Serving Students and the Community as Dean

Serving Students and the Community as Dean

May 17, 2024

Serving Students and the Community as Dean

Dean Rickey Yada

When Dr. Rickey Yada started as Dean of the Faculty of Land and Food Systems back in 2014, he was asked by Dr. David Farrar, then UBC Provost and Vice-President, Academic, how he planned to build capacity.

“I said that I would focus on getting to know the people we serve—students, staff, faculty, alumni, partners, etc.—and being a good listener,” he says, recounting advice he received from other agricultural school deans.

“I spent a lot of time meeting people, even before I officially started, to try and understand the interests and needs of those we serve.”

Now, with his two terms as Dean coming to a close on Sept. 30, 2024, the Faculty’s capacity has grown in several ways. The number of undergraduate students has increased from 1,477 in 2014 to 1,759 in 2023. Similarly, the Faculty’s stronger focus on research and on developing professional programs has led to a 71% jump in graduate students in the same time frame.

He is a triple alum of UBC’s Faculty of Land and Food Systems (BSc in Agriculture, MSc, PhD). Known as someone who places a high priority on supporting students, Dr. Yada is well-recognized when he walks the hallways, having served as a mentor, a judge in case competitions, and a cheerful volunteer, even if it involves sitting in a dunk tank.

“I think it means a lot to the students when faculty get involved, because then they realize, ‘wow they’re interested and they care.’ When I was a student, I don’t know if I knew who the Dean was or what the Dean did. I’ve always been student facing, which is why I started the Dean for a Day contest. It gave students a chance to shadow me and get a glimpse of how UBC runs from behind the scenes.”

Before joining UBC, Dr. Yada worked at the University of Guelph and served in many leadership roles, including Department Chair, and Assistant Vice-President of Research. Also, from 2003-2011, he was the Scientific Director, Advanced Foods and Materials Network, a Networks of Centres of Excellence (NCE) that brought together 26 institutions and more than 200 graduate students.

From NCE, he saw the value of multi-disciplinary collaboration across the tri-council mandates (from life science/engineering
to health sciences to social science and humanities). This seeded a desire to foster collaboration across Faculties, and to
hire faculty members who are cross-appointed with other units at UBC—such as engineering, science, forestry, business, and
arts—to benefit research and teaching.

“To me, where faculty members live administratively isn’t important. It’s what they do when we establish partnerships/
collaborations that’s important, and I think they help identify opportunities that may not have been apparent when they are
embedded in a single Faculty.” He believes the role of a Dean is to identify opportunities and facilitate success.

Dr. Yada launched two five-year strategic plans, one early in his tenure and then an updated one in 2021. The latest plan came out in a more complex time—during the pandemic, with climate changes impacting us in B.C., and with the acknowledgement that the university needed to enhance efforts to advance equity, diversity, inclusion and Indigeneity (EDI.I).

These factors helped to shape the most recent strategic plan which entwines the UN Sustainable Development Goals within the Faculty’s core areas of strengths. “I think LFS had a lot of good people within the Faculty. I wasn’t sure there was focus for the Faculty. The breadth of expertise that we have is quite large but I thought it was quite important that everyone shoot for the North Star.”

In addition, to align the Faculty with UBC’s EDI.I initiatives, he created two new roles: Associate Dean of Equity, Decolonization, and Inclusion (Dr. William Valley); and, Senior Manager, Indigeneity (Dana-Lyn Mackenzie).

Research is another area that has seen an increase in capacity during Dr. Yada’s tenure, with the average annual research
funding per faculty member rising from $198,000 in 2016 to approximately $354,000 in 2023.

“That was a combination of a number of things. We hired really well when it came to young faculty members and they’ve done a superb job. Also, Nick Grant (Research Facilitator), Baohua Wang (Research Assistant), and David Kitts (Associate Dean, Research) have been game changers. Their whole attention is making sure that the quality of the applications is the best
it can be.”

