episode: farmer and verification officer (and BC Organic Conference planning committee member) Jolene Swain talks to host Jordan Marr about the Permitted Substances List for organic operators in Canada (CAN/CGSB-32.311-2020, officially). This conversation is primarily for people who are new to certified organic production, but aims to be helpful for anyone who has struggled to interpret the list or understand how to avoid using restricted inputs in their operation.

In this episode, BC Organic Rancher Tristan Banwell describes changes to BC's slaughter regulations that took effect on October 1st, 2020. We begin our conversation with a brief review of how slaughter regulations have evolved in BC over the last two decades, leading up to these newest changes, which Tristan believes will create new opportunities for meat producers in the province, particularly those operating at a small scale. A must-listen for meat producers in BC!

Then, we're joined by food safety expert Elsie Friesen, who will help us better understand the regulatory landscape around food safety in BC, and explore options for operators who want to maintain access to wholesale markets.

Some helpful links:

Canada GAP

BC GAP Guidelines

A Handbook for Understanding the Safe Food For Canadians regulations

In this episode, guest interviewer (and our sector's Industry Specialist at the BC Ministry of Agriculture, Food & Fisheries!) Emma Holmes interviews Dru Yates, a pest & soil specialist with E.S. Cropconsult, based in the lower mainland. This is part two of two. Here, Emma & Dru discuss:

• IPM advice for new farmers
• B.C. Plant Health Lab for diagnostic support https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/industry/agriculture-seafood/animals-and-crops/plant-health/plant-health-laboratory
• New soil services soon to be offered by E.S. Crop Consult and the Agricultural Environmental Management Code of Practice https://escrop.com/  https://bcac.ca/aemcop/
• Field Guides: https://escrop.com/outreach

In this episode, guest interviewer (and our sector's Industry Specialist at the BC Ministry of Agriculture, Food & Fisheries!) Emma Holmes interviews Dru Yates, a pest & soil specialist with E.S. Cropconsult, based in the lower mainland. This is part one of two. Here, Emma & Dru discuss Dru's experience of the impacts of climate change on pest cycles, mass insect trapping techniques, and the use of robot beets to improve your crop handling.

Emma also reflects on the challenging farming conditions in 2021 and wants farmers to know that there is help available from the province. Here are a couple of links to programs aimed at helping those affected:

https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/industry/agriculture-seafood/programs/2021-wildfire-and-drought-agrirecovery-initiative 

https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/industry/agriservice-bc

In this episode, guest interviewer and rancher Tristan Banwell speaks with rancher Steve Kenyon about winter grazing strategies for the herd. Tristan is co-owner of Spray Creek Ranch in Lillooet, BC. Steve is a grazing expert and co-owner of Greener Pastures Ranching, in Busby, Alberta. In addition to managing a custom livestock-grazing operation, Steve is an author and speaker focused on sound farm business management and regenerative ranching practices.

Plant-growers take note: this is clearly one for the animal-farmers, but Steve's ideas on building what he calls "good soil armour" will be of interest to any farmer interested in improving their soil health!

This episode: a wide-ranging conversation with Kerry McCann and Andrew "Budgie" Budgell, co-owners of Laughing Crow Organics in Pemberton, BC. Laughing Crow is a diverse operation. Kerry & Budgie grow produce & cut-flowers for farmers markets and a CSA and in recent years have established a successful agritourism enterprise featuring a u-pick pumpkin patch and a sunflower maze. All of this production takes place on a lease at Across The Creek Organics, whose on-farm brewery dovetails rather nicely with the sunflower patch to bring tourists in droves to the picturesque property.

We've broken the conversation in two. In this episode, Kerry & Budgie discuss their agritourism operation, maintaining a good relationship with landlords, how they avoid tension in their business relationship and friendship, and the division of labour on the farm.

In part 1 you'll learn about the origins of the business and the cultivation tools that have transformed their operation.

This episode: a wide-ranging conversation with Kerry McCann and Andrew "Budgie" Budgell, co-owners of Laughing Crow Organics in Pemberton, BC. Laughing Crow is a diverse operation. Kerry & Budgie grow produce & cut-flowers for farmers markets and a CSA and in recent years have established a successful agritourism enterprise featuring a u-pick pumpkin patch and a sunflower maze. All of this production takes place on a lease at Across The Creek Organics, whose on-farm brewery dovetails rather nicely with the sunflower patch to bring tourists in droves to the picturesque property.

We've broken the conversation in two. In this episode, you'll learn about the origins of the business and the cultivation tools that have transformed their operation.

In the next episode Kerry & Budgie discuss their agritourism operation, maintaining a good relationship with landlords, how they avoid tension in their business relationship and friendship, and the division of labour on the farm.

One of our orcharding-focused Q&A sessions at last year's conference brought a lot of questions about Codling Moth Management from participants, so BC Orchardist & podcast guest host Molly Thurston sought out someone who could enlighten us on the subject! Molly's guest is Matthew Grieshop, formerly Michigan State University's Organic Pest Management Specialist, and just announced as the Director of Cal Poly's new Organic Production Research and Education Center. Codling Moth is a persistent pest in Matt's corner of the world, and he brings lots of insights for apple growers to this conversation.

The link to the project report referenced in this episode can be found here. 

Project contact

Raelani Kesler: rkesler@mail.ubc.ca

Project Funding Acknowledgement

Funding for The Climate Change Adaptation Program has been provided by the Governments of Canada and British Columbia through the Canadian Agricultural Partnership, a federal-provincial-territorial initiative. The program is delivered by the Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC.

