Applied Biology Undergrad Makes the Case for Grooming Brushes in Barns

November 22, 2018

Applied Biology Undergrad Makes the Case for Grooming Brushes in Barns

That urge you get to scratch an itch? It turns out dairy cows have it too.

At the UBC Dairy Education and Research Centre in Agassiz, B.C. (dairycentre.landfood.ubc.ca), Emilie McConnachie (BSc Applied Biology 2018), designed and conducted a study that investigated dairy cows’ motivation to access a mechanical brush for grooming.

“In a naturalistic environment, cows will groom and scratch themselves on trees and other abrasive surfaces. Modern, indoor housing systems do not typically have access to similar resources with which they can groom,” said McConnachie. “It was previously unknown whether this mattered to them, and this study sought to find an answer.”

The study was made possible due to an Undergraduate Student Research Award (USRA) from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), which McConnachie received in 2016.

She set up mechanical brushes behind a weighted gate that the cows could push with their heads to gain access. The weights were gradually increased over time, meaning that cows increasingly paid a higher price to access the brush. An identical set up was used with fresh feed behind the gate.

“In this study, we found that cows were willing to work as hard to access the brush as they were to access fresh feed. This allowed us to conclude that cows are highly motivated to use a mechanical brush and that it is a very important resource to them.”

The study was published in Biology Letters in August, and was picked up by media outlets such as the New York Times, the National Post, and CBC News.

“My goal was to have a positive impact on improving the lives of animals. By pursuing research in farm animal welfare, there is tremendous potential to create change and consequently improve billions of animal lives.”

The following year, McConnachie received a Mitacs Globalink Research Award, which took her to Florianópolis, Brazil, for four months where she was part of a research collaboration investigating public attitudes towards genetically modifying agricultural animals to have better welfare. The findings of this study will be published next spring.

McConnachie went on to receive a second NSERC-USRA before graduating from the Faculty in 2018. She is currently in a doctoral law degree program at the Northwestern Pritzker School of Law in Chicago, IL.

Tagged with: 2018, Animal Welfare Program, Undergraduate

Patricia Hingston, Instructor

November 22, 2018

Patricia Hingston, Instructor

When she was younger, Patricia Hingston thought she would become a dentist but her interest in microbiology unexpectedly led her down a different path – and into food sciences.

She officially joined Land and Food Systems on July 1 as an Instructor, where she teaches food microbiology and oversees third- and fourth-year food science lab courses. Hingston was already familiar with the university as she just completed her PhD here in May. During her studies she worked as an LFS Sessional Instructor and as a Teaching Assistant in the courses Exploring our Foods and Microorganisms in Food Systems.

As an undergraduate student at Dalhousie University, she had planned to become an orthodontist. Her aptitude for research and ability to win NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Awards meant that she spent three summers working in a food microbiology lab. Her fate was sealed during those summers.

“My undergraduate research made me interested in food science and I ended up switching into the program and graduating with a Bachelor of Applied Science in Food Science. What I especially love about food science is that it applies the three main branches of science (biology, chemistry, physics) to solve issues surrounding food production and safety,” Hingston said.

After completing her bachelor degree, Patricia’s undergraduate research supervisor offered to arrange for her to participate in a research exchange at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, if she pursued a master’s degree in food science. Patricia took the bait and eventually obtained a MSc in Food Microbiology from Dalhousie University.

In 2013, she travelled across the country to UBC Vancouver to start her PhD in Food Science. She won an Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate scholarship and studied under Associate Professor Siyun Wang. Her research focused on explaining stress survival mechanisms used by the human foodborne pathogen Listeria monocytogenes to survive in food and food processing environments.

She brings an enthusiasm to teaching that stems from the joy of bringing real-world examples into the classroom and showing the application of science. She also enjoys helping her students navigate career pathways in the field.

Making a Community Impact at the Greater Vancouver Food Bank

November 22, 2018

Making a Community Impact at the Greater Vancouver Food Bank

In an era of using data to gather business intelligence, an alumnus from Land and Food Systems is making a difference at the Greater Vancouver Food Bank. Kevin Elsaputra (MFRE 2016) is the organization’s first-ever data analyst.

Elsaputra made a major impact on operations: he is building strong data protocols, practices and reports to make evidence-based decisions that help improve food quality.

Aart Schuurman Hess, CEO of the Greater Vancouver Food Bank (GVFB), places a high priority on measuring the organization’s impact and said they are close to achieving a goal of having 70 per cent of the food they share be wholesome or fresh.

