LFS Alumna Wins Prestigious Rhodes Scholarship

November 24, 2021

LFS Alumna Wins Prestigious Rhodes Scholarship

When Aditi Sriram was growing up in North York, Ontario, in a neighbourhood bursting with immigrants but short on community amenities, she never dreamed that she would ever leave her province or work in the financial sector. Now, as a 2022 Canadian Rhodes Scholar-Elect, she is accustomed to setting bold goals and excited at the prospect of opening doors for underrepresented people.

Aditi Sriram

Sriram is one of 11 Canadians heading to Oxford University next October, and among more than 100 standout scholars from around the world who won fully sponsored graduate Rhodes Scholarships.
For Sriram, her humble beginnings living in a low-income area close to Jane Street and Finch Avenue will shape her career trajectory.

“I grew up in a racialized community in Toronto and I remember seeing disparities between our neighbourhood schools compared to others,” Sriram says. “I’m a child of immigrants and it was clear to me that our community didn’t have the same things to offer as others in Toronto.”

She is interested in financial regulation and economic policy and has her eye set on moving to New York, the heart of the financial sector. She wants to better understand wealth accumulation and inequality, so that she can address systemic issues that perpetuate the cycle of poverty.

“I hope to dedicate my career to realizing a world where the benefits of our financial system are accessible to all.”

At Oxford, she plans to enroll in the Masters of Public Policy and Masters of Science in Public Policy Research, and hopes to complete her law degree afterwards.

Sriram is currently working as an analyst at Good & Well, an impact investing firm that provides equity investments of up to $500,000 in early stage businesses that demonstrate social purpose.

Earlier this year Sriram graduated from LFS’ BSc in Global Resource Systems program. It was a program that interested her when she was a high school student. However, travelling to the west coast to attend UBC wasn’t even a consideration for Sriram until she won a Loran Scholarship valued at $100,000 over four years.

“UBC was not on my radar until the Loran Scholarship opened up my world and encouraged me to look beyond Ontario,” she said. “I had to push myself out of my comfort zone. UBC had stellar programs across the board and provided a balance of a big university, with lots of resources, with the opportunity to join niche communities.”

She spent first year in Science One at UBC as her parents encouraged her to see if the pure sciences were a good fit, but she switched into LFS when she was accepted into its competitive Global Resource Systems (GRS) program in second year.

In GRS, students begin with a solid basis in academic sciences, then they design their course of study with relevant academic, volunteer, and international internships, with the goal of learning how to contribute to global equity, says Professor Les Lavkulich, GRS program director.

“Aditi is an exemplary alumna who represents the dedication we share for fostering student interests,” says Lavkulich. “Our GRS program begins with the motto, ‘follow your passion and you will make a difference.’”

Sriram says GRS allows students to develop their own worldviews as they strive to create change: “GRS is a community of bridge builders. Whether our students are interested in economics and political science, Indigenous peoples, or food and nutrition, we are united by our mission to make the world better.”

She’s gained many international experiences during her time at UBC – working for non-profits in Africa and the U.K., travelling to France to learn French, and to Japan to present at the International Students Summit on Food, Agriculture and Environment.

Through travel and school, her passion to bridge the gap between socioeconomic classes both locally and internationally has grown stronger.

Listen to Aditi’s interview on CKNW (29 minute mark)

Find out more about our undergraduate programs in our Future Students page.

Tagged with: 2021, Global Resource Systems, Undergraduate

Tagged with 2021, Global Resource Systems, Undergraduate
Categories: News

Message from the Dean

November 19, 2021

Message from the Dean

In this issue, we explore how student learning is changing.

While our faculty has been relatively strong at incorporating social issues and systems thinking into our curriculum, we recognize there’s still a long way to go. With the creation of two new positions in LFS, we’ll be making greater inroads at embedding equity, diversity, inclusion and Indigeneity (EDI.I) into our courses and rethinking how food systems courses can be taught.

Science-based programs have focused on data, facts and empirical research. Our aim is to place greater emphasis on social issues when searching for solutions, and to include Indigenous ways of knowing, culture and history into our research and teaching more often.

There aren’t any shortcuts, and it involves providing new knowledge and support to faculty members, as we all work towards training future food systems leaders to be prepared for challenges ahead.

We have a stellar example showing how one group of UBC undergraduate students collaborated with an Indigenous-led community organization to begin addressing urban food insecurity. Their passion and openness to learn about lived experiences different from their own, and their outstanding efforts led them to win first place at a global competition called Map the System.