He is proud of how land and food systems has been a leader in experiential learning, enabling students to develop complex problem-solving skills through working with community partners. These could be local partners through the LFS core series of courses (Land, Food and Community), or partners further afield through programs such as Global Resource Systems.

Students can also dig-in and learn first-hand about food production and regenerative agriculture at the Faculty’s 24-hectare UBC Farm site or at the Dairy Education and Research Centre in Agassiz, B.C.

The Faculty is in the midst of three capital projects that have resulted from Dr. Yada connecting with industry, and balancing both community and economic needs. The first is the Food and Beverage Innovation Centre (FBIC) at UBC, which will support B.C.’s food and beverage entrepreneurs through new product research and development, testing, and industry training.

“The FBIC was a project we talked about back when I was a student, so I’m excited to see that it is near completion.”

The second is a new building at UBC Farm, a jewel at UBC but one of the campus’ best-kept secrets. The building is moving into design phase and once completed, it will support, teaching, research and community outreach. Finally, the renovation and installation of robotic milkers at the Dairy Education and Research Centre (DERC) in Agassiz, B.C., recently completed, further enhancing DERC as a world-class research site.

Never one to sit still, Dr. Yada will turn his experience to the University of Alberta where he will become Dean, Faculty of
Agricultural, Life and Environmental Sciences starting Oct. 1. The question asked most often is whether he can wear shorts
in Edmonton? He seems to think so.

“I say ‘yes’ because I’m going to be indoors 98% of the time. I understand there are tunnels or walkways between the buildings and I won’t have to be exposed to the weather, so I don’t see why I can’t. But ask me after a year of being there,” he quips.

Dr. Yada’s advice for students:

This is an opportunity to build your network.
Some of my best friends I met during my time here
as an undergraduate or graduate student. Some of
these friends have identified opportunities. Some of these
people you meet may be your employer – even if they aren’t classmates, they’re alumni, etc.

If you see an opportunity, I think you need to take it.
Not foolishly – but if you don’t, then you’re in that
no-persons’ land of should have, could have, would have.
For me personally, that’s not a good feeling because it’s an
opportunity lost.

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New Research Centre Aims to Tackle Food Insecurity

May 17, 2024

New Research Centre Aims to Tackle Food Insecurity

Dr. Anubhav Pratap-Singh

The concept of food security was one of the main reasons Dr. Anubhav Pratap-Singh became a scientist. “There was a crucial and well-known United Nations declaration that said every individual should have the right to safe and nutritious food,” says the LFS Associate Professor, whose research focuses on technological innovations in food processing.

“And from a very early stage, that was what motivated me in my education and career.”

That original inspiration is about to come to full fruition in Dr. Pratap-Singh’s latest role as Director of UBC’s highly anticipated new Food and Beverage Innovation Centre (FBIC). Scheduled to open later in 2024, the centre—a unique collaboration between LFS, industry, government and other leading institutions—will tackle pressing and complex food security challenges in a dynamic and pioneering research program.

Food insecurity, says Dr. Pratap-Singh, can affect all levels of society. In undeveloped regions, war or political instability might
disrupt agricultural operations or supply systems. While in richer nations, rising grocery prices or local crop failures due to climate
change can compromise general access and availability. The right to safe and healthy food, he adds, can never be taken for granted—but innovation can provide some vital tools to help safeguard it.

Dr. Anubhav Pratap-Singh

Those tools, says Dr. Pratap-Singh, need to be as multifaceted as the problems and that’s where the FBIC comes in. While the
majority of food producers might struggle on their own with the economics of developing new products and approaches, the centre aims to step in and become their innovation partner. “Our main purpose is to provide a platform for farmers and producers
to access and try out innovative technologies, creating new solutions to a wide range of food security challenges.”

