UPLAND - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Research and Data Coordinator
Job Titles:
- Principal
- Senior Project Manager
- Vice Chair
- Director and Senior Agrologist
Ione is passionate about working to find solutions to challenging food system problems. She is a Professional Agrologist with a background in community engagement, agricultural planning, and land resource science. Ione brings over 20 years of extensive experience in developing recommendations and policies for local and provincial levels of government that will improve farm viability and food production through strategic stakeholder engagement processes. Ione has built a career on developing innovative agriculture and food security plans, climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies, and farm business plans. She has worked with Indigenous communities, governments of all levels, and non-governmental organizations to craft actionable recommendations and implement key business strategies to improve and develop opportunities for agriculture and food security.
In addition to her consulting work, Ione currently serves as Vice Chair (South Coast) of the Provincial Agricultural Land Commission and is an Instructor of CED 230: Community Economic Development Approaches to Food at Simon Fraser University. Previous positions include Steering Committee member of the BC Food Systems Network and Board Member of Community Futures Sunshine Coast.
Ione received a MSc from the Institute for Resource Management, Environment, and Sustainability (RMES) at UBC in 2004, where her thesis focused on the relationship between farming and water quality in the Fraser Valley. She received a B.Sc. (Hons) in Environmental Sciences from the University of Guelph, where she was nominated for the prestigious W.C. Winegard Medal as the top graduating student from the Ontario Agricultural College. Originally from Montreal, Ione lived and studied in Australia and Ontario before settling in BC in 2002. She is fluent in both French and English.
Job Titles:
- Director and Senior Agrologist
- Principal and Senior Agrologist
Peter is a Professional Agrologist (P.Ag.) with over 20 years of combined experience in industrial biochemistry, microbiology, crop production and the development of bio-products and bioprocess technology for horticulture, composting, wastewater treatment and nutrient reclamation. He has built a career working in all levels of operations from the soil to the board room and in managing teams of scientists, engineers, and farmers - while working closely with accounting and finance teams. Peter is passionate about systems-based thinking, community engagement and dialogue, institutionalization of processes and data, and project management from start to finish.
In parallel to his consulting work, Peter thrives in helping agri-tech start-up ventures get off the ground. Peter was the co-founder and Chief Science Officer of Rubicon Organics, a publicly traded cannabis production company based in Delta BC, helping to raise $50 million of capital and build out an EBITDA-positive operation. He has also been instrumental in the growth of Salish Soils - an Indigenous-owned composting and resource reclamation operation based in Sechelt BC, and Origin Organic Farms - the largest organic greenhouse producer of tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers in Canada, based in Langley and Delta BC.
Peter has overseen and written standards in organic cultivation for a range of fruits and vegetables, including the organic standards for the Fraser Valley Organic Producers Association (FVOPA) specific to cannabis. Peter has worked in academic, government, and private sector settings and his projects have received several National Research Council Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC IRAP) grants, BC Innovation Council awards, Federal Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SRED) tax credits as well the National Award for Excellence in Innovation by the Canadian Information Productivity Awards. He has a BSc in Biochemistry from the University of Guelph ('01) and a MSc in BioResource Engineering from the University of British Columbia ('03).
Job Titles:
- Research Associate
- Articling TAg, Research Associate
Sydney is a systems thinker with extensive experience and knowledge in farming and food systems in Western Canada and Norway. She has a keen interest in contributing to sustainable food and agriculture by means of empowering food citizens and facilitating multi-disciplinary collaboration. Sydney joined Upland in 2021, eager to participate in improving food systems through an agroecological lens. Approaching agroecology form a social sciences perspective, she is interested in how individuals relate to food and how these relationships shape the agricultural systems which sustain regions and communities. Sydney's perspective on food and agriculture is rooted in years of experience working on farms with both livestock and vegetable production in Alberta, British Columbia, and Norway. In addition to her rural work, she has extensive experience in urban food production and horticultural management in Alberta. Sydney brings to Upland an array of experience in public engagement and hands on qualitative research.
In 2021, Sydney received a MSc in Agroecology from the Norwegian University of Life Sciences. Sydney also holds a BASc in Production Horticulture from Olds College in Alberta, Sydney is now pursuing her Technical Agrologist designation through BCIA.