Over the following weeks UBC will be making a decision about the future of Vancouver’s last working farm - the UBC Farm (and Centre for Sustainable Food Systems.) The UBC Farm is a unique asset to the city and region. It provides students and the broader community the opportunity to learn hands-on about how changes in the way food is produced and distributed are a key piece in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, mitigating climate change, and in creating healthy local communities and economies. To see the kind of innovative programs that UBC Farm offers from school garden programs, to an urban Aboriginal community kitchen, to a student-run farmer’s market, to apprenticeships in organic agriculture, to a diverse array of research, please check out their website: www.landfood.ubc.ca/ubcfarm

From all appearances, opportunities for public input into the decision about the future of UBC Farm will be very limited.

There are two things that you can do right now to help support the farm:

1) Register for “design workshops” that UBC Campus Planning is holding. Participation is by invitation only, but you can request to be invited by writing to: stefani.lu@ubc.ca or call Stefani Lu at 604-827-3465. NB: the deadline for registration is March 1. You can check out the Main Campus Plan review website at: http://www.campusplan.ubc.ca/

2) Write a letter in support of preserving UBC Farm in its current location and of maintaining it at a scale that would allow viable, diverse farming activities to continue. You can send this letter to:

• Stephen J. Toope, President and Vice-Chancellor, Office of the President, The University of British Columbia, 6328 Memorial Road, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z2
• Nancy Knight, Associate Vice President Campus & Community Planning, The University of British Columbia, 102 - 2210 West Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4
• The UBC Board of Governors, c/o Reny Kahlon, Acting Secretary, 6328 Memorial Road Vancouver, V6T 1Z2
• UBC/GVRD Joint Committee; c/o Paulette Vetleson, Corporate Secretary, 4330 Kingsway, Burnaby, V5H 4G8

Also please CC the farm so that they can keep track of letters of support: UBC Farm, 2357 Main Mall, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4.

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