In addition, this year the world has experienced climate-related emergencies on a scale never seen before. The frequency and intensity of droughts, rain storms, hurricanes, etc., is increasing. The damage left in their wake is finally making more people take notice. This is sorely needed because it’s time to change our behaviour, before it’s too late.

That’s why we asked some of our researchers who have been studying the impact of climate change on agriculture and its ecosystem services to answer the question: How can agriculture adapt to climate change?

There are some thought-provoking ideas in this issue of ReachOut. I hope you enjoy the read.

Take care and stay safe,

Rickey Yada

Dean and Professor, Faculty of Land and Food Systems

New Counsellor To Support Students

November 19, 2021

New Counsellor To Support Students

Nicole Adoranti, a Canadian Certified Counsellor, is the newest addition to the LFS community. In a newly created role, she will be the Embedded Counsellor to both Land and Food Systems and Forestry, providing single session or short-term counselling, triage and referrals to students, while also promoting mental health through the development of wellness programming.

Adoranti holds a Masters of Education in Counselling Psychology and has been a counsellor in both private practice and the post-secondary environment, having previously worked at the University of Toronto and New York University Abu Dhabi. Her experience in working with students from different cultures and backgrounds is one of the reasons she was drawn to Vancouver.

“I’m constantly intrigued or trying to learn more and in turn, checking my own personal beliefs and viewpoints. This position, with such a diverse group of students, will allow me to grow personally and professionally,” says Adoranti.

Adoranti also recognizes that post-secondary looks a lot different during a global pandemic: “I think that the return to campus feels really strange and I’ve heard a few people say how strange it is. One of my goals within the faculties is to foster a sense of community again by de-stigmatizing mental health issues and helping people connect to resources, because I do think the pandemic has made us feel really disjointed and disconnected.”

Throughout the years, Dr. Anthony (Tony) Yurkovich, an Agriculture alumni, and his wife Nancy, who has a background in nursing, have made significant contributions to LFS and Medicine.
During the pandemic, they also saw a need to prioritize mental health and supported the creation of this position: “Many university students feel an increased level of stress and anxiety due to the changes brought on by COVID-19. We are pleased that there is recognition of this and that we can be a part of making a difference in their mental wellbeing.”

In her role, Adoranti hopes to make mental health resources more readily available for everyone: “It doesn’t necessarily have to be a crisis situation that would draw someone to counselling, but rather development of themselves that complements what they’re already trying to do at UBC: getting an education, establishing a good career, and taking advantage of opportunities to build a really great life. I think that learning how to take care of our mental health is a part of that.”

New Faculty Profile: Tabitha Robin Martens

November 19, 2021

New Faculty Profile: Tabitha Robin Martens

Tabitha Robin Martens joined the Faculty in September 2021 as an Assistant Professor in the Applied Biology program. She has her BSc in Environmental Studies from the University of Winnipeg and MEnv from the University of Manitoba, where she looked at dozens of Indigenous food sovereignty initiatives in Western Canada.

She earned her PhD in Interdisciplinary Studies from the University of Manitoba. Her research focus looked at how food as a discipline can operationalize the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 94 Calls to Action, and the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Inquiry Report’s 231 Calls to Justice; how Indigenous knowledge can be used as food literacy; and the reclamation of Indigenous seed knowledge.

Historically, research on Indigenous food systems has been viewed from a model that centres inequities and discrepancies. This model, Martens explains, does not consider the incredible richness and complexities of Indigenous food practices.

“Indigenous food sovereignty does not look at Indigenous relations to the land from a deficit-based-model. It’s a new, but a historical concept at the same time – it’s newer to literature and academic circles, but as a living practice, it’s always existed in our communities,” explains Martens. “I have yet to visit an Indigenous community in Canada where someone was not hunting, fishing, gathering, picking medicines, speaking the language, or conducting ceremonies.”

After researching Indigenous food sovereignty initiatives for her Masters, Martens wanted to look at food from a more spiritual lens: understanding what food means to identity, social arrangements and understandings, social wellbeing, and in ceremony. For her dissertation, Martens looked at how Cree Elders incorporate food into their helping and healing practices, which will inform much of her future research.

“What I realized as I wrote my dissertation is that the Elders were giving me a roadmap for rebuilding a traditional food system,” says Martens. “It feels like an incredible gift and responsibility, so my interests moving forward are really thinking about that roadmap – what does it look like and how do we get there?”