“Kevin has played an instrumental role in helping us develop methods that accurately measure food quality,” said Hess. “These methods have been a critical component for us in charting our overall progress around the quality of food here at the food bank.”

Elsaputra became a full-time employee in February 2018 and he supports many areas of the organization, such as predicting fluctuations in GVFB member visits across their distribution sites each week.

“I really enjoy being able to help the other departments with new and customizable solutions in Excel.”

Elsaputra began working with the GVFB while he was a student in UBC’s Master of Food and Resource Economics program back in 2016. His initial project was under the supervision of Professor James Vercammen. Initially, they were refining an existing database at the GVFB that catalogued food donation information – name, UPC code, ingredients, nutrition, etc.

That project grew in leaps and bounds with support from Land and Food Systems’ Learning Centre. The Learning Centre provided two UBC IT staff who augmented the database with a nutritional ranking program based on fields already captured. This custom-built program is still in use today and is tracking over 9,500 different food products with a user-friendly interface.

Elsaputra has worked closely with nutritionists to set food quality standards. The GVFB is a progressive organization and has elevated monitoring the nutritional value of incoming and outgoing food to new heights.

In 2016, the GVFB began developing nutritional rankings using BC’s Guidelines for Food and Beverage Sales in Schools and the Canada Food Guide then modifying them for a food bank-specific setting.

Throughout this work, GVFB members have shared that they have noticed an improvement in food quality and appreciate that they can access more nourishing foods.

Interested in Food and Resource Economics (FRE) research? Check out the website here!

Ambassadors for Elephants

November 22, 2018

Ambassadors for Elephants

This past August, four UBC undergraduate students took part in a new field study program on Asian Elephant Compassionate Conservation in Thailand (LFS 302D). The goal of the program was to explore how the science of animal well-being can be used in conservation to improve outcomes for animals, people and the environment.

For four weeks, Maria Chen, Maya Weston, Laurelie Menelon (all in the Applied Animal Biology program), and Mikaela Gerwing (in the Natural Resources Conservation program in the Faculty of Forestry) were welcomed into the homes of local families in the remote village of Huay Pakoot, in northern Thailand. They participated in an on-going research program with the Mahouts Elephant Foundation (MEF), in collaboration with the Institute for Compassionate Conservation, that is studying the behavior, social dynamics, bioacoustics and food ecology of a group of re-wild elephants.

“The elephant tourism industry in southeast Asia draws people into having experiences with them that are often harmful to the animal, in a way that is not always evident to the tourist,” said Chen. “The habitat created by the Mahouts Elephant Foundation provides for an eco-centric relationship between us and the animals.”

Elephants in the tourism industry can be forced into activities such as giving tourists rides on their backs or painting with their trunks, which can be detrimental to their welfare.

The field course works collaboratively with the MEF, a UK-based charity (mahouts.co.uk). MEF is dedicated to improving and protecting the lives of Asian elephants, who have often been forced into the tourism industry, by re-introducing them into a conserved natural habitat.

The habitat, which currently houses four elephants, is 3200 hectares of forest and mountainous terrain. Since it would be impossible to have fully wild elephants in Thailand today, MEF is working toward a competing model of ecotourism, which includes an autonomous life for the elephants while still being watched over by traditional elephant keepers or guardians, called mahouts. This allows for a sustainable, welfare-focused tourist experience that supports the livelihoods of mahouts and the community, while also providing a sanctuary for the elephants.

Each student was responsible for conducting research projects focused on an individual topic of interest:

Maria looked at the relationship between mahouts and their elephant(s). Mahout-elephant relationships are formed over many years and with only one mahout at a time.
Maya looked at juvenile play behavior, between the youngest elephant in the herd, Sunti, and the other elephants, as well as with the mahouts. Sunti is the first and only elephant to be born in the MEF habitat.
Laurelie looked at the foraging behavior of the elephants, such as food harvesting, food processing, and how much time the elephants spent looking for food.
Mikaela looked at object manipulation by the elephants, in relation to food processing, grooming, and movement, by observing different occurrences and trends among individuals.

Data collection for their project involved long hikes into pristine bamboo and tropical evergreen forests, assisting traditional mahouts, assessing forest habitats and surveying other wildlife.

In addition to their course-related activities, the students participated in local activities such as rice planting, foraging, language lessons, and fabric and basket weaving.

