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Home / 2011 / July / 21 / Harvest research has benefits for students and community
Environment & Sustainability, Teaching & Learning

Harvest research has benefits for students and community

July 21, 2011

UBC political science and geography student Steve Schiffbauer, left, geography student Kathleen Taylor and psychology student Adam Kubel show off some of the produce grown at the Okanagan campus organic garden.

UBC political science and geography student Steve Schiffbauer, left, geography student Kathleen Taylor and psychology student Adam Kubel show off some of the produce grown at the Okanagan campus organic garden.

UBC organic garden produce given to food bank and gospel mission

A plot of land near the University of British Columbia’s Okanagan campus is doing more than just growing plants.

The acre of donated land is the site of the UBC Preservation Farm and Research Initiative (PFRI), but growing 100 per cent pesticide-free produce (based on organic principles) is only one of the benefits the soil brings to the campus and the community.

Claude Desmarais, founder of the project and Reichwald Professor in Germanic Studies with the Department of Critical Studies, says the idea is to tie research and teaching to the garden. That connection is being made with three different program areas taking part in the green project so far.

Students from a variety of faculties have created poetry for the garden, given workshops for PFRI members on writing about their experience, and conducted a sustainability study. A business plan has been developed and staff and faculty have come on board by donating funds to the project.

Desmarais said donations from both on and off campus are vital to the project that employs students to tend the garden and harvest the crop. The latest donation was $2,000 from TD Friends of the Environment.

“We’re dependent on donations to put the students to work. We need the support of people to make this happen,” he said. “Students have been very interested and engaged.”

Produce from the organic garden includes lettuce, peas, potatoes, squash, beans and more. There is also a small herb garden tied to PFRI. Some of the fresh food is given to the Kelowna Community Food Bank and Kelowna Gospel Mission in proportion to the amount of donations the program receives, with the remainder sold at the Kelowna Farmers’ Market.

Desmarais envisions additional students, staff and faculty getting involved and the garden becoming integrated with more university courses. He envisions spin-off programs such as research and training programs on healthy gardening, eating and cooking in collaboration with the community.

The project also aims to provide support and information to other groups that want to integrate environmental sustainability, social engagement and research into an organic garden and research initiative.

Details of the project can be found at: www.preservationfarm.net

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Media Contact

Patty Wellborn
Media Relations Strategist
University Relations

The University of British Columbia
Okanagan campus
Tel: 250 317 0293
E-mail: patty.wellborn@ubc.ca

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About UBC Okanagan

UBC’s Okanagan campus is an innovative hub for research and learning founded in partnership with local Indigenous peoples, the Syilx Okanagan Nation, in whose traditional, ancestral and unceded territory the campus resides. The most established and influential global rankings all consistently place UBC in the top five per cent of universities in the world, and among the top three Canadian universities.

The Okanagan campus combines a globally recognized UBC education with a tight-knit and entrepreneurial community that welcomes students and faculty from around the world in British Columbia’s stunning Okanagan Valley. For more visit ok.ubc.ca.

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