Part of her research in rebuilding a traditional food system is looking at Indigenous knowledges as food literacy.

“We think of the food system as being the soil, the water, the microbes, the plants and animals, the air and the sun, but an Indigenous food system is rooted in ancestral knowledge systems,” explains Martens. “One of the projects I’m starting to explore is how Indigenous knowledges can be used for food and nutrition literacy: What do our ancestral teachings tell us? What do the Elders tell us? What does the language tell us about how to eat? And how can we bring those to the forefront of our food systems?”

An example of this is the Cree word for raspberry which translates to “eat this for strong bones.” All berries are named this way, Martens explains, but in residential schools and through the imposition of the colonial food system, this knowledge was meant to be erased.

In the classroom environment, she is interested in helping students unlearn and unpack what they have been taught: “That’s such an incredible moment for me – when we can start to break apart the ways they’ve learned what they know or think they know, or how they understand Indigenous people or colonialism.”

Martens is also looking forward to learning from students, especially in a new territory: “It feels strange to come from somewhere that you’ve been all your life and you know the name of all the plants and animals, the pattern of the sky and the seasons. There’s so much that can be learned by being in good relation to the land.”

News & Notes, Milestones

November 18, 2021

News & Notes

Discovery Grants Support Wide-Ranging LFS Research Programs

From investigating the impact of diet on the body’s cells, to understanding mood states in animals, to protecting plants from disease and drought, LFS research is diverse and exciting.

Six researchers were successful in this year’s NSERC Discovery Grants program, which supports ongoing, long-term research programs. It recognizes the creativity and innovation that are at the heart of all research advances. Congratulations to these faculty members who were each awarded the maximum term of five years of funding:

Alexandra Protopopova – Intra-species variation in dogs (Canis lupus familiaris): Testing the Pace-of-Life Syndrome hypothesis. ($140,000)
Barbara Stefanska – Diet and the epigenome: Investigating the impact of the environment on cell biology. ($205,000)
Gurcharn Singh Brar – Exploring effectors in Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici and identifying new sources of host resistance. ($165,000)
Marina Von Keyserlingk – Mood states in animals, exploring individual and external factors that promote resilience. ($275,000)
Simone Castellarin – Metabolic responses of the grape (Vitis vinifera L.) berry to environmental stimuli. ($275,000)
Thorsten Knipfer – The sequence of drought-induced physiological and anatomical events in woody perennial crops. ($190,000)

Growing a Farm, a new podcast from UBC Farm

“The Farm wasn’t saved by faculty members. It wasn’t saved by administrators. It was saved by students.” – Art Bomke, Associate Professor Emeritus, Faculty of Land and Food Systems

Today, the UBC Farm is a feature of the UBC Vancouver campus, a backyard greenspace and local food hub for the new residents of Wesbrook Village, as well as an important place of interdisciplinary research and experiential learning for UBC students and faculty.

Twenty years ago, south campus looked very different. Among a scattering of empty buildings and some remaining cattle, sheep, quail and poultry, there was derelict farmland, 24 hectares of field and forest with research projects running but not much else, but a group of students saw the potential.

Growing A Farm: the Journey of the UBC Farm, is a limited podcast series that tells the story of the beginnings of the Farm in 2001 and the against-the-odds story of saving it.

The podcast is hosted by current LFS student, Anisha Sandhu, who wanted to explore the Farm’s history on its 20th anniversary by speaking to the students, staff and faculty members who were key to turning a vision into reality.

Over two episodes, we find out how they started a movement to prove the value of UBC Farm.

Find out more and ways to listen at ubcfarm.ubc.ca.

Milestones

Engineering a New Solution to Harvest Crops

Assistant Professor John Frostad (LFS and Chemical and Biological Engineering), LFS Associate Professor Andrew Riseman, and Professor Mark MacLachlan (Chemistry) were awarded a New Frontiers in Research Fund 2020 Exploration award. Frostad is leading their project titled Catcher of the Rye: Spray-on Netting for Increasing Yield in Grain Harvesting. They propose an engineering solution to help farmers increase yield and reduce losses in grain and oil-seed crops by using a spray-on netting material that would solidify on the crops temporarily, physically preventing seed shattering (and seeds falling to the ground) until the optimal time to harvest mature crops.

