Ottawa's Central Experimental Farm

[lrt's friend]

9AM–4PM
Dominion Arboretum, Friday hours

Do they really control those hours? People are there whenever there is daylight.

I can understand why they don't want people there at night.

[acottawa]

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

Do they really control those hours? People are there whenever there is daylight.

I can understand why they don't want people there at night.

To me that's the problem. A regular visitor probably knows whether or not the closing times are enforced or whether or not there are any actual consequences for being in the arboretum after closing. A visitor to the city or a new arrival or someone who does not regularly visit the area doesn't have a way of knowing this and is going to be more constrained by posted signs.

To me this is also the problem with counting landscaped federal properties as part of Ottawa's inventory of parks. Actual parks are usually open until 11 and have a much broader range of permitted activities.

[AndyMEng]

Originally Posted by acottawa

Weddings on the Farm...Contact the Central Experimental Farm to receive a "Permission/Authorization to Use" form...There is a limit of 40 people attending a ceremony

Pictures...A completed "Permission/Authorization to Use" form is necessary for wedding pictures in the Arboretum or for the Ornamental Gardens... A wedding photo shoot or a group photo in the Ornamental Gardens may include up to 15 people.

The increasing levels of use by the public of the roadways through the Central Experimental Farm for dog walking, strolling, cycling, and jogging is compromising field-based research. Where such conflicts are occurring, consideration should be given to adding sections of fencing (refer to design guidelines for Fences). The signage strategy should clarify the boundaries for all public uses while providing the public with information that helps explain AAFC's position.

9AM–4PM
Dominion Arboretum, Friday hours

Claiming Ottawa has lots of parks because things that aren't parks (but are green in colour) can sometimes be hacked for park-like functions does not mean Ottawa has a lot of parks.

Ok, I can see how a wedding may need to have permission, same as literally anywhere else in the city where you want to host a wedding.

And yes, there's fencing along the roads so you don't accidentally grow an extra arm if you touch the 'special' corn.

I still think you should spend an afternoon out there. Its quite nice.

As for the hours, its just the parking area along the ridge where people toboggan that closes. I've had several late night bike rides from Carleton to Preston area along the path. Generally, people like to stay out of parks after dark anyways.

[acottawa]

Originally Posted by AndyMEng

I still think you should spend an afternoon out there. Its quite nice.

I have and I agree it is nice. I just don't think the presence of landscaped federal land is a substitute for proper parks.

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

We need to vigilant but we also have to remember that places that are devoid of greenery are soulless.

Debatable, but even accepting that for the sake of argument, it doesn't mean, as some seem to think, that the reverse is true, that places full of greenery are soulful. Maybe to ents, but I'm a hoomin.

Maybe, that is my personal bias, but places with colourful planters in summer and trees with decent room to grow are important to make for good and more comfortable public space.

Yes, but as part of a public space that is comprised principally of buildings and surfaces and structures, not grass and shrubs.

Before criticizing people protecting their parks such as the Byron linear park, remember people are looking for comfortable places in their neighbourhood to walk, run or bike. Not everybody is happy walking where there is constantly zooming traffic.

And not everybody is happy with edge vacuums and dead space, which Ottawa has too much of, and the Ottawa public invariably demands more of, when asked.

[Uhuniau]

To acottawa's point, i was involved in an organisation that tried to organize events several years running in either city or NCC "green spaces".

It was not worth the hassle or paperwork.

[rocketphish]

Piece of the farm: Looking at the string of proposals for the Central Experimental Farm
Freedom of information request shows wind turbines, community gardens.

By: Ryan Tumilty, Metro
Published on Thu Feb 02 2017

Ottawa’s Central Experimental Farm has been a 1,055-acre oasis in the heart of the city since 1886.

But its central location has also made it a target for a host of development ideas.

Using an existing access to information request, Metro obtained all the proposals that Agriculture Canada has received for a piece of the farm since 2005.

The list of requests for farm land have included some well-known and well-publicized ideas, including a new Ottawa Civic Hospital, the Baseline Transitway proposal and a National Botanical Garden.

It also included less well-known ideas: wind turbines, a climate-change research centre and a community garden.

Leslie Maitland of the Coalition to protect the Experimental Farm said pushes like these are why the land needs more federal protection, like that of a national park.

“It currently is designated a national historical site, but designation is simply an honourific," she said. "It doesn't prevent change.”