The centre, he adds, will be fully equipped with top-notch facilities—from a 1,000-litre fermenter to high-pressure food processing
equipment—enabling it to pinpoint, investigate and tackle the kind of problems and solutions producers are keen to address. The resulting practical innovations could range from products with longer shelf lives to reducing food waste in production systems or from increasing food security in vegan diets to upcycling processing byproducts back into the food system.

“Necessity is the mother of invention, and right now we need more innovation in our food systems than ever before. That’s the most exciting thing about the new Food and Beverage Innovation Centre, but it’s also perhaps its biggest challenge in terms of food security: to work with and help the maximum number of companies, producers and farmers as we can.”

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New Faculty Profile: Leluo Guan

May 17, 2024

New Faculty Profile: Leluo Guan

Dr. Leluo Guan joins the Faculty as a Professor in the Applied Biology Program and Canada Research Chair (Tier 1) in Animal Functional Genomics and Microbiome.

Dr. Guan received her Master’s degree and PhD in pharmaceutical science from Kyoto University. She then completed her postdoc at the University of Alberta (U of A) studying anti-cancer drugs, including how they can potentially inhibit cancer cell growth or kill cancer cells in humans.

After hearing about an exciting opportunity that incorporated her research on anti-cancer drugs and her passion for microbiology, Dr. Guan decided to pursue a job back in Japan.

“I decided to go back to Japan because I always wanted to go back to microbiology research and I love the ocean. They had a position open with anti-cancer drug discovery, specifically using marine bacteria, marine sponges and marine algae.”

She then decided to move back to Canada with her young family and returned to the U of A, where she had the opportunity to incorporate animals into her research for the first time.

Dr. Guan participated in a research team that contributed to the first genome sequencing in the International Bovine Genome Sequencing Project, a project that helps to advance our understanding of animal health research and reduce agriculture’s
impact on the environment.

Just prior to joining UBC, Dr. Guan was a Professor in the Department of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science at the U of A, where she developed and led a world-class research program focused on microbial-host interactions and functional genomics in cattle.

Her research aims to improve production efficiency and the health and welfare of cattle, as well as reducing the carbon footprint of cattle, resulting in a more sustainable and competitive industry. For example, her research team is trying to use advanced genomics and microbiome technology to identify novel enzymes and probiotics that can improve digestive efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in cattle.

“If cattle digest feed more efficiently in the rumen, they produce less methane. Secondly, if they digest more feed in their gut, there
will be less feces secreted into the environment,” explains Dr. Guan.

At UBC, Dr. Guan has already collaborated with researchers in various fields, from food safety and dairy to aquaculture, chemistry
and computer science. “Microbiome-based novel solutions are very key and can be implemented into real, problem-solving situations. You can work everywhere – in environment, food, medicine, livestock, soil.”

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Solutions to Supply Chain Challenges

May 17, 2024

Solutions to Supply Chain Challenges

Dr. James Vercammen

Social media during the pandemic broadcast countless images of empty grocery store shelves, often fuelling panic buying among shoppers. But in reality, according to Professor of Food and Resource Economics Dr. James Vercammen, supply systems held up well throughout this uniquely demanding time. “Similar to previous crises, our local and global food supply chain demonstrated a high degree of resilience during the COVID pandemic through a rapid redeployment of available labour and repositioning of available food stocks.”

But that’s not a cause for complacency, adds Dr. Vercammen, a joint appointment between LFS and the Sauder School of Business who teaches highly insightful classes on Managerial Economics and the Strategic Economic Analysis of AgriFood Markets. His ongoing research work also includes a rigorous statistical analysis of prices, informing a deep-level understanding of cost transmission and its effects on consumers.

While supply chains have been adept at weathering temporary shocks, says Dr. Vercammen, costs within those systems have surged in recent years. And that has triggered price rises and a period of sustained inflation, directly impacting consumers’ ability to access affordable food. “Immediately after COVID, costs at every level of production—from labour to ingredients to transportation—began rising. And these costs are currently being routinely passed on to consumers through higher prices,” he says.