Graduate Student Wins Vanier Canada Scholarship

PhD candidate Hadis Mozaffari was awarded a Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship, a program that recognizes leading doctoral students. Mozaffari’s research is in Human Nutrition where she is studying the impact of dietary diversity on Type 2 diabetes. Her supervisor is Assistant Professor Annalijn Conklin from Pharmaceutical Sciences, who is an Associate Member of LFS’s
Human Nutrition group.

BCKDF Funds Outfit New Research Labs in LFS and Science

BC Knowledge and Development Fund (BCKDF), which invests in state-of-the-art research spaces to support innovation and industry collaborations, has co-funded three LFS lab projects: MiDAS Microbial Diversity Expansion for Applied Sciences (Principal Investigators are Vivien Measday, Wine Research Centre and Thibault Mayor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology); Laboratory for Human-Animal Interaction and Companion Animal Welfare (Principal Investigator is Sasha Protopopova from the Animal Welfare Program); and, the Plant-Pollinator and Global Change Lab (Principal Investigator is Risa Sargent from Applied Biology).

Industry and LFS Partner to Study Grain Diseases

LFS Assistant Professor Gurcharn Brar and Associate Professor Cara Haney (Department of Microbiology and Immunology), were awarded an NSERC-Alliance grant. This project will use portable genome sequencers to manage microbiome-based diseases in wheat and barley. Industry partners are Saskatchewan Wheat Development Commission, Alberta Wheat Commission, and Saskatchewan Barley Development Commission.

Dietetics Research to Focus on Maternal Care

Assistant Professor Tamara Cohen will co-lead a project called Conversation Cards for Moms: A mixed methods study to create and evaluate a new clinical tool for use in maternity care settings. She is Co-Principal Investigator with Assistant Professor Angela Alberga (Concordia University) with funding partners from the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada, Obesity Canada, Concordia University (Montreal, QC) and UBC. They were awarded funding through the 2020 Early Career Investigator in Maternal, Reproductive, Child and Youth Health CIHR Operating Grant.

Canada Research Chairs (CRC)

The CRC (Tier 2) in Viticulture and Plant Genomics held by Simone Castellarin has been renewed. Castellarin serves as Associate Director of UBC’s dual campus Wine Research Centre. Assistant Professor Mahsa Jessri is a new CRC (Tier 2) in Nutritional Epidemiology for Population Health. Her research program informs nutritional guidelines aimed at reducing the burden of chronic diseases. Jessri shares the LFS data analytics lab with Assistant Professor Frederik Noack, a CRC (Tier 2) in Economic and Environmental Interactions.

Pioneering Animal Welfare Research Recognized

Professor Dan Weary from the Animal Welfare Program won the 2020-21 ISAE (International Society for Applied Ethology) Creativity Award at the 2021 virtual ISAE congress. This award recognizes exceptional contributions to research, theory, and concepts that have made a significant impact in applied ethology. Weary has helped lead new empirical and theoretical research approaches using vocalizations as a reliable indicator of need, and the development and application of behavioral, cognitive and motivational testing methods to assess pain and other negative effects.

Dairy Centre Director Leads Canadian Society of Animal Science

Associate Professor Ronaldo Cerri became president of the Canadian Society of Animal Science in July 2021. Cerri’s research area is in dairy and beef cattle reproduction, and considering the effects of animal health, nutrition, management, and animal welfare on various aspects of reproduction. He is currently Director of UBC’s Dairy Education and Research Centre in Agassiz, B.C. and is a past-president of the Dairy Cattle Reproduction Council.

Food Science Curriculum: Meeting Future Needs

November 18, 2021

Food Science Curriculum: Meeting Future Needs

As the food industry changes to meet consumer demands, UBC’s food science curriculum is keeping up.

In fall 2021, the BSc in Food, Nutrition and Health (Food Science major) launched two new courses, and a revised curriculum to better reflect the needs of the food industry. UBC offers B.C.’s only bachelor-level degree approved by the international governing body for food science education, the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT). Graduates commonly work in research and development, regulation, quality control, food safety, processing, food marketing, and management.

“The main drivers for this renewal were to ensure sufficient coverage of 55 learning outcomes mandated by our governing body, and to find out which learning outcomes warranted enhanced emphasis in our curriculum,” says Patricia Hingston, Assistant Professor of Teaching, who led the curriculum renewal team.

“Additionally, we set out to improve graduate competencies through enhanced scaffolding of content and increased incorporation of key learning experiences.”

