JULY 2018 • COUNTRY LIFE IN BC Going green
Sustainable practices should boost yields
While our understanding of the complexities of climate change continues to advance, many farmers are challenged
Research by MARGARET EVANS
with how to translate that knowledge into sustainable and practical methods of crop production that results in both yields and profits. At the University of British
Columbia, Sean Smukler, assistant professor, applied biology and soil science junior chair, has been working on this problem for the past year, focusing on forage, potatoes and blueberries. The focus of the five-year project is to find ways to mitigate greenhouse gases and evaluate how much carbon could be stored in farm soils. From those results, he hopes to provide farmers with management recommendations. In addition, his team is assessing how soil carbon is changing in the Fraser Valley in response to land uses and soil management practices as well as a project looking at better management of nutrients in organic farming systems. “Our very preliminary
results sampling 30 fields in Delta show that installing tile drains may be contributing to loss of soil carbon at deeper depths,” says Smukler. “We are in the process of better understanding these results as well as determining the impact of other management practices and land use changes. It is unclear how the changing climate will impact soil carbon. Some studies indicate that warmer temperatures are likely to lead to increased losses but this may be offset by changing precipitation patterns and changes in farm management.” Smukler says that
managing soil nutrients to make them available when and where crops need them is critical for farmers to optimize profitability and income. Yet it’s particularly challenging for small-scale organic vegetable farmers. “While there has been
some progress in developing cropping system strategies for organic vegetable production, the sector continues to under- yield conventional counterparts,” he says. “Nutrient management has been identified as one of the major contributors to this yield gap. Organic cropping systems have been designed
to improve soil health and maximize nutrient cycling on- farm through the utilization of cover crops and organic amendments, to create an environment that will enable the development of healthy plants, high- quality food and the overall sustainability of the farm. However, these objectives do not
always line up with the most effective nutrient applications for plant growth (and yields), as organic nutrient sources pose some unique challenges.” He says that some of those challenges include the ratio and mobility of nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) in cover crops and manure. Cover crops can help mobilize phosphorus but cannot bring in more to the soil system. If it’s lost from crop harvest it must be replaced with either mined phosphorus or material originating from compost and manure. But those applications can lead to excessive build-up risking contamination of water sources and calling into question sustainability of the practice.
The other challenge is timing and the need to understand microbial activity in the soil. Microbes are temperature and moisture- dependent making timing very difficult to predict. That can lead to insufficient use of
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UBC assistant professor Sean Smukler SUBMITTED PHOTO
nutrients resulting in lower yields and loss of under-used nutrients to the environment. “These challenges are
particularly acute for organic vegetable farmers who need to develop a nutrient management strategy for a wide range of vegetable crops, some of which require far more nutrients then others,” he says. “There is some evidence that organic fertilizers can be used to effectively time nutrient availability with vegetable demand to maximize yields but, given their expense, it is unclear how cost-effective they are for small-scale producers. Furthermore, there has been little work assessing their potential environmental
impacts. Thus, developing nutrient management strategies to improve nutrient use efficiency may be time- demanding and complex for farmers, and the benefits of utilizing organic fertilizers to optimize production unclear.” He says that his research team established trials this past spring at the UBC Farm and Green Fire Farm on Vancouver Island to compare various nutrient management strategies in replicated controlled experiments. “We have also established trials on 18 other farms in the lower Fraser Valley, Vancouver Island and Pemberton.” Farmers and consumers are both facing challenges and uncertainties. Traditionally, we
import foods from the US, but shifting exchange rates, rising trucking costs and trade disputes fuel a greater desire for food self-sufficiency. But Smukler notes that
many people don’t worry about regional food security until something disastrous happens affecting price and supply. He doesn’t expect major increases to local production without more stable land prices and healthier profit margins for farmers, a combination that would let them focus more on environmental due diligence. “My sense from interacting with farmers in the region is that they want to leave the land better than they found it,” he says.
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