“At the very least the federal government should commit itself to protecting the national historical sites that it owns and manages,” she said.

On Wednesday, Ottawa councillors approved a plan that would cede part of the farm for a transitway along Baseline Road. The agriculture ministry quickly rejected the proposal for wind-turbine and community-garden proposals.

The group behind the National Botanical Garden proposal is moving ahead with a plan to use 34 acres of land near the Hartwell Locks.

Monique Oaks, chair of the group, said they are working with the government and are drafting a master plan for the site.

“What we are trying to do is create a 34-acre botanical garden of international appeal,” she said. “We want to make it a destination.”

The group had originally hoped to break ground this year, Oaks said, but the amount of fundraising still required could jeopardize that timeline.

Oaks said their proposal is designed to complement the Experimental Farm as we currently know it.

“We want to be a window for Agriculture Canada to showcase their research," she said.

http://www.metronews.ca/news/ottawa/2017...piremental-farm-has-many-proposals-.html

[eltodesukane]

Farmside Green at the Experimental Farm
Too bad this can not stay as a small park on the edge of the bike pathway.
http://ottawacitizen.com/life/homes/farm...-friendly-homes-with-a-stunning-location
https://www.google.ca/maps/@45.3774438,-75.7227389,323m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en&hl=en

[rocketphish]

While located adjacent to it, this development has nothing to do with the Experimental Farm. Maybe we could move this post to General Updates, or start a new thread for it?

[shawkr]

Here are the acreages of major central Ottawa parks

Brewer 51 incl. pool, arena, pond area, and adjacent tennis club
Windsor 9
Brentwood 10
Strathcona 14
Major's Hill 10
Commissioner's 19
Hampton Park 32
RA Centre 19
Landsdowne 47 include retail complex, parking, stadum
Vincent Massey 57 include Tupper Bldg parking
Hog's Back 72 include Tupper Bldg property and Hog's Back Falls
Mooney's Bay 72 include Terry Fox track
Arboretum 163 include Pavillion, curling club and empty grassland


These parks combine for a total of 575 acres. The fields on the farm account for about 725 acres. So you could fit all those parks into that space and still have room for another 75 Dundonald Parks.

I get that there are some nice features to the Farm, but its recreational value is basically zero, especially when you compare it to all the parks enumerated above, which (pulling numbers from the sky) probably gets 1000x the recreational use.

[Mikeed]

I know it's unpopular opinion but I will do w.e it takes to fight to keep the CEF the CEF.

[On Edge]

Originally Posted by Mikeed

I know it's unpopular opinion but I will do w.e it takes to fight to keep the CEF the CEF.

Why?

[Buggys]

The CEF is not meant for recreation -- it's a farm! It's unique in its location, scientific, agricultural, and educational benefits, and should not be tampered with.

[Buggys]

Originally Posted by shawkr

Here are the acreages of major central Ottawa parks

Brewer 51 incl. pool, arena, pond area, and adjacent tennis club
Windsor 9
Brentwood 10
Strathcona 14
Major's Hill 10
Commissioner's 19
Hampton Park 32
RA Centre 19
Landsdowne 47 include retail complex, parking, stadum
Vincent Massey 57 include Tupper Bldg parking
Hog's Back 72 include Tupper Bldg property and Hog's Back Falls
Mooney's Bay 72 include Terry Fox track
Arboretum 163 include Pavillion, curling club and empty grassland


These parks combine for a total of 575 acres. The fields on the farm account for about 725 acres. So you could fit all those parks into that space and still have room for another 75 Dundonald Parks.

I get that there are some nice features to the Farm, but its recreational value is basically zero, especially when you compare it to all the parks enumerated above, which (pulling numbers from the sky) probably gets 1000x the recreational use.

I don't think seas of ashphalt such as parking should count as recreational parks. Also, retail complexes (I.e. Lansdowne) & office buildings (I.e. Tupper) shouldn't count either.

[On Edge]

Originally Posted by Buggys

The CEF is not meant for recreation -- it's a farm! It's unique in its location, scientific, agricultural, and educational benefits, and should not be tampered with.

Who cares? It is a farm in the wrong location. It provides virtually zero of value to anyone's life in Ottawa except to be a barrier and increase distances.

[TMA-1]

Quite right, no value to *this* section at all. 'They' should fill in that puddle on the right, too.