To achieve these goals, the curriculum renewal team surveyed members of the B.C. food industry, UBC alumni, and current students. Industry experts provided insights into knowledge and competencies of highest importance to the food sector and anticipated changes in the field, while alumni and current students offered valuable feedback on the strengths and areas for improvement within the curriculum.

Learning outcomes of highest importance to industry included food safety, critical thinking, and professionalism. Hands-on practical experiences – especially labs, product development, coop, and application of food regulations – were considered crucial learning experiences.

Some expected future changes and trends in the food industry that helped shape the new curriculum included increased emphasis on food quality and safety regulations, and growing demands for more sustainable plant-based foods, packaging, and waste management.

“Given the global focus on enhancing food safety and sustainability initiatives in the food industry, our revised curriculum has two new courses: Food Safety and Quality Management, and Food Industry Sustainability,” said Hingston.

At the moment both courses are listed under the course code FNH 490, which is reserved for piloting new courses in the Food, Nutrition and Health Program. Both courses are taught by industry experts, thereby also increasing industry exposure in the program, which was highlighted in survey findings as a key learning experience to aid in preparing students for their future careers.

Another survey recommendation was for undergraduate students to seek out experiential opportunities and industry exposure through networking, co-op placements, internships and volunteering, and to be open about gaining experience in different areas of the industry.

LFS Career Strategist Rob Kim agrees: “Prospective employers are looking for food science graduates that they can trust to bring their passion and skills to their industry. One way for graduates to convey this value? By having experiences in the industry – through networking, co-op, or other opportunities – and by gaining insight from those working in food science.”

If you want to get involved with the undergraduate Food Science Major by providing student placements or participating in an upcoming professional development event, contact Patricia Hingston at patricia.hingston@ubc.ca.

Learning to Coexist with Urban Wildlife

November 18, 2021

Learning to Coexist with Urban Wildlife

Over the summer, there was an increase in coyote interactions in Vancouver parks, green spaces, and neighbourhoods. While coyotes have always had a presence on UBC’s Vancouver campus, the lack of human activity over quarantine allowed the urban canines more freedom to move through campus spaces.

Kristen Walker Coyote Urban Wildlife — Walker next to a camera trap at the UBC Farm

As students, staff, and faculty return to campus, the potential for human-coyote interactions increases. It is important that humans understand how to properly interact and establish safe and respectful boundaries with urban wildlife.

“Coyotes are naturally timid,” says Assistant Professor of Teaching Kristen Walker. “But the human-coyote boundary gets blurred when we try to feed and interact with them.”

Walker has a PhD in Animal Welfare from the University of British Columbia. Her current focus is on urban wildlife, as she works with the Stanley Park Ecology Society, Vancouver Park Board and BC Conservation Officer Service to reduce conflicts for urban coyotes.

“Even in cities, wildlife needs to be kept wild,” Walker cautions. She explains that there are coyotes moving all throughout the BC’s Lower Mainland, and that some of the animals’ natural habits are misconstrued as ‘aggressive’.

Walker often receives reports of coyotes ‘stalking’ people. When in reality, coyotes are just following the path of least resistance, which is most often a sidewalk or trail. If a human happens to occupy the same space, the best thing for the human to do is to scare the coyote away.

“To scare off a coyote, you have to stand tall with big arms and yell, ‘go away coyote’,” says Walker. “The more coyotes are used to humans, the longer it will take to re-establish the boundary between us.”

Unfortunately, humans often feed wildlife or take time to snap pictures. This teaches coyotes and other animals to seek out more humans or that close interaction is acceptable, which is dangerous for everyone involved. A coyote is still a wild animal, and increased interactions with humans can lead to negative interactions, including possible injury.

On UBC’s Vancouver campus, Walker monitors urban wildlife through a camera trap program. Her team has been monitoring a coyote pack with a young injured coyote nicknamed Kip. When Kip and their littermate dispersed from their parents in late 2020, campus was primarily empty due to COVID-19 restrictions. With no humans around, the coyotes settled into the area. In November 2020, Kip was injured and suffered a back leg injury, most likely due to being hit by a vehicle. There have been recent reports of individuals on campus feeding Kip, likely due to his injury and his close proximity to humans.

Coyotes on UBC urban wildlife — Kip and Littermate at UBC Farm

“Feeding wildlife is harmful to them, and taking pictures is just as bad,” Walker says. “If you are concerned for an animal’s health, you should reach out to a conservation officer or wildlife expert who can help.”

