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BC Dairy Living Lab
Foster Richardson,
BC Dairy Living Lab Project Manager
The BC Dairy Living Lab wrapped up a successful
second year of on-farm research this fall with a
field day hosted in Abbotsford on October 10. The
field day took place in a silage corn field where an
Italian ryegrass relay crop had been seeded into
the corn crop in July, a few weeks after planting.
The ryegrass was persisting well under the corn
canopy and growing vigorously on the opened-
up headlands. This was a great opportunity to
see the fall growth potential of this high-quality
forage grass in action. In addition to the ryegrass
relay crop on display, in field were several booths
highlighting project Best Management Practices
(BMPs), other programs and organizations, and
a soil health presentation from BC Ministry of
Agriculture staff.
The BC Living Lab was developed to address
soil carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas
mitigation on farms from several production
systems across British Columbia. The BC Dairy
project team is comprised of contractors Mike Witt
and Foster Richardson, BC Dairy staff, researchers
at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, with
support from Investment Agriculture Foundation
(IAF).
The living labs framework is funded through
the federal Agricultural Climate Solution (ACS)
– Living Labs Program, a $185 million, 10-year
program that has established a network of 14
applied projects across Canada. The model is
a globally recognized approach to agricultural
innovation that combines the skills and knowledge
of farmers, scientists, and industry experts to
co-develop, implement, and evaluate best
management practices in an on-farm context. The
BC Living Lab is led by the Investment Agriculture
Foundation (IAF) of BC, in collaboration with
industry organizations, with the first five-year leg
of the project running from 2022 – 2027. The
other commodity groups participating in the BC
Living Labs project are: cattle and forage (BC
Cattlemen’s Association, BC Forage Council),
field vegetables (BC Potato, Vegetable Growers
Association), and perennial row crops (BC Wine
Grape Council, BC Blueberry Council, Raspberry
Industry Development Council, BC Hazelnut
Growers Association).
The BC Dairy Living Lab is working with six farm
sites: three in the Fraser Valley and three in the
North Okanagan. Unlike conventional research,
the living lab model relies on collaboration with
farmers to develop and define the implementation
of the project BMPs. Over the course of the
program, it is expected that the research will shift
and adapt based on experiences on-farm and
results. After two years there have already been
many adjustments, modifications, and some new
additions in response to farm requirements and
practicalities and we expect that to be the normal
in coming years.
One key addition this year is the involvement
of an agricultural economics specialist who is
conducting an economic analysis of the low-
emission manure spreading BMP. The goal is to
quantify what the costs – and potential benefits –
are to the farmer when implementing this practice.
As we work to quantify the environmental benefits
of BMPs, we also want to assess the barriers to
adoption on-farm; this economic analysis is a
key part of that assessment. Another addition
has been the integration of legume species
into existing cropping systems with the goal of
assessing both the potential feed quality impact
and nitrogen and climate benefit.
Prior to project implementation, outreach to dairy
farmers determined the three BMPs included in the
project:
Relay & Cover Cropping in Corn Silage:
Typical practice involves a longer season silage
corn crop followed by a fall-seeded cover crop
of winter wheat or rye or no cover crop. The
enhanced BMP implemented on participating
farms this year included relay cropping of
ryegrass into the growing corn silage crop
during the summer. This seeding grows rapidly
after silage harvest, taking advantage of the fall
and spring weather to uptake soil nutrients, fix
carbon, provide winter cover and, under the right
conditions, produce a spring forage crop itself.
Fall seeding of cover crops was also included this
year to provide a comparison to relay cropping.
Lower Emissions Manure Spreading:
Conventional dairy slurry spreading practices
are effective at quickly applying manure, but
often result in imprecise application rates across
the field and potential for nitrogen losses to the
atmosphere as ammonia and nitrous oxide.
Enhanced practices implemented this year
included surface banding and injection methods
that can reduce greenhouse gas emissions and
improve nutrient use efficiency for the crop.
Attendees gathering to listen to Mike Witt present.
Asha Wareham photo
the best in the New Year!
WC DAIRY NEWS  CHRISTMAS 2024 37
Italian Ryegrass Relay Crop at Corn Harvest.
Mike Witt photo
Refined Nutrient Budgeting:
This BMP expands on the nutrient management
planning typically completed by undertaking a
whole-farm budget of nutrient inputs and outputs,
using nutrient values from on-farm analyses in
place of “textbook” where possible. The goal is
to identify opportunities to reduce nutrient inputs,
primarily nitrogen, while still maintaining farm
productivity.
Over the course of the growing season, Mike
Witt and his team, with the support of scientists
from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, were
busy visiting the farms to collect soil, manure,
forage and silage samples for lab analysis.
Spring soil carbon and nutrient sampling will
form the baseline for the multi-year project,
while forage quality and yield sampling will help
determine the impacts of BMP implementation on
farm productivity and economics. This year, the
AAFC research team also implemented Gasmet
analyzers on two farms in the Fraser Valley. This
advanced tool collects real time measurements
of gas exchange between soil and air and, with
weekly measurements, can show the release
and sequestration of greenhouse gas emissions
in growing crops. Winter will be spent analysing
the year’s results and working with the farmers to
collect data and help define the various barriers to
implementation as well as some co-benefits of the
BMPs.
Throughout the life of the project, knowledge
transfer will continue to promote BMP adoption
and receive input of the program design and
implementation. Active engagement with farmers
is an essential part of this project. Keep an eye out
for materials and results to be shared and for on-
farm field days during the production season.
With the two years of on-farm implementation of
the BC Dairy Living Lab behind us, we’re looking
forward to continuing the project through 2025
and beyond. Keep an eye out for project updates
on IAF and BC Dairy social media. If you have any
questions about the project or are interested in
participating, you can contact me at livinglabs@
bcdairy.ca.
This project was funded in part by Agriculture
and Agri-Food Canada through the Agricultural
Climate Solutions – Living Labs program with
contributions from each of the participating
associations, including BC Dairy. The BC Living
Lab is delivered by the Investment Agriculture
Foundation of BC.