[url=https://flic.kr/p/YyXVPt]

Originally Posted by On Edge

Who cares? It is a farm in the wrong location. It provides virtually zero of value to anyone's life in Ottawa except to be a barrier and increase distances.

[On Edge]

Originally Posted by TMA-1

Quite right, no value to *this* section at all. 'They' should fill in that puddle on the right, too.


[url=https://flic.kr/p/YyXVPt]

We were not talking about the arboretum and canal/Dow's Lake. Explain how those hundreds of acres of inaccessible and featureless fields plop in the middle of the near west of Ottawa augment our quality of life.

[Buggys]

People love travelling/commuting through the farm, for it's peacefulness, clean air, and little bit of escape from urbanity. Large swaths of Canada's landscape is actually farms, agriculture is one of the key industries that started this country, and it's great to have a reminder of that within the urban area for those minds which are narrowly focused on just having features that are typically urban. In addition, patients from the Civic Hospital enjoy the serenity & homeliness that the farm offers, especially those who travel from rural areas & Western Canada to receive treatment not readily available elsewhere.

[rocketphish]

I think that a refresher course is in order...

Explained: What actually happens at the Experimental Farm

Tom Spears, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: November 13, 2015 | Last Updated: November 13, 2015 12:14 PM EST

We see the neat rows of corn, wheat and oats growing in the Central Experimental Farm as we drive along Baseline Road, but few of us know what’s really going on there. Tom Spears reveals the science behind the “scenery.”

How is the farm “experimental”?

The Farm’s scientific identity hides in plain sight, disguised in technical language (“The genome of the generalist plant pathogen Fusarium avenaceum is enriched with genes involved in redox, signaling and secondary metabolism,” says one study’s title.)

None of the Farm’s many investigations instantly solve an agriculture problem, but they form the building blocks of progress, such as the study that found how altering one corn gene made the plants resistant to fusarium, a fungus that spreads toxins to grain.

There are experiments trying to make crops more drought-resistant, improve soil, understand more about worms and insects that chew up whole fields.

Who needs an old farm when there are fancy new labs?

“Agriculture happens outside,” says Rene Van Acker, the associate dean of the Ontario Agricultural College. And he says it’s essential to do the research outdoors, too, testing the interplay of genes and the environment.

“Having an outdoor research site is fundamental to doing that,” with different sites for different climatic regions with their unique rainfall, soil types and frost-free days.

Van Acker says carving off a piece of the Farm “would be like tearing down a laboratory. People generally probably don’t view it that way. They think, oh, it’s just farmland. But it’s farmland that is being managed as a research laboratory,” with the added benefit of having all the labs and brainpower right on the property. “It’s an important site.”

What’s happening on the field where the hospital would go?

On Field One, slated for hospital development, there’s an experiment that began in 1990, after soil physicist Clarke Topp and his colleagues realized farmers were having trouble with the soil itself.

Tilling — think of a roto-tiller tearing up a lawn, but on a much larger scale — is traditionally done to break up soil before planting, and then during the growing season to chop down weeds. By the late 1980s, researchers realized that Canada’s farms were compacting and damaging their soil by over-cultivating it.

“Cultivation and heavy tractors broke down a lot of the soil structures. So there was less ability to get water in and to get oxygen in for the roots,” Topp says. And the repeated chewing-up of the soil was depleting it of vital carbon.

The question became whether less tilling would repair the soil.

“I was part starting those zero-tillage and minimal-tillage plots in 1990. And they are continuing to the present day,” explains Topp. “What my colleagues now do is, they have a series of plots that are conventional tillage, with as many as five passes of the instrument and tractors over the field during the growing season. And then we have zero-till, and that is where you plant right into last year’s crop residue.

“Now we’re looking at the rebuilding of the soil structure.”

Twenty-five years of this study are showing progress. Carbon is now being recycled from dead plants on the surface into a more stable form of soil. A side benefit: This prevents the carbon from turning into carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas.

So, experiment over? No, says Topp. “The rebuilding of soil … is very slow.”

Soil sustainability means looking into the distant future, he says. Centuries, not years. “The soil has a good capacity to regenerate, fortunately, but it takes a long time… We are looking for cultural practices that are sustainable on a long, long time scale.”

What else happens on the Farm?