Currently, there are places to report coyote sightings or issues. Walker has created an email address to contact for sightings on UBC campus (ubcwildlifesightings@gmail.com), and the Stanley Park Ecology Society’s Co-existing with Coyotes program tracks coyotes in the Greater Vancouver area. Walker is working on increasing awareness of these programs as well as developing a canid response team. This dedicated team of coyote experts could then assess and intervene with incidents as soon as they happen.

With continued government effort and more public awareness around coyotes and other urban wildlife, Walker is optimistic that we can learn to better co-exist and respect the animals we share our cities with.

It Takes a Community to Motivate Change

November 18, 2021

It Takes a Community to Motivate Change

Community partnerships make a world of difference for students. When three students in FNH 473 (Applied Public Health Nutrition) were selecting a project evaluating food and nutrition programs and how social factors impact health in communities, they chose one focused on Indigenous food programs. As none of the students were Indigenous, they knew they would need to rely on their community partner to walk beside them through their journey of learning about Indigenous food insecurity.

Unique Get Together Society Community — Debra Abraham (left) and Kelsey McGregor (right) from Unique Get Together Society

Unique Get Together Society (UGTS) provided that essential element.

UGTS is an Indigenous-led, non-profit that delivers programs empowering marginalized communities and families, with a focus on Black and Indigenous peoples, seniors, and those with disabilities. UGTS has 30 staff members in their offices in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside and Chilliwack, and in their new Kamloops office.

“We are a first point of contact when someone from the community calls, even if it’s at 3 a.m.,” says founder Debra Abraham. “Food security is often an entryway to a deeper community need; it allows us to know our clients better, build trust, and understand gaps that may exist.”

Abraham and UGTS director Kelsey McGregor met the students – Anika Cheng, Cathy Zhu and Emily Chau – every two weeks online. The students embraced what they learned about the culture and history of Indigenous Nations and Peoples; everyday interactions they faced when trying to access healthy and appropriate food; and, relevant and lived experiences in dealing with colonial systems.

“It was amazing to watch this unfold as they really put their hearts into this and gained an emotional connection as well as an academic one,” said Abraham.

What started as a group project on public health nutrition grew in scope, eventually landing the students into a global competition where they won first place.

Initially, the students evaluated the Essential Food Hamper program delivered by UGTS. The students decided they wanted to go further and began to evaluate food insecurity among B.C.’s urban Indigenous populations, which is disproportionate to the general population.

With support from UGTS, they learned that one in three households experiencing food insecurity in the province’s urban populations identify as Indigenous.

Cheng, Zhu and Chau continued their research and entered Map the System, a competition that encourages students to use holistic thinking to develop a deep understanding of complex social and environmental problems. They did literature reviews and more community interviews.

They won first place in the national competition in May. They moved onto the global finals, where they faced 38 finalists from around the world, and took top honours again – the first time a UBC team won Map the System.

Their final presentation titled Unique Get Together Society and Urban Indigenous Food Insecurity in B.C. detailed the interrelationship between the following factors to help drive systemic change: stakeholders; government and policy; creating space and welcoming First Nations; and, adopting Indigenous ways of knowing.

The benefit that comes from community partnerships flows both ways. “We posted this research publicly to educate people,” said Abraham. “This isn’t government or systemically motivated; it’s raw and relevant to what’s happening today. It provides an outside, non-biased view.”

For McGregor, she is able to use the student research in grant proposals, helping to draw in funds that are essential to continue UGTS community programs. In addition, UGTS just hired six students and these partnerships raise the profile of UGTS and attract a core, ideal hiring base.

For the students, Zhu graduated from the Food, Nutrition and Health program and is studying Nursing. Chau is in the Dietetics program, while Cheng studied Kinesiology and will be pursuing a Master of Occupational Therapy.

Cheng says her Map the System team has learned the importance of systems thinking and the role it plays in addressing today’s complex social issues, knowledge they will carry into their future professions.

How Can Agriculture Adapt to Climate Change

November 18, 2021

How Can Agriculture Adapt to Climate Change?

This summer saw unprecedented climate events in regions around the world. Canada set an all-time record high temperature when Lytton, B.C., broke the heat record for three consecutive days in June, peaking at 49.6° C. What does this mean for agriculture? We asked some LFS faculty members to share ideas based on their research expertise.

