Agriculture in the City - Burnaby

April 23-25, 2010
Metropolis at Metrotown - Grand Court
Burnaby, BC

Agriculture in the City: Breaking New Ground

Discover... Agriculture in the City

Agriculture in the City is a free, family oriented, urban festival that explores how agriculture is all around us, everyday. This year the Agriculture in the City coincides with Earth Day weekend and will focus on green innovations in agriculture, and make the link between a healthy environment and a competitive and profitable farm business. How do farmers work in new ways to address environmental issues and continue to provide Canadians with safe, high quality food?

  • Explore our Green Greenhouse display and learn how bees and other winged wonders help grow beautiful tomatoes and reduce the need for pesticides.
  • Mill your own wholegrain flour from Canadian wheat in our Farm to Fork display.
  • Learn new recipes using BC and Canadian ingredients during our chef demos.
  • Talk to the farming and food experts from our partner organizations.

Visit Agriculture in the City:

Friday, April 23 from 10:00 am to 9:00 pm;
Saturday, April 24 from 10:00 am to 9:00 pm and
Sunday, April 25 from 11:00 am to 7:00 pm.

Getting to Metropolis at Metrotown

Sustainable Pest Control

It's a bug eat bug world out there and Agriculture in the City partners, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) and Kwantlen Polytechnic University's Institute for Sustainable Horticulture in Langley are using this to benefit farmers and protect the environment. Researchers at AAFC and students at Kwantlen match beneficial insects with pests in order to reduce the amount of pesticides used in agriculture. In North America we have been using "nature" to help control pests since 1882. Using live organisms to control insects, weeds and plant diseases is referred to as "biocontrol" or "biological control".

As part of the greenhouse installation at Agriculture in the City visitors will have a chance to see the effects of these beneficial bugs first hand. All are commonly found on farms as well as in urban gardens. See if you can match the list of common pests and beneficial insects with what they eat (answers are below).

Common pests and beneficial insects:

  1. Flower flies
  2. Aphids
  3. Spined soldier bugs
  4. Cabbage loopers

Food:

  1. Cabbage loopers
  2. Cabbage
  3. Aphids
  4. Flowers, fruit and vegetables

Answers: 1-c (beneficial), 2-d (pest), 3-a (beneficial), 4-b (pest).

Read more at:

View photos from our 2009 event!

Photo Album 2009

At the Saturday afternoon concert the Snack Attack Band sings songs about farming from the Ag in the Classroom CD, Close to Home.    Mother and child have fun with British Columbia Milk Producers Association's Delilah the dairy cow, a cow model that visitors to the event could milk.    The Grand Court of the mall, Metropolis at Metrotown, is alive with activity as visitors learn about farming at the numerous interactive displays.    A family learns about how milk is produced as a volunteer explains the steps shown in the colourful display.    The British Columbia Hothouse mascot, a giant tomato, engages with Agriculture in the City visitors.

Our growing list of partners for 2010: