Living Lab – Ontario is a five-year innovation project that brings together farmers, organizations, researchers, and other experts to co-develop, test, and evaluate beneficial management practices (BMPs) that address climate change challenges in livestock and cropping systems.
Living Lab–Ontario is one of 14 living labs across Canada that are part of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Agricultural Climate Solutions–Living Labs program.
As part of this project, EFAO’s work is centred around:
- Supporting farmers to conduct trials and demonstrations focused on adapting BMPs with the potential to sequester carbon and better manage nitrogen for small to mid scale vegetable operations. This includes trialing systems for growing no-till potatoes and no-till winter squash, and developing a database of plant available nitrogen from different in-season cover crops.
- Supporting the Apitipi Anicinapek Nation Leading Cloud Gardens with farmer-led research, knowledge sharing and community building related to BMPs that have the potential to build soil, sequester carbon and improve food security. This includes producing high quality compost with locally available materials, cover cropping and bringing capacity for vegetable production.
No-Till Winter Squash
More coming soon!
No-Till Potatoes
More coming soon!
Plant Available Nitrogen from Cover Crops
More coming soon!
Leading Cloud Gardens
More coming soon!
Living Lab—Ontario 2019-2023
For more information about EFAO’s projects as part of the 2019-2023 Living Lab—Ontario:
Funding Statement
Funding for the project has been provided by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada under the Agricultural Climate Solutions – Living Labs program and by the following partners: Beef Farmers of Ontario, Dairy Farmers of Ontario, Grain Farmers of Ontario, Ontario Federation of Agriculture, Ontario Pork and Ontario Sheep Farmers. The project is coordinated by the Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association.