Andrea Frommel, Assistant Professor and Chair of Sustainable Aquaculture

Research area: Bridging climate change, fisheries and sustainable aquaculture, with a focus on early life stages of finfish.

“A major way in which finfish aquaculture can adapt to climate change is to move from open farming to land-based, closed-containment systems. This allows farmers to control the main water parameters impacted by climate change – temperature, oxygen and pH – and avoid secondary climate change effects such as harmful algal and jellyfish blooms, providing an optimal rearing environment for their fish. Further, closed-containment systems significantly reduce the impact of aquaculture on the environment and wild stocks. Another option is to farm species that are climate friendly and sustainable, such as shellfish and kelp.”

Andy Black, Professor

Research area: Studying the effects of climate variability and disturbance on the carbon and water cycles in forests, wetlands and agricultural fields in Western Canada.

“Over the last five years we have studied the use of plastic-film mulches and transparent plastic-film low tunnels for improving vegetable microclimate and productivity in response to
climate change. We have shown that under increasing warming and droughts, high reflectivity plastic mulches cool the soil in summer, dark-coloured mulches warm the soil in early spring
enabling growers to start their crops earlier, and all plastic mulches conserve soil moisture. Also, plastic-film low tunnels protect against spring and fall frosts as farmers avoid growing
crops in the heat of the summer.”

Andrew Riseman, Associate Professor

Research area: Understanding the role of plant genetics in the design of sustainable production systems, identifying relevant traits useful in these systems, and combining
and integrating them within superior germplasm in an optimized system.

“The role of plant genetics in both adapting to and helping mitigate the impacts of climate change is critical. Two of the traits I’ve worked with include the ability to use nitrogen efficiently in grain crops (e.g., producing more yield with less synthetic nitrogen) and the ability to share nitrogen in complex crop mixtures (i.e., one plant fixes atmospheric nitrogen and ’shares’ it with a companion plant). Both of these traits help address climate change by reducing the energy needed to grow crops through reducing synthetic nitrogen manufacturing and use.”

Hannah Wittman, Professor

Research area: Rural and environmental sociology, agrarian citizenship and political economy, food security and food sovereignty, community and rural development, social movements.

“Climate change is presenting devastating risks to agriculture, and these risks are not equally distributed. Our research has shown that agroecological farming systems are more climate
resilient, while also supporting food security, sustainable livelihoods, and the provision of important ecological services. Why, then, are farms becoming larger and more homogenized? Our group uses interdisciplinary and complex systems approaches to understand trade-offs between livelihoods, biodiversity/food security outcomes, and constraints related to farm size, land tenure, and the inequitable distribution of resources and power.”

Jean-Thomas Cornelis, Assistant Professor

Research area: Impact of human behavior on soils – sustainably managing ecosystems by increasing the resistance and resilience of soil-plant systems while decreasing human-induced pressures on the environment.

“Climate change is placing plants under a series of stresses. But plants have more than one string at their bow. For instance, plants can cope with drought by increasing the release of
organic molecules at the soil-root interface, which sustains nutrient acquisition while enhancing soil carbon sequestration. However, the benefits of these mechanisms are dependent on soil properties. Therefore, considering soil constituents and processes is vital for understanding plant responses to climate change.”

Risa Sargent, Associate Professor

Research area: Exploring how plants and their biotic communities (e.g., pollinators and herbivores), especially those in agroecosystems, are adapting to the significant pressures associated with global change.

“Climate change is a critical challenge for agriculture. Predictions include the northward migration of pest species, longer periods of drought and more rainfall and flooding. My research focuses on habitat restoration for preserving and enhancing species interactions in ecological communities. I primarily address the biodiversity crisis, but my work also has implications for climate adaptation. For example, enhancing on-farm habitat can improve carbon sequestration, provide shade for animals and promote natural pest control. It is very important to focus our attention on reducing global carbon emissions as our ability to adapt agricultural systems to climate change is essentially unknown.”

Juli Carrillo, Assistant Professor

Research area: How elevated carbon dioxide levels impact the ability of vegetable and fruit crops to defend themselves against insect herbivores.

“It is critically important to better understand how climate change is changing important species interactions in agroecosystems. One concern is that pests may become more abundant and cause more damage to crops because of changes to crop nutritional quality and plant defensive compounds. Changes in crop-pest interactions can flow through agroecological food webs to influence beneficial insects at higher trophic levels and microbial soil organism at lower trophic levels. We are currently evaluating how changes in CO₂ may inhibit the ability of crop plants to produce compounds that attract the natural enemies of pest insects, and defend themselves directly through the production of anti-herbivory toxins.”