As supply chains struggle to find ways to absorb their increasing costs, there are also additional—and potentially far more stressful––pressures waiting in the wings. “Climate change is the biggest future challenge for supply systems. And at this stage,
we’re only just starting to understand how it could impact our food chains,” says Dr. Vercammen, who was raised on a Saskatchewan grain and cattle farm and is a past-president of the Canadian Agricultural Economics Society.

While some experts suggest bolstering local supply chains could be the answer to future woes, Dr. Vercammen believes the far more complex global system is likely better positioned to maintain food access in times of stress. And he expects increasing
innovation to become a key factor in the efficacy of these systems. “Big data and artificial intelligence will play much bigger roles in food production, enabling food to be produced at far more optimal levels. While some view these technologies as scary, I believe we need to do whatever it takes to produce enough food.”

We’re fortunate in B.C., adds Dr. Vercammen, that we have resilient local food systems as well as access to strong regional and global supply chains. But there is always room for improvement. “Every time there’s a crisis—avian flu or crop failures in California, for example—we gain more knowledge about how to manage and improve supply chains. And I know that farmers and producers are working hard to adapt and innovate. In terms of resiliency, I’m concerned about the challenges that lie ahead but I also remain optimistic.”

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New Faculty Profile: Dr. Michael Zulyniak

May 17, 2024

New Faculty Profile: Dr. Michael Zulyniak

Dr. Michael Zulyniak is the newest faculty member to join the Human Nutrition group. His research is focused on how diet, metabolism and genetics integrate to affect health and disease risk across populations. At UBC, he will work with families at all stages of pregnancy to tease apart how changes in lifestyle can counter unavoidable biological risks, and improve the overall health of parents and their offspring.

Dr. Zulyniak’s academic history began at the University of Saskatchewan with an undergraduate degree in Kinesiology. His interest in the molecular responses to exercise and health benefits took him to the University of Aberdeen in Scotland, and then to a PhD at the University of Guelph to study the effects of nutrition on metabolic pathways linked to diabetes. It was at Guelph that he first noticed that certain nutrients associate with metabolic health differently between ethnic groups.

During his postdoctoral fellowship at McMaster University, Dr. Zulyniak studied how a mother’s risk of developing diabetes during pregnancy (i.e., gestational diabetes) could affect their offspring’s health at birth and in later life. The proportion of people with gestational diabetes within certain ethnic groups (e.g., South Asian, Saudi Arabian) can be twice as high, compared to white Europeans.

These outcomes are driven by a mix of genetic, environmental, and cultural factors, which are difficult to analyze due to differing
amounts of existing data for ethnic minority groups. Dr. Zulyniak joins us after seven years at the University of Leeds where his work confirms that differences in metabolism—partly driven by unique genetic features—account for some of the disparity in gestational diabetes risk between ethnic groups.

In addition, prevailing diet recommendations might not be amenable for everyone, due to factors like culture, family dynamics, or affordability—which were rarely considered in the past. A portion of Dr. Zulyniak’s work looks at barriers faced by people, and facilitates new health strategies that appreciate their fundamental lifestyle.

He hopes his research can lead to a deeper understanding of the biological systems that mediate disease risk within diverse populations, inform national and global strategies towards equitable health, and reduce the disease risk disparity between
population groups.

“UBC is perfectly suited to lead this area of research with a collaborative, multi-ethnic, and culturally sensitive research community,” Dr. Zulyniak says. “Here, we can be on the cutting edge of appreciating and harnessing the uniqueness of different groups to improve research and health.”

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Studying Pollinators on the Frontlines of Resiliency

May 17, 2024

Studying Pollinators on the Frontlines of Resiliency

For Associate Professor Risa Sargent, lead researcher in the Plant Pollinator and Global Change Lab (PPGC), many of the world’s smallest and most vulnerable critters are on the frontlines of some of our biggest and most pressing resiliency challenges. But that doesn’t mean we’re doing enough to understand their complex roles or foster the favourable conditions for them to thrive.