• The Experimental Farm is front and centre in the fight against disease. “It’s an arms race,” says Peter Anderson, a historian studying the Farm. Bugs, weeds and plant diseases are always evolving better ways to attack the foods we eat, and it’s up to lab scientists to stay ahead of them. This involves understand how the genes of both crops and their attackers work, and applying genetic tools — either conventional breeding or genetic manipulation.

• The department advertises that the Farm has produced “more than 25 superior cultivars of wheat, oats, barley and soybeans developed in the past five years.”

• Other farming issues include how to develop resistance to drought that is expected with a warming climate, or to make soybeans have more protein, increasing their value as animal feed.

Can’t private industry do this work?

The Farm has one of Canada’s few core groups of plant breeders who develop new varieties, Van Acker says. “Despite the fact that private industry is well engaged in plant breeding, they depend on public breeding in each region to really from a basis” for their work.

“If we didn’t have any public breeding, we would have no leading-edge varieties.”

Fine, but why not let giant seed companies do this work?

“Because at the stage where these are essentially ideas, and questions of ‘I wonder if…’ then seed companies won’t take that on,” Topp says. “Their primary interest is in profit-making for their shareholders and there’s no basis for spending a lot of money on scientists who are just going to play around with ideas for a number of years. And then when the good stuff (experimental results) comes out, then they are quite happy to move in.”

In the 1970s Harvey Voldeng’s group bred soybeans that could stand up to Central Eastern Ontario weather, not just the warmth of the London-to-Windsor region. The breakthrough was a variety called Maple Arrow, in 1976, and more have followed since. Soybeans don’t sound sexy, but Ontario farms produced nearly $2 billion worth in 2014.

The Farm’s research has contributed to making soybeans a major crop in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, which have short growing seasons.

What’s the problem with having a hospital on the Farm?

Voldeng worries that the Farm will be chipped away a few acres at a time.

“Once you start to take a piece off it makes it that much easier to take another piece off. Then, when it’s about half the size it is now — well, no point keeping this. It’s too small. Once you start, where do you stop?”

He sees another future issue: “Let’s face it, we do use herbicides on the Farm here. And if you start spraying herbicides in front of the Civic Hospital after it has expanded into the Farm, then there are going to be complaints.”

Ron Bonnett, president of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, says the Farm still represents good value.

“There’s still a lot of ongoing research on new varieties and crop trials, things that are very valuable to agriculture,” he says. This work is necessary to prepare for climate change and meet the world’s growing need for food. And with pests, “you think you have one problem solved and Mother Nature keeps throwing curves at you. Having that ongoing research is critical … not only for the country but for the export market that we serve.”

“It’s a slippery slope and we should think long and hard about what we are giving up,” adds Van Acker at the Ontario Agricultural College. “Most people wouldn’t know about what we are giving up but it is a critical laboratory for the nation.”

Can the farm be moved to a rural area?

Technically yes, says Van Acker, but there are obstacles.

“There’s an advantage to juxtaposition and having the laboratory (test plots) right outside the door where the researchers are.” If it moved far into the Ottawa Valley the researchers would have to go for a long drive every time they wanted to check the progress in a corn field.

But he said this isn’t an impossible idea. The University of Guelph is some distance from many of its agricultural research plots, “so we are driving to most of our research land.”

As for moving the whole operation — laboratory buildings, greenhouses and all the staff — “the cost would be enormous,” he said. “You have a very well- and long-established base there. Anything’s possible, but…”

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/low-profile-experimental-farm-reveals-its-science-side

See also:
http://www.agr.gc.ca/eng/science-and-inn...and-development-centre/?id=1180546650582

We have probably all benefited to some degree from the research that takes place at the Central Experimental Farm.

[On Edge]

Originally Posted by Buggys

People love travelling/commuting through the farm, for it's peacefulness, clean air, and little bit of escape from urbanity. Large swaths of Canada's landscape is actually farms, agriculture is one of the key industries that started this country, and it's great to have a reminder of that within the urban area for those minds which are narrowly focused on just having features that are typically urban. In addition, patients from the Civic Hospital enjoy the serenity & homeliness that the farm offers, especially those who travel from rural areas & Western Canada to receive treatment not readily available elsewhere.

Some people like it, as you do. Doesn't mean most do or that it really is of any real benefit to Ottawa. Which has relatively little real "urbanity" anyway. Enjoy the farm. It will certainly not be changed in our lifetimes. Meanwhile I will keep gritting my teeth as I drive by that pointless wasteland.