Kristen Walker, an instructor in Applied Biology and for this field course, is looking forward to the growth of this program. “This is a unique hands-on opportunity for UBC students to be a part of an immersive learning experience in the field of compassionate conservation.”

Since their return to UBC, the students have been presenting the findings of their research to their peers within the Faculty, and encouraging different discussions on animal welfare.

Feeding Growth Dishes Out Ideas for Growing Young B.C. Food Businesses

November 22, 2018

Feeding Growth Dishes Out Ideas for Growing Young B.C. Food Businesses

Earnest Ice Cream, Spread ‘Em Kitchen, and Nuba have something in common. They all received help scaling their businesses through workshops offered by Feeding Growth.

Launched in 2015, Feeding Growth has helped more than 300 food entrepreneurs grow their sustainable food businesses. It’s where entrepreneurs turn to gain expertise in branding, marketing, sales, distribution, manufacturing, growth and sustainability.

“Feeding Growth is a collective of progressive food business leaders striving for social, environmental and economic sustainability,” says Véronik Campbell, Feeding Growth’s Managing Partner. “Our workshops offer the tools and the supporting network businesses need to grow their impact.”

Feeding Growth is an LFS initiative led by the Centre for Sustainable Food Systems at UBC Farm, and partners include Vancity and Fluid Creative.

B.C. food industry veterans give back to the rookies, presenting their insights in the five-workshop series Scale Your Progressive Food Business as well as its Coffee Series dialogues. Feeding Growth experts impart the wisdom of someone who has been there, made mistakes, and found a path to success.

Feeding Growth alumni and the experts that support them have formed a community that is working to transform the B.C. food industry.

Melissa Mills of Spread ’Em Kitchen is a Feeding Growth success story: her vegan dips are now sold in over 100 stores in four provinces. But it wasn’t always easy. She started with a blender and a bicycle selling at Farmers’ Markets without a plan or knowledge about how to scale up.

“All of the Feeding Growth classes were exactly what I needed to hear and learn about. You get all your questions answered and learn about questions that you didn’t even know you had,” said Mills.

Mills shared her story with the group of 40 hopefuls at this year’s sold out workshop session on sales and distribution, with attendees such as Rocky Mountain Kitchen coming from as far as Fairmont Hot Springs for the workshop.

“As an entrepreneur you are so alone, trying to grow your business,” added Mills. “Feeding Growth blew my mind, it’s the best thing to happen to the small progressive food system in Vancouver.”

To find out about upcoming events, visit feedinggrowth.com.

Drawing from the Land to Transform Indigenous Food Systems

November 22, 2018

Drawing from the Land to Transform Indigenous Food Systems

Researchers in the Faculties of Land and Food Systems and Education are examining how Indigenous land-based teaching and learning can inform Indigenous food security, and support the development of food sovereignty frameworks grounded on self-determination, Indigenous knowledge, and a decolonized food system.

What is Indigenous land-based learning? It recognizes the deep connection and relationship of Indigenous people to the environment: knowledge and learning occur when people engage with their surroundings and strengthen their appreciation of the land.

Few studies exist on adapting Indigenous land-based pedagogies to urban place-based learning. This study can reveal how to implement culturally appropriate frameworks to mobilize Indigenous knowledge, deliver cross-cultural education, and help to transform Indigenous food systems.

Leading the research is Associate Professor Eduardo Jovel, in collaboration with Professor Hannah Wittman from LFS, and Associate Professor Tracy Friedel from the Faculty of Education. Much of the initial research is taking place at xʷc̓ic̓əsəm Garden (Indigenous Health Research and Education Garden) at UBC Farm. Later stages of the project will include selected Indigenous communities in the province.

The project, funded by a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Insight Grant, has several objectives including the development of protocols for engagement with Indigenous communities and maintaining reciprocal beneficial relationships.

Other investigators from LFS include Postdoctoral Researcher Alannah Young, focussing on land-based pedagogies and community protocols, and PhD student Wilson Mendes, exploring how Indigenous learning at xʷc̓ic̓əsəm Garden impacts Indigenous youth knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions related to Indigenous food sovereignty in urban spaces.

David Robinson (pictured), an LFS master’s student in Integrated Studies in Land and Food Systems, is also part of the research team. His research is focussed on understanding how land-teachings emerge through carving, orality, and relationality.

Robinson, from the Timiskaming First Nation in northwest Quebec, is the first artist in residence stationed at xʷc̓ic̓əsəm Garden where he spent 17 months carving a sculpture from red cedar. Throughout the creative process, Robinson engaged with hundreds of visitors to the garden, drawing upon their Indigenous knowledge about the land and sharing a dialogue about traditional teaching.