“Agricultural resiliency comes from having stability in our pollinator populations,” says Sargent. “Challenges like climate change, for example, clearly cause unpredictability for food producers—by diversifying our agro-ecosystems we will increase their resiliency, ensuring a sustainable food system in a rapidly changing world.”

Climate change isn’t the only threat to agriculture, of course. Sargent’s PPGC research team starts from a necessarily broad understanding of resiliency that focuses on the major threats to pollinators, ranging from habitat loss to the arrival of invasive species. At the same time as seeking to understand the nature of these stresses, the lab also aims to discover potential solutions.

One recent project from PPGC doctoral student Jens Ulrich scrutinized the value of urban pollinator initiatives. These programs have been trialed in cities including Vancouver where several public parks were recently seeded with insect-friendly meadows. Ulrich’s study revealed that while the plants typically grown in these plots did not noticeably increase the diversity of pollinating insects, the native plants near the meadows—such as salmonberry and Oregon grape—were excellent attractors for a broad array of beneficial insects.

Reflecting the crucial importance of insects, the PPGC team isn’t the only LFS lab focusing on their vital roles. Spearheaded by Associate Professor Juli Carrillo, the Plant-Insect Ecology and Evolution Lab (PIEE) takes an ecological theory approach to investigating the value of insect biodiversity—in particular, the insect communities that live alongside agricultural ecosystems.

In one recent PIEE project, researcher Matt Tsuruda looked at how increased agricultural intensification and a resulting reduction in natural habitats can drive declines in local beneficial insect diversity. Tsuruda showed that by restoring habitats such as hedgerows and grasslands near agricultural fields we can support a larger and more diverse population of beneficial insects—including those that help keep pest populations at bay.

Working to understand the conditions insects actually need in order to thrive shapes much of the research conducted by Sargent, Carrillo and their teams. But one of the challenges, says Sargent, has been that much of the available deeplevel data on insects often has critical gaps. “Over the years, people have been less likely to collect data on insects generally so although there are museum collections and citizen science records, we don’t have a lot of high quality, longitudinal survey data to draw on.”

Despite this, she adds, many of the biggest stresses on pollinator populations are well known. These include the use of newer pesticides in agriculture that can cause insect death or behavioural changes that impact pollinator health. The effects of these challenges are not shared equally across all species, she notes, suggesting that maximizing biodiversity can help mitigate the impact of declines. “Some wild bees are clearly in decline while others are doing better,” says Sargent. “It’s not clear whether all pollinator populations are declining—I would describe it as a fuzzy picture with lots of concern.”

In spite of the knowledge gaps, there is much that agriculture can do to support the wild pollinator populations it relies on. But, adds Sargent, we need to do more to encourage and help farmers to add the kind of amenable habitats to their properties that encourage beneficial insect diversity. “If we want secure, environmentally friendly diversified food systems, farmers need to be supported financially and government, researchers and agriculture need to work together much more effectively.”

Clearly, she adds, the time for new approaches is now. “In B.C., we’re just starting to recognize that climate changes and other environmental challenges are not temporary and that we need to address these issues urgently. But I’m an optimist at heart and there are lots of reasons for hope. The natural world is a wealth of inspiration and my students’ commitment to studying and conserving biodiversity brings me much hope for the future.”

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Digging Deep on Resiliency Challenges

May 17, 2024

Digging Deep on Resiliency Challenges

Assistant Professor Dr. Jean-Thomas Cornelis spends a lot of time getting his hands dirty. But when your research focuses on understanding the intricate micro-scale soil processes that underpin macrosized ecosystems, grubby fingernails at the end of the day are a standard occupational hazard.

