2016 COABC Conference

Please join us this February for the 2016 COABC Conference in Vernon. This year’s theme is “Resilience”.

Kicking the weekend off is a Friday afternoon workshop (1 - 4:30 PM): Managing Soil to Maximize Agroecosystem Resiliency with Dr. Sean Smukler, Assistant Professor with the Faculty of Land and Food Systems at UBC. In this half-day workshop, participants will learn how to manage soil to improve the resiliency of the agroecosystem through a series of presentations and interactive group work.

In the first session of the workshop, participants will be given an overview of soil food web interactions and outcomes. The role of soil organisms from micro to macro fauna will be discussed in the context of resiliency. Participants will gain an understanding of who the organism are, what do they do, and how they interact. Basic physical characteristics of soil and its importance to biota will be presented using examples from the latest scientific research.

In the second session, participants will be given an overview of the challenges and options for managing soil in an organic farming system. Participants will learn about the challenges of optimizing nutrient availability to ensure nitrogen and phosphorus are utilized by the crop and not lost to the environment. The role of soil organic matter and strategies to build it will be discussed. Participants will learn about some of the tools and methodologies that are available for planning and assessing soil management.

Finally, participants will work in teams to address a variety of soil management challenges. Participants will be divided into small groups and given a unique soil management problem and work together to develop a detailed solution. This will be a hands-on exercise enabling participants to learn from each other and implement the information and tools presented in the previous sessions. Teams will present their problems and solutions for discussion. Participants will walk away from this workshop with a thorough understanding of the belowground ecosystem and some practical tools for managing it.

FRI. PM WORKSHOP IS SOLD OUT

We're thrilled to have Dr. Vandana Shiva, internationally recognized advocate for organics and non-GMO seed sovereignty, as our Keynote Speaker on Saturday at 8:30 AM. She will be speaking about the resilience of agroecosystems through organic growing and processing, how this leads to improved adaptability to shifts related to climate change like increased temperatures and water shortages, as well as how the future of organics will be sustained through the younger farmers who are taking on this philosophy of living and working.

Dr.Shiva will also participate in a seed roundtable on Saturday afternoon, time to be confirmed.

Much gratitude is extended to the following outstanding stewards of sustainable communities and food sovereignty whose donations have made Dr. Vandana Shiva's visit to BC possible: Harmony Foundation, Lifecycles, Nature's Path, Fieldstone Organics, Crannóg Ales, FarmFolk CityFolk, Young Agrarians, Food Action Society of the North Okanagan, Sustainable Environment Network Society, Jayme McKillop RE/MAX Realtor, Pilgrims Produce, Wild Flight Farm, GE Free Kamloops, Council of Canadians Kamloops Chapter, and Don Cavers.

For more information about Dr. Shiva's attendance at the conference, as well as session summaries, please visit the COABC website. Childcare will be available on Friday (9:30 - 4:45) and Saturday (8:00 - 5:15) this year.

For those unable to attend the conference, there will be public speaking events on Saturday night in Vernon (Schubert Centre Auditorium) and Monday night in Victoria (Farquhar Auditorium). Tickets for those events go on sale in December.

Cancellation Policy: The COABC will refund registration fees less a 25% service fee until Feb. 22, 2016.

Cancellation requests must be made in writing to the Conference Coordinator to the following address:

COABC, 202 – 3002 32 Avenue, VERNON, BC V1T 2L7

Refunds will not be provided after Feb. 22, 2016 and refund payments will be prepared after the conference.