How the Bishop's campus farm plants new ideas

On a plot of land that's a 20-minute walk from Bishop's University main campus, there's a farm.

And on that 140-acre farm, there are plants, food, projects, and ideas growing.

"We're not just growing vegetables and fruits … we're growing students at the farm, and this is our number one calling at Bishop's," said Dr. Darren Bardati, Chair of the Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems (SAFS) program and the visionary behind the Educational Farm.

Most post-secondary agriculture programs are attached to urban universities, which makes Bishop's rural setting in Sherbrooke, Que., particularly unique, he said.

Six years ago, the site of the campus farm was a hay field and horse pasture. Now, the farm is a living laboratory for students and researchers studying sustainable agriculture.

"Bishop's is surrounded by working farms and agricultural businesses, and that really shapes the program and the experience the students have," said Dr. Mirella Aoun, an associate professor and Scientific Director of the Educational Farm.

Scattered across the property are learning stations where students enrolled in SAFS courses can get hands-on experience. They collect data, monitor crops, and test new techniques.

The farm is also preparing an orchard of emerging fruit, which are varieties of fruit that farmers have not been able to grow in Canada on a large, commercial scale.

Students get access to a well-rounded education that blends classroom instruction, lab room, and hands-on learning on the farm. They see how ideas they tackle in the classroom play out under changing skies, unpredictable weather patterns, and real-world constraints like economic instability and social inequities.

Students also work on the farm as research assistants and teaching assistants, and each year they complete a six-week practicum in May and June.

During that practicum, they spend full days on the land in what Bardati describes as something that feels like camp: it's intense, it's immersive, and it transforms students.

Exploring the farm-to-fork food system

One of the current studies on the farm is looking at whether protective nets can boost fruit production in northeastern climates — without relying on pesticides. The students are tasked with monitoring yield, fruit quality, pests, and even the microclimate under different netting systems.

"The questions they are exploring are not hypothetical," Aoun said. "They matter to real growers who are trying to adapt to a changing climate while maintaining food quality."

The focus of the program extends beyond what grows on a farm, Bardati said.

"We don't just deal with agriculture production, but the food system from farm to fork," he said.

Faculty encourage students to think deeply about how food is processed, distributed, marketed, and consumed. They're also prompted to examine how it ends up being composted or sent to a landfill.

Students must also consider how climate change, wildfires, food security, public health, and environmental stewardship are intertwined with the food system. How decisions on the farm affect not just yields, but also nutrition, ecosystems, communities, and markets, is part of the curriculum.

Ultimately, each factor affects how the food system works, but also how it also fails, Aoun said.

"But here we're developing solutions, and this gives students hope, and this helps them take responsibility," she said.

"The students will learn that sustainability is not a single practice or a certification, but it's a continuing process of you know assessing trade-offs and improving the resilience of the whole system."

Some students will graduate from the program and become farmers or entrepreneurs, Bardati said. But others might take what they learn and apply it to roles in business, research, or policy development.

"We want to give them a wider lens they can carry into any career," he said.

Support from the TD Friends of the Environment Foundation

Transforming the land into a true educational farm – especially for perennial crops that take years to establish – has required sustained support.

Funding from the TD Friends of the Environment Foundation (TD FEF), a national charity that funds some environmental projects across Canada, supported a variety of initiatives on the farm, including research as well as the planting of large raspberry and strawberry plots and a 300-vine vineyard with multiple varieties.

Because perennial crops like berries and grapes can remain productive for many years, these plantings will continue to provide learning and research opportunities for multiple generations of students, Bardati said.

Alumni who return to campus can see how the vines and bushes they once helped plant and tend to have grown and evolved.

TD Tree Days at Bishop's

Soon, students and alumni will notice more new growth on campus.

Bishop’s will host a TD Tree Days event on Oct. 17 from 9 a.m. to noon, during which volunteers will aim to plant about 150 trees and shrubs that will link the main campus and the educational farm.

Since 2010, TD colleagues, their families, and members of the public have joined local organizations to plant native trees and shrubs in green spaces in some parts of Canada and the U.S. The goal is to help restore natural areas, support biodiversity and help communities become more resilient to climate change.

“TD Tree Days reflects what we’re trying to build at the farm: environmental stewardship through practical and collective action,” Aoun said.

“When you plant trees, you contribute to biodiversity, to soil protection, to carbon storage and to a more resilient landscape.”