Soil health matters
May 16, 2023
(Syrah grapes ripening in the famous appellation of Côte-Rôtie (‘roasted slope’) in the Northern Rhone region of France. credit: John Volpe)
Environmental Studies professor, John Volpe, is pivoting his research lab from a focus on conventional marine conservation to one that explicitly addresses food and wine as a co-evolutionary process of culture and the environment. “This move leverages my origins as a professional cook and sommelier with decades of biological conservation research,” says Volpe.
Volpe leads the which uses quantitative analyses of food and wine production systems to reveal linkages between ecological and social sustainability, product quality, and the primacy of place: ecogastronomy.
“High quality foods and wines are the products of high quality ecological (and social) systems. An exciting future begins to emerge when one recognizes that the most climate-responsive agricultural practices produce the highest quality products and most robust agricultural communities. ERG’s mission is to reduce the friction in achieving that future,” explains Volpe.
The ERG is launching an at-cost soil analysis and data interpretation extension service for BC farmers. According to Volpe, “understanding the links between soil health and human health requires multi-disciplinary research and communication”.
“’Soil health’ aka soil quality is gaining traction as a public area of interest and is now seen as linked to food, energy and water security, in addition to building value-added to place-defined production systems, or terroir,” explains Volpe.
Graduate and undergraduate students who work in the soil lab are part of a partnership between UVic and Ecole Superieure d’Agriculture d’Angers (ESA) in France. A new dual degree (BSc, BA and MSc) is offered by UVic's School of Environmental Studies and ESA in which a student can complete a UVic undergraduate degree and French-EU Master’s degree in five years. This is the only program of its kind in Canada.
Also, a new UVic-ESA undergraduate exchange program recently began that supports UVic students who spend a month in France each summer examining how smaller place-based food and wine producers succeed in the commoditized global marketplace.
According to Volpe, “UVic’s deep relationship with one of Europe’s premier food and agriculture institutions provides a wide array of sustainable food and wine opportunities to UVic students that had not existed previously. It is very exciting to bring these added dimensions to UVic’s globally recognized leadership in sustainability scholarship.”
For more information: Dr. John Vope,