Opinions expressed herein are those of the author and not necessarily those of the Governments of Canada and British Columbia or the Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC. The Governments of Canada and British Columbia, and the Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC, and their directors, agents, employees, or contractors will not be liable for any claims, damages, or losses of any kind whatsoever arising out of the use of, or reliance upon, this information.

Podcast Funding Acknowledgment

Funding for this project has been provided by the governments of Canada and British Columbia under the Canadian Agricultural Partnership, a federal-provincial-territorial initiative.

A recording of a presentation of this research (and more!) and the final project reports referenced in this episode can be found here.

This episode also discussed the BC nutrient management calculator and manure nutrient calculator.

Project Funding Acknowledgement

Funding for the research in this project has been provided in part by Organic Science Cluster 3 under the AgriScience program of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and Mitacs Career Connect.

Podcast Funding Acknowledgment

Funding for this podcast has been provided in part by the governments of Canada and British Columbia under the Canadian Agricultural Partnership, a federal-provincial-territorial initiative.

On this episode: guest interviewer Abra Bryne, who is a policy advisor with Farm Folk/City Folk, interviews Darrin Qualman in a wide ranging conversation about the climate crisis in the context of our food system. Darrin is the Director of Climate Crisis Policy and Action for the National Farmers Union. He is the author of the 2019 report Tackling the Farm Crisis and the Climate Crisis and the 2019 book Civilization Critical: Energy, Food, Nature, and the Future. He farmed for two decades and has academic degrees in history, biology, and political studies. Darrin also happens to be our keynote speaker for our live online session on February 28th, where he'll be expanding on some of the themes you hear in this conversation.

This episode features a conversation between Guest interviewer Tristan Banwell and Anne Macey, who is the president of the Saltspring Abattoir Society and also sits on the COABC accreditation board. So Anne knows a lot about livestock processing and a lot about the organic standards, which is why Tristan phoned Anne to talk about maintaining the organic integrity of your animals as they pass through the abattoir.

This episode, another chapter in our research roundup. This time, I speak with Dr. Nathan Pelletier, the NSERC/Egg Farmers of Canada Industrial Research Chair in Sustainability, about his work measuring the carbon footprint of organic farms in Canada. 

This episode, my conversation with farmer, academic, and author Chris Smaje. Chris is the author of a new book called A Small Farm Future: Making the Case for a Society Built Around Local Economies, Self-Provisioning, Agricultural Diversity, and a Shared Earth. The book takes as a given that various environmental, economic, and political crises of recent decades will bring about great changes to our society. Chris argues in the book that the best way to confront these changes is the establishment of low-carbon, locally self-reliant, agrarian communities. In this conversation, Chris and I will discuss the Small Farm Future he envisions.

This episode: guest interviewer Tristan Banwell interviews Dr. Charles Massey, Australian farmer, scientist, and author. His most recent book, Call of the Reed Warbler: explores regenerative agriculture and the connection between our soil and our health, and examines the ways our farming systems need to change to make them truly sustainable. 

This is a re-broadcast of an episode originally produced for the 2021 BC Organic Conference. You can learn about and purchase tickets for the 2022 conference at organicbc.org/conference

In this episode, we remember Linda Edwards.

This episode is dedicated to Linda Edwards, who died suddenly the day after she sat down for this interview. Linda was a tireless advocate for organic agriculture who advanced the sector in many ways. We produced a tribute to Linda as part of the 2021 conference podcast. It will be available on the Organic BC Podcast feed shortly.

This is a re-release of an episode produced for our 2021 conference podcast. We're hard at work on the 2022 conference, which will feature an in-person event in Kamloops, a podcast series, and some live-online sessions.

This is a re-release of an episode from our early-2021 organic conference podcast.

We also visit the conference trade show booth of Local Line, a Canadian e-commerce platform built for farmers and food suppliers.

This is a re-release from our 2021 BC Organic Conference podcast that initially broadcast in January 2021. We're busy producing a new podcast series that will be included as an option with your 2022 BC Organic Conference ticket.

We will also take a trip to the conference tradeshow. This episode: BC Food Web.

This is a re-release of an episode first issued as part of our 2021 BC Organic Conference. Learn more about the upcoming conference, which will include new podcast episodes, here!

Project contact info:

Dr. Moussa Diarra (Project Lead): moussa.diarra@canada.ca 

Dr. Kelly Ross (project team member): kelly.ross2@canada.ca 

Organic Science Cluster III project information website

https://www.dal.ca/faculty/agriculture/oacc/en-home/organic-science-cluster/OSCIII/livestock/activity-24.html

Contributing partners:

Wild Blueberry Association of North America

Fruit d’or

Centre de recherche en sciences animales de Deschambault

Rosebank Farms

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

This is a re-release originally produced for the 2021 BC Organic Conference.

We'll also visit the conference tradeshow! This time: we learn about Agriculture & Agrifood Canada's research stations in Summerland and Agassiz.

This is a re-release originally produced for the 2021 BC Organic Conference.

This is a re-release originally produced for the 2021 BC Organic Conference.

We'll also visit the conference tradeshow again! This time: a trip to the OMRI booth. 

This is a re-release that was originally produced for Organic BC's 2021 BC Organic Conference.

This episode is a re-release originally produced for Organic BC's 2021 BC Organic Conference.

We also take a trip to the conference tradeshow. This time: I speak with Brian Spencer of Applied Bio-Nomics, a BC-based source for biological pest control.

This episode is a re-release originally produced for Organic BC's 2021 BC Organic Conference.

Also in the episode, a trip to the 2021 conference tradeshow, featuring a conversation with Larry Seymour of BCS America and their line of walk-behind tractors, implements, and accessories.

This episode is a re-release originally produced for Organic BC's 2021 BC Organic Conference.