LFS 250 relfective essay PDF

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From the UBC Farm tour experience, I learned that the farm is not only a matter of growing fruits and vegetables focused on economic income, but also plays a role as a multifunctional system. The UBC Farm exhibits sustainability through multifunctionality as they stand by the motto, ‘no one thing does just one thing’ (Valley & Carrillo, 2017). Further explaining the meaning of the motto, maintaining a sustainable farm requires effort from each individual parts of a system to function as one whole to ensure food security and nutrition (HLPE, 2016). By visiting the farm myself and perceiving different stations that provide with different components such as Children’s Garden, the Indigenous Health Garden, Markets, Researching sites, etc., I have realized how the UBC Farm can be a great example of agroecology. By walking through station to station, I have learned how the farm consists of biodiversity and how they are all inter-connected to form one ecosystem (Valley & Carrillo, 2017). I was also amazed by their idea of the Children’s Garden and how it can help children at an earlier stage in life to realize the importance of the farm with hands-on experience of farming and producing (UBC Farm Children’s Programs, n.d). Getting an opportunity to be involved in such experiences can act as an amazing teaching tool for cultural and social knowledge. Growing up, I was not able to experience hands-on experience of the farm as I lived closer to the cities for most of my life. I have also realized that a lot of students in UBC do not know the difference between organic, recyclables and the compost even with the labels on the garbage bins. Although our farm cannot teach the concept of the cycle of food and food securities to all children in our generation, I believe even educating the minor will certainly make a difference in the future. The UBC farm also provides the Indigenous society with food and knowledge through intergenerational teaching programs (Lewis, n.d). The idea of the Indigenous Health Farm was also very astonishing as this deepened my understanding of UBC Farm acting as a tool to

provide social, cultural and ecological functions to demonstrate the importance of community engagement (Lewis, n.d). I was able to realize that my experiences at the farm guided me through deeper understanding of the relationships between biodiversity and the environment, agriculture and the society. Learning about the UBC farm is significant as it helps us to understand the environment we currently aside in and also gives us real life examples of the biodiversity by giving us the opportunity to see the reality of food production (UBC, 2016). Urban farms can provide us with more knowledge of where our food comes from which is essential to healthy diets and nutrition (Kerr et al., 2019). Therefore, we can get an opportunity to know the process that goes into growing food and by understanding this process, we can be more appreciative of the environment and sustainability. Also, when you have those hands-on experiences on farms, it would create more empowering movement in individuals to live sustainably and will deepen their understanding of what a sustainable life exactly is. Learning about the UBC farm has shifted my perspective about the role of a farm in general. I am more appreciative towards the agriculture and the production of our foods and experiencing the farm really put an emphasis on my understanding of how all living things are inter-connected. Also, I have realized how important it is to learn about farming system not just through lectures in a classroom but with hands-on experience, we will gain much more knowledge (UBC Farm Children’s Programs, n.d). With opportunities for children to connect with the environment in an enjoyable way, we will be able to open their vision about nature and organic farm (UBC Farm Children's Programs, n.d). By having the opportunity to see different aspects of the farm, I was able to enquire a different way of perceiving the farm and I am more

aware of the impacts I can make as I learn more about the systems thinking while connecting to the readings and resources required in this course.

References HLPE (2016) Sustainable Agricultural Development for Food Security and Nutrition: What Roles for Livestock? A report by the High-Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition of the Committee on World Food Security. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, Italy. Kerr, R. B., Rahmanian, M., Owoputi, I., & Batello, C. (2019). Agroecology and Nutrition: Transformative Possibilities and Challenges. In Sustainable Diets: Linking Nutrition and Food Systems (Eds. Burlingame, B. A., Dernini, S.). Boston, MA; Wallingford, Oxfordshire: CABI. pp. 53-63. Lewis, H. (n.d.). UBC Farm Audio Tour Station 4: Aboriginal Hub [MP3 file]. Retrieved from: http://lfs-250.sites.olt.ubc.ca/files/2015/08/UBCFarmtourStationMP3s.zip UBC (2016, June 22). Good soil, good humans: A story from the UBC Farm [Video file]. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsx_zye5TlQ UBC Farm Children's Programs. (n.d.). Retrieved from: https://ubcfarm.ubc.ca/childrens-programs/ Valley, W., & Carrillo, J. (2017). Session 4 – Patterns in the Global Food System, Pt 2. Retrieved from Session Notes LFS 250 Website: http://lfs250.landfood.ubc.ca/session-notes/term-1-session-notes/session-4-term1/ Valley, W., & Carrillo, J. (2017). Session 5 – Field Trip: UBC Farm. Retrieved from Session Notes LFS 250 Website: https://lfs250.landfood.ubc.ca/session-notes/term-1-session-notes/session-5term-1/...