Projects

The SAL lab projects focus on evaluating various aspects of the relationship between agricultural production and the environment. We are currently mainly working in southern BC. Our projects are typically focused on field- to landscape-level analysis. We evaluate regenerative and/or organic management options that can enhance soil health, improve nutrient cycling, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve farm resilience to the breakdown of the climate system.  We also evaluate the value of farm field edge management options in providing habitat for biodiversity and multiple ecosystem services.

Jump to a research area

• Enhancing soil health
• Improving nutrient management
• Supporting habitat and ecosystem services at farm field edges
• Mitigating agricultural greenhouse gas emissions
• Increasing climate resilience
• International research for development

Enhancing soil health

Past projects

Alaksen Agricultural Transition Project – Practices for Regenerative Outcomes	Spatiotemporal Analysis of Land Use Land Cover and Soil Organic Carbon in Lower Fraser Valley	Evaluating the Effects of Grassland Set Asides on Soil Nutrient Availability & Crop Yields in Delta, BC	Effects of 2 and 3-Year Grassland Set-Asides on Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Plant Available Nitrogen, and Soil Quality in the Lower Fraser River Delta
Hogs in a Rotational Grazing System: Exploring the Potential to Reduce Tillage for Organic Vegetable Production	Nutrient Management Effects on Soil Quality, Microbial Community Composition, and Nitrogen Leaching	A Comparison of Earthworm Densities in Grassland Set-A-Sides Versus Cultivated Potato Fields in Delta, British Columbia

Improving nutrient management

Past projects

Improving phosphorus management in agricultural lands and potential for environmental losses in the Fraser Valley of British Columbia	Okanagan Bioregion Nutrient Management	Organic Vegetable Nutrient Management	Soil Nutrient Dynamics and Crop Yields in Short-term Grassland Set-asides in the Fraser River Delta
Optimizing the Use of Organic Amendments in Organic Vegetable Production	Nutrient Cycling and Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Fall-Applied Horse and Poultry Manures	Biodiesel By-Product Based Fertilizers and their Impacts on Crop Productivity and Soil Nutrient Cycling	Nitrogen Field-loss and Field-scale Nitrogen Budget Determined on a Semi-Virtual Dairy Farmlet
Evaluating the Effects of Grassland Set Asides on Soil Nutrient Availability & Crop Yields in Delta, BC	The Effects of High-Throughput In-Vessel Compost on Soil Properties and Crop Productivity	British Columbia Nutrient Database

Supporting habitat and ecosystem services at farm field edges

Past projects

Detecting Changes in Hedgerow and Riparian Buffer Carbon Storage in the Lower Fraser Valley

Evaluating Planted Hedgerows, Remnant Hedgerows, and Production Fields for Climate Change Mitigation on Farmland in the Lower Fraser River Delta of British Columbia

Evaluating Field Margin Habitats for Wild Bee Conservation in Delta, British Columbia

Evaluation of Agricultural Management Scenarios for the Enhancement of Non-Production Perennial Landscape Features and Carbon Stocks

Mitigating agricultural greenhouse gas emissions

Past projects

Quantification and Mitigation of GHG Emissions from High-Value Agricultural Production Systems in British Columbia

Impacts of soil drainage on soil GHG emissions from highbush blueberry farms

Climate Change Mitigation BMPs for BC Agriculture

Increasing climate resilience

Past projects

Growing fruit and capturing carbon in the Okanagan	Too Much Water or Too Little: Climate Resilient Vegetable Farming	British Columbia cover crop database	Vancouver Island Winter Vegetable Variety Trial
Assessment of Current Status and Modelling of Future Capacity for Land Based Food Self-Reliance in South West British Columbia	Delta Drainage Project

International research for development

Past projects

The SAL Lab has worked in collaboration with the Agriculture and Food Security Center at the Earth Institute, Columbia University, the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), and Salvadoran Program of Research on Development and Environment  (PRISMA) on a USAID funded research-for-development project in El Salvador.  We were also involved in assessments of the environmental impacts and environmental management opportunities in the Millennium Villages Project.  These assessments include an analysis of changes in tree cover, biodiversity, and soil carbon after five years of agricultural intensification and other project interventions in Sauri, Kenya.  We were also involved in an analysis of the greenhouse gas mitigation opportunities in Mbola, Tanzania.  We have been involved in a UNEP project analyzing the soils and vegetation of a watershed in Southwest Haiti in Port-à-Piment.  You can learn more about these past projects here:

• • Agroforestry for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services
  • Measuring and Valuing Ecosystem Services in Relation to the Establishment of a Slash and Mulch Agroforestry System in El Salvador

Las Vueltas Landscape Baseline Assessment (El Salvador)