The principal investigator in the SoilRes3 Lab—the ‘3’ refers to soil Resistance, Resilience and Restoration—Dr. Cornelis’s work is deeply rooted in key issues of resiliency. “An ecosystem that is balanced in all its terms is a critical aim—and resiliency is the capacity to restore and maintain that balance,” asserts the Belgium-born pedologist and biogeochemist who founded his lab in
2021.

Since launching, his team has been actively engaged in three main areas of research: soil-plant feedbacks; energy and nutrient cycling; and land-people relationships. The lab’s process-based approach has included exploring the sensitivity to climate change of soil processes controlling nutrient cycles, as well as the responses of soils and ecosystems to ancestral Indigneous land stewardship.

The human factor is a key feature in Dr. Cornelis’s work, incorporating an invaluable understanding of the cultural context of soil usage—in particular, the relationships between people and the land they work on. “Since the green revolution, soil has traditionally been regarded like a kind of black box that simply delivers our food supply,” he says. “But by researching soil, land and people together, we are trying to understand processes in a deeper and more dynamic way.”

Exemplifying that approach, the lab has conducted an array of hands-on field studies in different parts of the world, uncovering diverse land-people approaches from Europe to Africa and beyond. A fascinating recent project in Burkina Faso, for example, looked at biochar as a tool for nutrient recycling, collaborating with local smallholders to test the value of reusing discarded cotton stalks in crop rotation systems.

In fact, collaboration has been an enduring quality of Dr. Cornelis’s work and he has frequently partnered with researchers beyond his own lab—from functional ecologists to plant physiologists and more. “Increasing our collaboration deepens our approaches to issues of resiliency,” he says, adding that his latest multidisciplinary research proposal aims to test the idea that putting crops under slight nutrient limitation could maximize the ecological benefits associated with more resilient crops while also contributing to global decarbonization.

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Sowing the Seeds for Resilient Production Systems

May 17, 2024

Sowing the Seeds for Resilient Production Systems

Resiliency has been a cornerstone of Dr. Andrew Riseman’s work for more than two decades. But while the Associate Professor of Applied Biology and Plant Breeding takes a lengthy view of the research topics he tackles at the Centre for Sustainable Food Systems at UBC Farm (CSFS), many of the real world challenges in his field are arising more often and becoming more dramatic.

“As a plant breeder, I work with long research horizons (e.g., 10-15 years to develop a new cultivar) while also trying to predict what the future weather will be,” says Dr. Riseman. “But we know that the environment is changing more quickly than anticipated and extreme weather events are occurring more frequently than ever. So, it’s critical to both effectively and efficiently develop resilient cultivars that can withstand any stressful condition they may encounter.”

Defining resiliency as “the ability of plants to maintain function despite adverse conditions,” Dr. Riseman’s research in recent years has investigated how plant genetics informs the design of production systems and how useful traits in these systems can be combined with superior germplasm to create beneficially optimized systems—an approach that places plant breeding at the heart of agricultural resiliency solutions.

But while optimizing the best traits of cash crop plants is a key focus for many researchers, Dr. Riseman notes that different plant breeders take different approaches to key issues such as drought or flooding. “My work has focused on creating genetically diverse cultivars that perform well across different environments/stressors, rather than having a single genotype cultivar that is bred for optimum conditions,” he says. “This solution means creating a single cultivar that is able to resist different types of stress.”

Dr. Riseman’s latest research aims to turn the spotlight on understanding and redesigning intensive multi-trophic production systems—envisaging a system that reunites plant and animal production. Inspired by the pioneering work of veteran US farmer and environmental campaigner Wendell Berry, Dr. Riseman believes the historic separation of plant and animal production systems has in fact created far more resiliency problems than solutions for agriculture.

