Langley organization offers grants to post-secondary students
The program helps students studying environmental sustainability and agriculture
The Langley Sustainable Agriculture Foundation has a grant program for students enrolled in environmental sustainability courses along with their research projects. (Submitted)
The Langley Sustainable Agriculture Foundation (LSAF) is a non-profit organization that aims to promote public information and awareness about agriculture in and around local communities.
Through their grant program, the organization offers funding to students in courses that focus on environmental sustainability as well as any research projects that require money for tools or professionals. The organization offers up to $2,000 for an on-farm project, $1,000 for post-secondary or professional studies, and $5,000 for a formal research project.
The organization will be putting on an event at the beginning of November for the grant recipients to demonstrate their research or project to the public in the form of a video or presentation.
“We want it to be easy for other farmers to pick up on the experiences that the grant recipients received during the year,” says Marcel Sachse, president of LSAF.
The organization also offers programs to help post-secondary students in their studies related to environmental sustainability, agriculture, and field research in Langley. They also conduct monthly meetings with students to provide a platform for them to share their research.
In addition to the grant program, they are working on a workshop centered around the new framework in compliance with the B.C. Ministry of Agriculture.
“It’s a great way for me to take some knowledge that I have learned … to the broader public to make environmental practices common knowledge so there’s more of an understanding of agriculture in, not only the farming community, but also in the broader population itself,” Sachse says.
LSAF also works to support local food, agricultural production, increase awareness about sustainable agricultural practices, and encourage people towards sustainable agriculture through the various courses, seminars, and workshops.
“An agricultural setting, to me, is sort of its own ecosystem that offers a lot of support for the surroundings and biodiversity. That really helps it to find a place in nature and not draw resources without giving back,” he says.
Sachse says it is important for the public to know where their food comes from, the role that agriculture plays in producing nutritional food, and its contribution in maintaining biodiversity.
“I want waste like animal manure or other food scraps, anything from natural products to go into a cycle that can be turned into a fertilizer, that can be applied back to the field in a way that keeps it balanced.”
In the future of agriculture, Sachse says he sees a reduction in dependence on fertilizers, becoming adaptable to climate change, and inclusive of biodiversity.
“In life, everybody is adapting to the ever-changing circumstances and so it’s good to keep people in the loop that agriculture is doing the same in terms of staying up to date with the changing environment and with the demands of the people.”
Those interested in the grant program can register for it on LSAF’s website.