Sean Smukler, Associate Professor and Chair of Agriculture and the Environment

Research area: Working with farmers, and other managers of agricultural landscapes to find ways to better monitor, protect and enhance biodiversity and the availability of ecosystem services.

“To adapt to a changing climate, we need to improve the resiliency of our farms as soon as possible. This starts with building and maintaining healthy soil. We can help by providing farmers a better understanding of how to use technology and data to apply agroecological practices to improve their soil.”

Maja Krzic, Associate Professor Applied Biology/Forest and Conservation Sciences

Research area: Combining soil science concepts and the impact of humans on soil properties and processes in crop, grassland, and forest ecosystems; exploring the role of soil in addressing some of the existential global sustainability challenges we are facing.

An estimated 30% of the global terrestrial carbon pool is found in grassland soils, making them of particular interest for research focused on climate change impacts. Grasslands of the Southern Interior of British Columbia offer numerous opportunities to study carbon sequestration. For example, one of our recent studies found that even though previously degraded grasslands have experienced a notable plant species recovery over a period of 58 years, that was not accompanied by a change in soil carbon stocks, emphasizing the fact that recovery of the degraded grassland soils is indeed a very slow process.

Thorsten Knipfer, Assistant Professor

Research area: Plant physiology – proactively addressing stress physiology that significantly contributes to the success of agricultural practices in water-stressed environments.

“Agriculture in Canada faces unprecedented challenges caused by drought due to ongoing climate change. Applying precision irrigation and sustainable agricultural practices through water savings is an area of interest, as these are tightly linked to our knowledge about drought stress responses in crops. We are currently evaluating the physiological performance of hazelnut, poplar, and wheat under drying soil conditions. We were able to explain the genotype-specific thresholds of stomatal closure, turgor loss and xylem embolism susceptibility. We are using
this information to disentangle the sequence of drought-induced physiological events and establish new targets for water management for B.C. farmers.”

Statement about Flooding and Climate Change Events in B.C.

November 18, 2021

Statement about Flooding and Climate Change Events in B.C.

November 18, 2021 – In just a few short weeks we have experienced an unprecedented tornado at UBC, torrential rains, mudslides and flooding that have wreaked untold damage in the Fraser Valley, Pemberton and beyond. Highways and supply lines have been cut. Hectares of foodlands have been inundated by water, mud or completely swept away. Farmers are being told to abandon their animals and save themselves. It is heartbreaking.

Further east, BC farmers are cut off from their critical supply chains into the Lower Mainland, unable to get their products to market whether they be to retailers, restaurants or community farmers markets. As a result, food will perish and farmers will lose important income – an unwelcome impact in a year of cumulative disasters.

Indigenous foodlands have also been irreparably damaged by flooding and landslides which have wiped out traditional sources of food and will have long-term effects on food sources such as salmon-bearing streams.

We are reaching out to farmers and Indigenous communities to offer support and acknowledge their ongoing resilience in the face of very challenging times.

Minister Lana Popham committed to emergency financial support for farmers impacted by the catastrophic events of the past few days. At the Centre for Sustainable Food Systems (CSFS) and UBC Faculty of Land and Food Systems, we applaud this commitment and encourage the government to include farmers whose crops, livestock and market access have been impacted. We hope there is additional support for Indigenous communities, their food systems and infrastructure.

This is climate change in action. These are the more intense and frequent storms that scientists have been warning us about. At CSFS, we are reflecting on how we can do more, and where to pour our energies. We will be sharing reactions to COP26 and ideas from our CSFS Associates and staff. We also want to hear from you. Please send us your thoughts on social media or email us at farm.team@ubc.ca, letting us know if you would like us to post your thoughts publicly.

Rickey Yada

Dean and Professor

UBC Faculty of Land and Food Systems

Interim Academic Director, Centre for Sustainable Food Systems at UBC Farm

Clare Cullen

Director of Operations

Centre for Sustainable Food Systems at UBC Farm

Parm Bains

Chair, Faculty Advisory Board

UBC Faculty of Land and Food Systems

Tagged with: 2021

Tagged with 2021
Categories: News

LFS Alumna Wins Prestigious Rhodes Scholarship