“I want to work on a system that reintegrates plant and animal production,” he says. “And that means breeding cultivars that are specific for a strong and robust plant-animal system.” As ever, though, there are no timeline shortcuts to creating new solutions using plant breeding techniques and Dr. Riseman’s projects will continue to take a necessarily long-term approach. “There is no silver bullet answer to resiliency challenges, of course, but I continue to remain optimistic.”

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Building Resilience: The UBC Farm’s Strategic Plan to Transform Food Systems

May 17, 2024

Building Resilience: The UBC Farm’s Strategic Plan to Transform Food Systems

In the face of multiple crises converging on the way we grow, distribute and eat food, the Centre for Sustainable Food Systems (CSFS) at the UBC Farm is responding with a new plan to facilitate change. Launched in February, this new five-year strategic plan outlines a comprehensive response to develop solutions and resilience to the pressing challenges facing our food systems.

“Our food systems are under unprecedented strain,” says Dr. Sean Smukler, Director of the CSFS at the UBC Farm and Associate Professor, Chair of Agriculture and Environment in the Faculty of Land and Food Systems. “A rapidly changing climate and fragile supply chains threaten equitable access to food, while our current agricultural practices degrade our
environment. Effective solutions will require transforming the way we think about and approach these problems. Our new strategic plan is designed to help us do this to enhance our resilience and address these crises head-on.”

The new plan seeks to focus impact in four key areas: food security, climate, biodiversity, and decolonization.

“We are just at the beginning of the path of decolonization,” says Clare Cullen, CSFS at UBC Farm Operations Director. “We
recognize that we have a lot of work to do,” she says, pointing out that the CSFS has committed to implementing UBC’s Indigenous Strategic Plan and will be integrating Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Indigeneity into every facet of their work—
from research and teaching to community programs.

Dr. Smukler adds that the CSFS’s new strategic plan is not only a roadmap but also a call to action. “We cannot reach our
ambitious goals alone,” he says. “We invite others to join us. The role of the CSFS is to facilitate and focus collaboration.
Together, we can make a greater impact.”

The plan is the culmination of a year of consultation and feedback, and identifies five key strategic areas aimed at driving
transformative change.

Find out more information at the UBC Farm site.

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Drought Solutions for Producers Start Small

May 17, 2024

Drought Solutions for Producers Start Small

Understanding and addressing agriculture’s biggest climate change challenges starts at the microscopic level for plant physiologist Dr. Thorsten Knipfer. This pioneering researcher and his team in the Plant-Water Relations Lab are working to decipher—from a cellular to a whole plant basis—the complex ways woody perennials react to drought caused by limited soil water availability.

The aim is to use these insights to create far more efficient irrigation approaches for farmers, helping producers to secure their harvest while summers become hotter and drier. These new strategies, says Dr. Knipfer, require a fundamental knowledge of how a crop plant actually operates.

“It’s like a mechanic trying to fix a car,” he says. “You need to know how the engine works before you can start working on any solutions.”

Focusing their recent research on hazelnut crops, the team is collaborating with B.C. growers to establish irrigation baselines—as well as how far crops can be pushed from these baselines and yet still fulfill vital functions such as photosynthesis, xylem transportation and storage. “It’s about developing irrigation management strategies that are built on the actual needs of the crop,” says Dr. Knipfer.

“We already know that effective irrigation management needs to be about much more than just adding a bunch of water.”

Effective crop monitoring and physiological measurements are the cornerstone of this kind of research, says Dr. Knipfer, whose team deploys both traditional and cutting-edge tools. That means using pressure chambers and leaf gas exchange systems as well as advanced imaging systems. “We’ve been collaborating with Saskatoon’s Canadian Light Source. Their synchrotron is teaching us a lot about how a plant’s water transport system is impacted during severe drought.”

It’s this integrated view of climate change challenges on crops that Dr. Knipfer says is essential to building any new optimized
management approaches. “We’re researching agricultural plant processes at the cellular level and we’re then extrapolating these findings to the field scale. It’s a way of tackling big picture problems by digging deep down to the smallest level.”

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