Video Transcript
Text: Some of this footage was recorded prior to the Government of Canada's physical distancing guidelines. Canadians are encouraged to continue to follow COVID-19 safety guidelines. Living Labs is all about bringing farmers and scientists together… while staying safely six feet apart.
[Up-beat rhythmic music begins playing in the background.]
Text: Living Lab – Ontario, Collaborating towards sustainable farming
Natalie Feisthauer: The primary focus of the Living Labs Ontario initiative is, in a nutshell, soil health and water quality.
[Lake Erie marshlands.]
Text: Natalie Feisthauer: Soil and Nutrient Management Specialist and Living Lab – Ontario Site Coordinator, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.
Natalie Feisthauer: Lake Erie has been experiencing increasingly frequent and severe harmful nuisance algal blooms.
[Algae pools in a river.]
A lot of that is coming from the land as a result of human activities.
[Aerial view of houses along water channels.]
Healthy soil acts like a sponge…
[A close up of a clump of soil and its various roots.]
…and keeps the soil and the nutrients on the farm fields…
[A stream runs through a forest.]
…and not washing off into streams and eventually down into Lake Erie.
[Cows grazing in pasture.]
We want to see if changes at the farm is translating to changes…
[Lake Erie shown on map.]
…at the watershed scale.
[Transition music]
Text: Laurent "Woody" Van Arkel: Participating Living Lab – Ontario farmer
Laurent "Woody" Van Arkel: So my farm operation…
[Satellite map of Dresden, Southern Ontario.]
…is just outside the town of Dresden in Southern Ontario.
[Laurent "Woody" standing out in the field, next to his tractor, holding his soil grass root.]
The Living Labs project that I'm involved with…
[Farmer sowing seeds with tractor.]
…that is to keep a living root system…
[Time-lapse of the sky.]
…365 days a year.
[Soil samples are collected from the fields.]
With the Living Labs, I hope I can measure some of these benefits, have scientists come out and take the samples. That way I can measure whether I am on the right track or do we need to change it.
[Transition music]
Text: Natalie Feisthauer: Soil and Nutrient Management Specialist and Living Lab – Ontario Site Coordinator, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.
[Tractor out on the field.]
Natalie Feisthauer: The entire premise of living labs is to get researchers…
[Scientist observing samples collected in sample tubes.]
…together with farmers…
[Farmer mowing field with tractor.]
…on their farms on the ground in action.
[A group of people collect stems of wheat.]
So they are collaboratively working on finding solutions to the issues.
[A row of workers harvest corn.]
Text: Laurent "Woody" Van Arkel: Participating Living Lab – Ontario farmer
[Two producers stand together in a soy field.]
Laurent "Woody" Van Arkel: I'm excited about that ability to interact with and…
[Two men approaching cows in a pasture.]
[Individual observing a crop and the soil with their hand.]
…have that discussion with somebody else other than a farmer. Somebody that's interested in soil health…
[A scientist working in the lab.]
…from an academic side.
[Transition music]
[Aerial view of multiple farming fields.]
Laurent "Woody" Van Arkel: I really hope that when I do finally stop farming…
[Aerial view closing in on a single farm.]
…that the farms I have are in much better shape than…
[Tall crops blow in the wind.]
…when I started 30 years ago.
[Transition music]
Text: Find out more: agr.gc.ca/livinglab
[Cut to the Canada wordmark. The rhythmic, upbeat music fades out.]