The need for greater alignment between data collection methods has been a long-brewing conversation in BC’s agricultural research community.
We hosted this two-day conference to make progress towards defining collective approaches for measuring soil organic carbon, greenhouse gas emissions and co-benefits in BC agricultural production systems.
The workshop was designed to showcase the common research approaches that will provide a framework for the BC Living Lab and to build connections with provincial government initiatives and other aligned projects. Find all sessions below.
Workshop Objectives
✔ Identify opportunities, barriers and next steps for sharing research data.
✔ Increase understanding of research outcomes and data needs across disciplines.
✔ Support the development and adoption of standardized protocols for measuring and monitoring adaptation and mitigation outcomes.
- Presentation notes
- Key themes from the breakout discussions
- Links to presentations
- References for supporting research articles
+ Read the Action Items.
Supporting Research
- BC Ministry of Agriculture, 2022, Soil health indicator selection summary
- BC Regenerative Soils Technical Working Group, 2023, Draft Recommendations
- Ellert, B.H., Janzen, H.H., VandenBygaart, A.J., & Bremer, E 2006, ‘Measuring Change in Soil Organic Carbon Storage,’ Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
- Hunt, D, Bittman, S & Fretwell, R, ‘Real-time Simulation Models-A Novel Tool for Farm Nitrogen Management,’ Cool Forages, pp. 92-95
- Bagnall, D, et al, 2023, ‘A minimum suite of soil health indicators for North America agriculture,’ Soil Security
- Fran, J, at al, 2019, ‘Increasing crop yields and root input make Canadian farmland a large carbon sink,’ Geoderma, pp. 49-58
- Forge, T, et al, 2021, ‘Shifting Prevalence of Plant-Parasitic Nematodes in Orchards and Vineyards of the Okanagan Valley, British Columbia,’ Plant Health Progress, vol. 22, pp.113-121
- Munro, P, et al, 2020, ‘Soil biota from newly established orchards are more beneficial to early growth of cherry trees than biota from older orchards,’ Applied Soil Ecology, vol. 155 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsoil.2020.103658
- ‘How to use EDF’s nitrogen balance model to make nitrous oxide and nitrate reduction claims,’ Environmental Defense Fund, Nov 2022
- Norris, C, et al, 2020, ‘Introducing the North American project to evaluate soil health measurements,’ Agronomy Journal, vol. 112(3), pp. 3195-3215
- Paul, S.S, et al, 2020, ‘Tracking changes in soil organic carbon across the heterogeneous agricultural landscape of the Lower Fraser Valley of British Columbia,’ Science of The Total Environment, Vol. 732. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.138994
- Paul, S.S, et al, 2019, ‘Evaluating sampling efforts of standard laboratory analysis and mid-infrared spectroscopy for cost effective digital soil mapping at field scale,’ Geoderma, Vol, 356
- Rochette, P, et al, 2018, ‘Soil nitrous oxide emissions from agricultural soils in Canada: Exploring relationships with soil, crop and climatic variables,’ Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, Vol. 254, pp. 68-81 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2017.10.021
- Wang, S, et al, 2023, ‘Cross-scale sensing of field-level crop reside cover: Integrating field photos, airborne hyperspectral imaging, and satellite data,’ Remote Sensing of Environment, Vol. 285 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2022.113366
Funding Acknowledgement
The BC Agricultural Data Protocols workshop and preparation of the proceedings was supported in part by the Government of British Columbia’s CleanBC initiative and in part by the BC Living Lab.
Funding for the BC Living Lab project has been provided by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada through the Agricultural Climate Solutions — Living Labs program. The BC Living Lab project is led by the Investment Agriculture Foundation.
