Dr. Sean Smukler and his team are quantifying soil health, carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas emissions for various organic vegetable production practices including crop rotation, targeted compost application, “beyond 4R” nutrient management, cover cropping and conservation tillage. Their goal is to identify climate-friendly practices with improved nutrient use and management efficiencies, and to develop strategies to promote on-farm adoption of these practices.
Research Objectives
- Develop tools for monitoring, reporting and verification of climate mitigation and co-benefits of regenerative practices and identification of those that are likely to be most impactful.
- Develop monitoring, reporting and verification capabilities for the software LiteFarm
Establish a baseline, identify farms and best management practice options - Develop the HOLOS model for organic vegetables
- Evaluate regenerative practices with the greatest climate mitigation benefits and co-benefits suitable for a diversity of soil and climatic conditions.
- Evaluate greenhouse gas emission, carbon sequestration, soil health and climate resilience benefits, and crop yield of advanced nutrient management options, green manures, diverse cover crops, and conservation tillage
- Analyse the social and economic barriers to the adoption of these best management practices and develop and deploy novel strategies for addressing the barriers
- Evaluate economic barriers to adoption of regenerative practices
- Develop strategies to address barriers to adoption
Progress and Results
Research Update (March 2026)
KEY TAKEAWAYS (PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS)
- High compost treatments generally produced higher vegetable yields compared to low compost and targeted nutrient treatments, although responses varied by crop, site and year. Ongoing analyses are assessing greenhouse gas emissions, soil nitrogen dynamics and plant nitrogen uptake to better understand environmental impacts.
- High compost treatments delivered two to three-fold greater relative economic benefit.
- Winter squash yields under standard tillage and tarping-based systems showed inconsistent differences over two seasons suggesting that soil variability may play a key role.
Research Update (March 2025)
KEY TAKEAWAYS (PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS)
- The LiteFarm app was updated to include nutrient management information and a new version for capturing soil health information is expected for release in summer 2025.
- Work continues to adapt and validate the HOLOS model so that it can be used for estimating GHG emissions specifically for diversified organic vegetable production.
- Field trials were established at UBC Farm and Green Fire Farm, as well as at five daughter farms. Treatments included different nutrient management approaches, cover crops, and tillage regimes for diversified vegetable production.
Additional Links and Resources
Poster (Nov 2025) Advancing Regenerative, Climate-Resilient, Organic Vegetable Production Through Reduced Tillage and Tarping
Poster (Nov 2025) Assessing Impacts of Organic Nutrient Management Practices on Farm Economics in British Columbia
Poster (Oct 2025) A delicate balancing act: Identifying compost application strategies to reduce greenhouse gases efficiently
Factsheet (2025) Cover Cropping in British Columbia: 2023-2024 Cover Crop Trials at UBC and GreenFire Farms
Factsheet (2025) Improving Profitability and Reducing GHG Emissions with 4R
Factsheet (2025) Nitrogen Use Efficiency
Video (May 2025) BC ACARN webinar: Research Info Session: Regenerative Climate Resilient Vegetables
Video (Mar 2024) Lessons in managing soil health from 9 years of trials in organic vegetable production systems. See 33:10 – 39:00 for results from 2023 field trial.
Background Information
From the research activity proposal:
Canadian organic agriculture has the potential to contribute to our understanding of ecological and economic resilience in the face of a changing climate. With ecological management practices that are focused on building soil health and biodiversity as standard operating principles, the organic farming sector is hypothesized to contribute to both carbon sequestration and the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Critical gaps in scientific consensus and farmer knowledge about the connections between specific ecological farming practices and the quantification of GHG and carbon sequestration need to be addressed systematically and across soils and climatic regions across Canada.
Our interdisciplinary team of researchers, industry specialists and collaborating farmers plan to use a diversity of approaches to research and knowledge transfer including experimental and participatory-demonstration research based in British Columbia designed as mother-daughter field sites; state-of-the-art instrumentation deployed at our UBC Farm long-term research mother site; novel farmer-focused software and knowledge transfer activities inclusive of organic vegetable farmers and organic farming networks across Canada.
Our overarching goal is to reduce the climate impacts of organic diversified vegetable production while building resilience and profitability. To achieve this goal, we will complete the following three main project objectives:
- Develop tools to enable the effective monitoring, reporting and verification of climate mitigation benefits of crop rotations, and identify the co-benefits of regenerative, climate-resilient and organic diversified vegetable management practices.
- Identify a set of regenerative soil management practices with the greatest climate mitigation benefits and co-benefits suitable for a diversity of soil and climatic conditions.
- Assess the social and economic barriers to the adoption of these regenerative practices and develop and deploy novel strategies for addressing these.
This project will quantify carbon sequestration and GHG emissions for a suite of regenerative organic diversified vegetables production practices, including crop rotations, targeted compost applications and “beyond 4R” nutrient management, cover cropping, and responsible tillage. Supporting the broader adoption of these practices on a wide range of soils and climate regions, knowledge transfer activities will engage organic diversified vegetable farmers with on-farm participatory research, nutrient management planning with open-source technology training, field day and hybrid video and podcast series events inclusive of a network of organic farmers across Canada. Project outcomes will promote the organic vegetable sector’s economic resilience with clear communication of climate-friendly organic production practices and improved nutrient use and nutrient management efficiencies.
Contributing Partners
Meet the Research Team
Dr. Sean Smukler
Dr. Sean Smukler is an Associate Professor in Applied Biology and Soil Science at the University of British Columbia, as well as Director of the Centre for Sustainable Food Systems at UBC Farm. He runs a comprehensive research program dedicated to exploring the intricate relationship between agriculture and ecosystem services including assessing the impact of farm management practices on plant biomass and biodiversity, soil properties, nutrient cycling, and carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide emissions. He is interested in developing methods to translate plot and farm level results to landscape and regional levels.
Activity 13 Research Team
Name | Affiliation |
|---|---|
Delisa Lewis | University of British Columbia |
Hannah Wittman | University of British Columbia |
Juli Carrillo | University of British Columbia |
Kirsten Hannam | AAFC, Summerland |
Matthew Mitchell | University of British Columbia |
Roland Kroebel | AAFC, Lethbridge |
Zoran Nesic | University of British Columbia |
We asked Dr. Smukler
What got you interested in this research project?
Climate change is the most urgent and challenging issue we currently face. Given that consumers expect that when they purchase organic food, they are choosing a more environmentally friendly option. We should therefore be providing organic farmers with guidance on how best to reduce their emissions.
Where is your research taking place?
This research project takes place in southern British Columbia. We are using what we call, “a parent, child” research design. We have two farms, one on Vancouver Island and one here in Vancouver where we are doing replicated experiments under very controlled conditions. We are also establishing trials on 15 farms that will have some of the same experimental treatments but will be established under real-world, working farm conditions and each one will be a replicate.
What drew you to organic agriculture research?
I am currently the Chair of Agriculture and Environment, a position funded by the Ministry of Agriculture to provide actionable research for farmers of BC to help them improve the sustainability of their farming systems. Organic agriculture has a stated ethos to be sustainable, thus organic agriculture research fits very well within my research mandate.
How are you encouraging or training the next generation of scientists?
We are training the next generation of scientists by involving students in the project at both the undergraduate and graduate levels to work directly with farmers and more experienced researchers.
Outside of your research pursuits, what is an activity you enjoy doing in your free time?
I love spending time hiking, canoeing and skiing with my family.