“At a time when reconciliation is on the foremost Canadian agenda, I have found a personal way to integrate First Nations art and education on the land,” said Robinson. “Art and tools, ceremony and community, and the commitment to creating encounters between all citizens who are invited to touch the cedar piece, form a memory.”

Robinson’s carving features a Thunderbird, twisting wood representing tension, and a lightning snake. Youth visitors envisioned the forms and Robinson translated these into his sculptures.

Shane Pointe, xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) Elder, and Knowledge Keeper shared the history of the Thunderbird and lightening snake for cross-cultural knowledge exchange. Through ceremonies, he formally honoured the roots of the red cedar’s origin and then welcomed the final, transformed piece to xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) land.

According to Jovel, Robinson’s creative process contributed to the ongoing research by capturing the educational process and pedagogies rooted in traditional learning practices including orality, language, ancestral knowledge, and land genealogies.

“Our research approach respects Indigenous worldviews and research methodologies and aims to enhance teaching and learning by shifting toward the inclusion of diverse perspectives and ways of knowing for all learners,” said Jovel. “This project formalizes community-university partnerships between UBC Farm’s xʷc̓ic̓əsəm Garden and other stakeholders. Also, it will provide support to policy-makers, institutional representatives, educators and Indigenous groups interested in advancing land-based Indigenous pedagogical practice.”

Over the last 13 years, Indigenous land-based knowledge has been mobilized at the UBC Farm, located on unceded ancestral and traditional territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) people. Elder Larry Grant from xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) gifted the name xʷc̓ic̓ əsəm: The Place Where We Grow to the Indigenous Health Research and Education Garden in 2016.

A Message from the Dean

November 22, 2018

A Message from the Dean

Welcome to the Fall 2018 issue of Reach Out.

As UBC has recently launched its 10-year strategic plan Shaping UBC’s Next Century, it has a new roadmap to guide decisions and actions – inspiring the very best in our students, faculty, staff, alumni and partners.

As a leader in this Faculty, I’m pleased that the work we started under our 2016-2020 Action Plan aligns with UBC’s core areas of People and Places, Local and Global Engagement, Transformative Learning and Research Excellence.

In this issue, you can see how Land and Food Systems is advancing Local and Global Engagement and People and Places through research that brings together Indigenous groups within our unique community space at UBC Farm. At the farm’s xʷc̓ic̓əsəm Garden (Indigenous Health Research and Education Garden), Indigenous land-based teaching and learning may help to transform future Indigenous food systems. This project acknowledges that learning through carving, orality, and relationality is as important as learning from textbooks inside a classroom.

Transformative Learning is also taking place. This year we launched a new program to support re-wilding elephants used in the tourist trade and four undergraduate students have just returned from a summer in Thailand. For these students, studying abroad was life changing as much for the cultural immersion as it was for the academic experience.

This issue also shares an example of our Research Excellence. Our faculty members are measuring greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from farms and soils using funding from Agriculture and Agri-Foods Canada. The agricultural sector is the world’s second largest GHG emitter and this project may affect how Canada reports agricultural climate impacts to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

We are excited to share these stories with you as we travel the road to UBC’s next century together. I always welcome feedback and invite you to connect with me at lfs.dean@ubc.ca.

Rickey Yada

Dean, Faculty of Land and Food Systems

Tagged with: 2018, Staff

Investigating GHG Emissions from B.C. farms

November 22, 2018

Investigating GHG emissions from B.C. farms

How can farmers manage their fields to reduce the level of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions? What role does time of year play in the rise and fall of emissions? Do common crops, such as blueberries and potatoes, emit more GHGs compared to forage fields?

A team of LFS researchers, led by Professor Andrew Black, is tackling these questions in B.C.’s first long-term study measuring GHG emissions from agricultural crops year-round. The project has received $1.8 million in funding over five years from Agriculture and Agri- Foods Canada (AAFC).

The project will benefit Canada by moving it away from Tier 1 (default) or Tier 2 (country-defined) emission factors towards Tier 3 (modelled and measurement-based) emission factors in reporting climate impacts from agriculture to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Other researchers include Associate Professor Maja Krzic, Assistant Professor Sean Smukler and Research Associate Rachhpal Jassal. The team is capturing year-round GHG emissions of nitrous oxide (N20), methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2) using the eddy covariance and flux chamber techniques at farms in the Fraser Valley, as well as at UBC Farm.

