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Soil assessment for urban agriculture: a Vancouver case study
Urban agriculture is becoming more prevalent in North American cities. With the rise of urban farming comes the need to evaluate the soil and the urban environment to assess potential risks of metal contamination due to pollution in urban-grown food. Community gardens and urban farms are often…
Quinoa Production in the Urban Environment
With urban agriculture becoming more prevalent in cities comes the need for health assessments of crops grown in urban environments. Many urban farms are located on “brownfields,” lots that have become contaminated with trace metals. Plants grown in brownfields can take up trace metals from…
AAFC - Greenhouse gases
AAFC - Future outlook: Climate scenarios for agriculture
Climate change scenarios, global climate models, climate impacts on Canadian agriculture and reducing agricultural emissions.
AAFC - Nitrogen Indicator
The Nitrogen Indicator evaluates the risk of nitrogen contamination in the water across agricultural lands
AAFC - Phosphorus Indicator
The Phosphorus Indicator evaluates the relative risk of surface water contamination by phosphorus at the watershed scale across agricultural areas in Canada
AAFC - Coliforms Indicator
The Coliforms Indicator evaluates the relative risk of surface water contamination by pathogens from manure such as viruses, bacteria and protozoa, across agricultural areas in Canada.
AAFC - Pesticides Indicator
The Pesticides Indicator evaluates the relative risk of water contamination by pesticides across agricultural areas in Canada
AAFC - Soil Management
Erosion and runoff from agricultural land affects surface and groundwater quality as well as agricultural productivity. Read for an overview of these issues and their solutions.
AAFC - Nutrient management planning
The summary provides information on the impact of plant nutrients on water quality and how the careful management of nutrient inputs can mean economic efficiency for producers and improved water quality for others.
Balancing nitrogen and phosphorus on organic vegetable farms
In the first episode of the Organic BC podcast, they discuss on-farm research trials that compared different combinations of organic amendments (composts and organic fertilizer) and their impact to crop yield, soil carbon, input costs, and residual soil nutrients. Amy Norgaard, a former Master of…
Using tarps as overwinter soil cover
In this episode of the Organic BC podcast, we'll be learning about on-farm research trials that examined the role that silage tarps can play in managing agricultural soils in the winter months in British Columbia. Raelani Kesler, Master of Soil Science student with the Sustainable Agricultural…
The Impact of Biosolids on Soil Quality and Native Grasses
Biosolids are organic amendments resulting from municipal wastewater treatment processes. They contain appreciable amounts of nitrogen, phosphorus and organic matter, and are regulated to meet safe pathogen levels and metal contents. In British Columbia (BC), 38,000 dry tonnes of biosolids are…
Vancouver Soil Map
This web-based tool provides unique learning opportunities on the topics of soil formation, urban agriculture, and ecological processes within an urban setting. The tool was designed with the intention of providing greater access to valuable information on land-use opportunities within the city of…
SoilWeb200: An Introduction to Fundamental Soil Science Concepts
SoilWeb200 is an interactive introduction to basic soil science concepts, including soil classification, soil biology, and soil components. It relates these concepts to soil various soil management issues.
Barley–Pea Intercropping: Growing Crops Together to Improve Land Productivity
Growing barley as the sole crop in a field has impacts on land productivity by decreasing soil carbon and nitrogen. Sustainable nitrogen management is challenging due to the increasing cost of nitrogen fertilizers, the emission of nitrous oxide, and the potential of nitrates contaminating both…