Discussion with Prof. Thomas Black

Owned by Shubhleen Kaur
Last updated: Aug 16, 2023
2 min read

Meeting with Prof. Thomas Black: 

https://www.grad.ubc.ca/researcher/14784-black , andrew.black@ubc.ca 

 

His research interests are relevant to our project: Soil Science, Land and Water systems, Atmospheric Science.

 

Meeting discussion:

  • Went over the LiteFarm project, its user base in Canada, Latin America and the rest of the world. Discussed the “why” behind our search for a GHG emission calculation tool.

  • Broadly talked about tools under consideration: Cool farm , Comet farm - Carbon Benefit Project and HOLOS.

  • Mathieu went over his python script that looks at N emission calculations using data from LiteFarm: focusing on the top 16 most grown crops based on area allocated (top ~80%)

  • Discussed the research datasets used in this calculation: 

    • Variables used/required:

      • Crop

      • Moisture_content

      • Above Ground Residue

      • Below Ground Residue

      • Yield Ratio

      • Above Ground Residue ratio

      • Below Ground Residue ratio

  • Discussed concerns over lack of updated crop data for calculations:

    • The csv that Mathieu is using at the moment is from a Canadian research paper from 2003

    • Prof. Thomas Black hypothesized that these values could be extended to farms all over Canada but may not apply for farms elsewhere in the world.

    • We asked if he knew of any database that could hold such variables for global farms

 

Suggestions from Prof. Thomas Black:

  • Had attended HOLOS Model Workshop at Sustainability of Canadian Agriculture 2023 Virtual Conference: link , but did not recall the details.

  • Speakers:

https://agriculture.canada.ca/en : Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

  • Roland Kroebel – Researcher, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

  • Sarah Pogue - Holos Model Developer, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

  • Aaron McPherson – Software Developer, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

  •  

 

Suggested that Hannah should email them with a research request, emphasizing LiteFarm’s users and recent growth in Canada and globally. We should seek access to their source code and data sources used for calculations if possible.