Saturday, 29 September 2012 from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM (PDT) at the UBC Farm, Vancouver, BC
9:00-10:00 – Registration
10:00-10:20 – Welcome and opening remarks
10:20 – 11:00 – David Trotter - David will give an overview of Agroforestry principals, look at the current agroforestry industry in BC, and touch on existing challenges and opportunities.
11:00-11:15 – Break
11:15-11:45 – Kelleen Wiseman - Kelleen will focus on the business planning and marketing tools that can be used to assess readiness and expansion potential of a farm business into the agroforestry area.
11:45-12:30 – Break-off groups: facilitated discussion – what are potential barriers to adopting agroforestry initiatives? Regulation or policy red tape? What concerns, challenges can we foresee? What processes/functions/frameworks does one need to better understand to successfully bring a product to market?
12:30-1:30 – Lunch (vegetarian and featuring produce from UBC Farm)
1:30-2:00 – Concurrent sessions
Peter Andres – Peter will provide an overview of the hazelnut industry, including current challenges and specifically EFB disease. He will discuss what the industry is doing to build itself up again and what this means in terms of opportunities for farmers looking to incorporate hazelnuts into their production.
Robin Clark and Taylor White -- Robin and Taylor will outline steps to assess the carbon footprint of an agroforestry or agriculture operation and discuss potential opportunities to integrate carbon sequestration into agroforestry strategies. Farm specific GHG calculator can be found here http://www2.cplan.org.uk/index.php?_load=page&_pageid=3 . Participants encouraged to visit this site prior to the conference.
2:00-2:30 – Concurrent sessions
Thom ODell – Thom will discuss current research into new hazelnut varieties, what these new varieties offer in terms of yield and disease resistance, what growers can expect from new varieties, time from establishment to production and other characteristics.
David Bradbeer – David will introduce the idea of establishing native trees & shrubs on local farms, and what benefits (and challenges) these impart on the agroecosystem. Some focus will be given to ways of managing hedgerows for food production.
2:30- 3:20 Shannon Berch – Shannon will explore basic truffle biology, the methods used to produce and harvest them, and what success would look like in BC. Her presentation begins in the event tent and ends in the field.
3:20-3:30 Break
3:30-4:00 Scott Henderson – Scott will impart his knowledge of mushroom cultivation: How to produce mushrooms within an agroforestry framework, what varieties grow best/easiest/offer the best market value, what does one need to begin a cultivation enterprise, and more.
4:00-5:00 Facilitated discussion