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UBC Farm agroforestry product lines

University of British Columbia. Sustainability Office

There is a potential for expanding the types of agroforestry systems at The UBC Farm (UBCF). New agroforestry product lines would add functionality to the UBCF’s forested spaces and hedgerows, provide new sources of revenue, and provide an example for how agroforestry systems can be managed and implemented for other BC farms. The goals of the UBCF Agroforestry Product Lines Project were: to identify potential new agroforestry product lines for the UBC Farm, and to assess their potential for profit. This project was a collaboration between a group of UBC Students from LFS 450, and the UBC Farm (UBCF). The group identified a range of potential agroforestry projects. After consulting with the UBCF, the group decided to focus on the production of medicinal plants on the edges of the forested spaces and hedgerows for a local medicinal plant retailer. The students prepared a business plan to outline the implementation of this project, and to assess its potential for profit. The group identified three medicinal plants (borage, comfrey, and yarrow) that could be grown and processed by the farm, and sold to the retail partner. They found that the farm has the potential to make $2800 profit from this project annually. Medicinal plant production has very low fixed costs, so the UBCF does not have to sell a lot of product to cover their costs. Medicinal plant production at the UBCF has a great potential for being a profitable project for the UBCF. This group recommends that the UBCF integrates medicinal plants into their agroforestry systems. Also, future LFS 450 groups should continue to work on developing new agroforestry projects for the UBCF. Disclaimer: “UBC SEEDS provides students with the opportunity to share the findings of their studies, as well as their opinions, conclusions and recommendations with the UBC community. The reader should bear in mind that this is a student project/report and is not an official document of UBC. Furthermore readers should bear in mind that these reports may not reflect the current status of activities at UBC. We urge you to contact the research persons mentioned in a report or the SEEDS Coordinator about the current status of the subject matter of a project/report.”

Text

University of British Columbia. LFS 450; UBC Social Ecological Economic Development Studies (SEEDS) Student Report

Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library

10.14288/1.0108541

Land and Food Systems, Faculty of

Unreviewed

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/ca/