The need for greater alignment between data collection methods has been a long-brewing conversation in BC’s agricultural research community.
We hosted the two-day BC Agricultural Data Protocols Workshop 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 as well as other aligned research and industry projects.
Workshop objectives
- 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.
- Identify opportunities, barriers and next steps for sharing research data.
Workshop Proceedings
Download the Data Protocols Workshop Proceedings for:
- Presentation notes
- Key themes from the breakout discussions
- Links to presentations
- References for supporting research articles
Read the Workshop Agenda and Action Items.
Presentation Slides & Recordings
Whether you'd like to watch the workshop video recordings or prefer to flip through the slide decks, we have got you covered.
All workshop presentations and Q & A periods were recorded and are available on the Data Protocols Workshop Youtube playlist.
DAY 1
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Soil organic carbon measurements for BC Living Lab: Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada’s approach, Kirsten Hannam, AAFC
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Challenges of scaling soil carbon data over space and time, Sean Smukler, UBC
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Nutrient management with growers, Dru Yates, ES Cropconsult
- Recording available with Farm Nitrogen Budgets below
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Farm Nitrogen Budgets, Shabtai Bittman, AAFC
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Co-benefits measurements for the BC Living Lab: Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada’s approach, Kirsten Hannam, AAFC
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Choosing soil health measurements for large-scale adoption, Charlotte Norris, NRCAN/Soil Health Institute
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Soil Microbiology Analysis Options, Miranda Hart, UBCO
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Prevalence of soil-borne pests and diseases in relation to soil health, Tom Forge, AAFC
- Recording
- Slides
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ACS Living Labs strategy for socio-economics, Shauna MacKinnon, BC ACARN
- Socio-economics: Designing the research, John Janmaat, UBCO
DAY 2
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Ministry of Agriculture and Food provincial priorities, program delivery, & reporting requirements, Greg Rekken, BC Ministry of Agriculture & Food
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Regenerative soils technical working group draft recommendations, Greg Rekken, BC Ministry of Agriculture & Food
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Remote sensing for evaluating health of agricultural ecosystems, Bing Lu, Simon Fraser University
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An introduction to LiteFarm, Kevin Cussen, UBC
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Agrilyze: agricultural spatial data foundations, Jonathon McIntyre, i-open/Agrilyze
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Data stewardship and data governance: options for BC agricultural data, Hannah Wittman, UBC
Supporting Research
Supporting research and background information shared by presenters
- 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 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.