Once the team quantifies the emissions of current farm management practices in B.C., it hopes to work with Canadian producers, policy makers and the scientific community to help reduce climate impacts. Some actions taken may be using fertilizer more efficiently, and developing mitigation technologies for blueberry, potato, and forage crops in the Lower Fraser Valley.

So far, early results are in from a Westham Island blueberry farm. Black and his graduate student Patrick Pow (pictured above) used an eddy covariance system to capture GHG fluxes every 30 minutes. This automated system was developed together with LFS Research Engineer Zoran Nesic.

Pow’s measurements for 10 months (Dec 2017-Sep 2018) have indicated that:

The blueberry field was a very weak carbon sink with net CO2 uptake during summer months and losses in winter months.
Methane emissions were inconsequential, which, with its global warming potential of 28 times higher than CO2, was equivalent to one fifth of the magnitude of the CO2 uptake.
The field was a moderate source of N2O emissions, which has a global warming potential 298 times higher than CO2.
Nitrous oxide emissions continued throughout the year, increasing sharply after application of nitrogen fertilizer and following rain events.

The net GHG budget (accounting for all three GHGs) of the blueberry field amounts to emissions of 0.38 t CO2 equivalent ha-1 which was dominated by N2O emissions.

Other measurements currently underway are at a potato field, also on Westham Island, and almost a dozen other blueberry and potato fields using manual chamber measurements to study the effects of fertilization, irrigation and drainage treatments. Studies led by Krzic and Smukler measure changes in soil carbon stocks and soil GHG fluxes.

Partners in this project – which runs from 2017-2021 – include BC Ministry of Agriculture, Pacific Agri- Food Research Centre at Agassiz, Delta Farmland and Wildlife Trust and Delta Farmers’ Institute.

Globally, the agricultural sector is the second largest emitter of GHGs. In 2017, the sector emitted approximately 11% of global GHG emissions, equal to about 6 billion t of CO2 equivalent, according to the World Resources Institute. This is second only to the energy sector.

LFS round-up: Indigenous learning, support for food entrepreneurship, and more…

November 15, 2018

Tagged with: 2018, Faculty, Indigenous

Tagged with 2018, Faculty, Indigenous
Categories: News

Banting Fellow to research social networks that influence farmers

November 14, 2018

Banting Fellow to research social networks that influence farmers

Caroline Ritter won the most prestigious postdoctoral award in Canada, a Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship. This award attracts and retains top-tier postdoctoral students in Canada and helps position them as leading researchers of the future.

She was drawn to UBC to study the social networks of dairy farmers with Professor Marina von Keyserlingk, a well-known researcher with a reputation for being a strong supervisor. Both share a passion for animal welfare and aim to translate their findings into recommendations for policymakers and other stakeholders.

“In my postdoctoral research I hope to use the social sciences to find out who influences farmers. By understanding their social networks, it will help us distribute information more effectively so that we can better inform and motivate farmers to use best management practices.”

Ritter also wants to incorporate a citizen’s view of farm management and develop recommendations to support farmers in their decision-making around health and welfare management.

Ritter began studying factors that influence farmers during her PhD, which focused on how veterinarians can be more effective advisors. She used recordings of on-farm conversations to assess interactions between veterinarians and farmers, concluding that communication improves when veterinarians fully consider farmers’ goals and concerns to negotiate a mutually agreed-upon plan for the farm instead of simply imposing advice.

Ritter has always been drawn to animals. While she was growing up in Germany she had many pets, including guinea pigs, cats, dogs and horses. She obtained a veterinarian license in Germany in a five-and-a-half year program, but practicing medicine wasn’t her calling.

She decided to pursue research and went to the University of Calgary in 2013 to obtain a PhD in Veterinary Preventative Medicine, Epidemiology and Public Health. While there, she volunteered as a clinical communication coach to improve veterinarian outreach to farmers.

Ritter started at UBC in September and has been enjoying many West Coast outdoor activities since arriving. She believes that taking breaks are important to recharge.

“I enjoy hiking and I’ve taken windsurfing courses from Jericho Sailing Centre. It’s always fun to see seals popping up when I’m windsurfing.”

Tagged with: 2018, Applied Animal Biology, Awards, Graduate

Tagged with 2018, Applied Animal Biology, Awards, Graduate
Categories: News

Applied Biology Undergrad Makes the Case for Grooming Brushes in Barns