https://www.thegardensaltspring.com/The Garden Salt Spring Island | cold-hardy citrus & avocado production in Canada | growing healthy soils & nutrient dense food | anaerobic digestion & Johnson-Su

Forest Gardens

A regenerative farm & permaculture education center on Salt Spring Island. Soil amendments, nursery plants, farm produce & design courses — growing in service to life.

A social-ecological framework for analyzing and designing integrated crop–livestock systems from farm to territory levels

Integrated crop–livestock systems are often considered a promising way to address agricultural sustainability issues. Many authors claim that complementarities and synergies between crops and livestock can improve nutrient cycling and delivery of ecosystem services (ES) in agricultural systems. They have analyzed effects of interactions at the farm level and affirmed the potential advantage of developing crop–livestock interactions at the territory level. However, potential benefits of developing synergies beyond the farm level have not been clearly identified. Thus, we developed a conceptual framework that can be used to analyze, design and perform integrated assessment of crop–livestock systems at the territory level. To address crop–livestock interaction issues, we define it as a social-ecological system called the territorial crop–livestock system (TCLS). The ecological system is represented as three interacting components, crops, grasslands and animals, allowing description of various land uses and their potential effects on nutrient cycling and ES. The social system, represented as farmers interacting with natural-resource managers and agro-food chain actors, determines land use and the nature and intensity of ES delivered. We highlight the importance of coordination and learning among actors to support implementation of complex adaptive systems such as TCLSs. We illustrate the expressive power of our conceptual framework through development of a generic typology of crop–livestock systems. Then we show how our conceptual framework can be used as an intermediary object with stakeholders in participatory design approaches. We illustrate this process by representing four archetypal TCLSs. We provide an example of the design approach implemented in Southwestern France to address severe recurrent water shortages, which includes analysis of land use in the current crop–livestock system and the associated key metabolic and ES issues, identification of options for change and multi-criteria analysis of these options. We conclude that this framework shows great potential to support development of sustainable farming systems at the territory level.

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INVESTING IN REGENERATIVE AGRICULTURE AND FOOD

THE INVESTING IN REGENERATIVE AGRICULTURE AND FOOD PODCASTThrough 400+ interviews with farmers, investors, scientists, and entrepreneurs, the podcast puts the spotlight on the pioneers in the regenerative food and agriculture space to learn more on how to put our money to work to regenerate soil, people, local communities and ecosystems while making an appropriate and fair return.

Agriculture research summaries

Read short summaries of agricultural studies tailored to B.C. farmers and producers.

Living Systems Network – Living Systems Network

Holding space to build and celebrate community to #coGrow and #coCook. coFood Vancouver catalyzes neighbours and projects doing good work in our food communities. Together we practice collaborative urban farming through a #permaculture lens, and convene dinners & dialogues on #foodwaste - #foodsupply - #foodjustice - #foodtech - #foodeducation

Hidden Pond Permaculture Farm

Permaculture Farm on Gabriola Island, BC

Some recent developments in controlled-environment agriculture: on plant physiology, sustainability, and autonomous control

In this review, we highlight some recent developments in controlled-environment agriculture (CEA), discuss its sustainability and provide a future outlook, mainly based on recently published work f...

The SAGE Community Coordinator: A Demonstration

Sustainable polyculture gardens thrive more effectively when they are designed with an awareness of other gardens in the community, as opposed to as individual gardens. However, the complex characteristics of plants, and their relations to other plant species in terms of needs and capacities, require a complex knowledge base not easily acquired by novice gardeners. We contribute a demonstration of our project, called the Software for Agricultural Ecosystems (SAGE) Community Coordinator, that helps manage the complexities of plant relationships and provides planting suggestions based on existing plants in adjacent garden sites. The research team collected the requirements and developed a preliminary demonstration of this system. This demonstration shows the feasibility of the idea and lays the foundation for a more comprehensive implementation of the SAGE Community Coordinator. By doing so, this paper explores the use of technology to foster the establishment of complex plant assemblages in urban and suburban areas to address the current and future limits of material resources derived from plants.

How to Make Lactic Acid Bacteria with KNF (Korean Natural Farming)

Learn how to cultivate lactic acid bacteria to create an amazing probiotic for your garden and farm.

Fermentation of cucumbers brined with calcium chloride instead of sodium chloride

Waste water containing high levels of NaCl from cucumber fermentation tank yards is a continuing problem for the pickled vegetable industry. A major reduction in waste salt could be achieved if NaCl were eliminated from the cucumber fermentation process. The objectives of this project were to ferment cucumbers in brine containing CaCl(2) as the only salt, to determine the course of fermentation metabolism in the absence of NaCl, and to compare firmness retention of cucumbers fermented in CaCl(2) brine during subsequent storage compared to cucumbers fermented in brines containing both NaCl and CaCl(2) at concentrations typically used in commercial fermentations. The major metabolite changes during fermentation without NaCl were conversion of sugars in the fresh cucumbers primarily to lactic acid which caused pH to decrease to less than 3.5. This is the same pattern that occurs when cucumbers are fermented with NaCl as the major brining salt. Lactic acid concentration and pH were stable during storage and there was no detectable production of propionic acid or butyric acid that would indicate growth of spoilage bacteria. Firmness retention in cucumbers fermented with 100 to 300 mM CaCl(2) during storage at a high temperature (45 degrees C) was not significantly different from that obtained in fermented cucumbers with 1.03 M NaCl and 40 mM CaCl(2). In closed jars, cucumber fermentations with and without NaCl in the fermentation brine were similar both in the chemical changes caused by the fermentative microorganisms and in the retention of firmness in the fermented cucumbers.

Diversification and ecosystem services for conservation agriculture: Outcomes from pastures and integrated crop–livestock systems | Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems | Cambridge Core

Diversification and ecosystem services for conservation agriculture: Outcomes from pastures and integrated crop–livestock systems - Volume 28 Issue 2

Salt Spring Island

Salt Spring Island or Saltspring Island is one of the Gulf Islands in the Strait of Georgia between mainland British Columbia, Canada, and Vancouver Island.