The Great Farm Trek: Saving UBC Farm from Development

On April 7, 2009, over 2,000 students, staff, faculty, and community supporters marched from the Student Union Building to this very spot at the UBC Farm. This event, known as the Great Farm Trek, was described by organizer Matt Filipiak as a “celebration demonstration” of the farm’s significance.

Just over 12 years ago, the future of these 24 hectares, now recognized as a key part of UBC’s sustainability and research, was uncertain. The 1997 Official Community Plan for the University Endowment Lands, which are Musqueam land, had designated this area in Wesbrook Village for potential housing developments.

UBC students started to organize to save the farm. The AMS club, Friends of UBC Farm, pushed the university administration and Board of Governors in 2008. On October 28, they brought over 16,000 petition signatures to then-UBC President Stephen Toope and then-VP External Stephen Owen. The campaign even got support from former UBC professor Dr. David Suzuki and encouraged Metro Vancouver to get involved. On October 31, 2008, the Metro Vancouver Board voted to send a letter to UBC supporting the farm. Then, on December 1, 2008, the Board of Governors announced that the farm would not be turned into market housing, as long as other development plans kept UBC aligned with the community plan.

Student movements for sustainability and environmental initiatives have a history here at UBC, going back to the 1960s with concerns about pollution. A 1969 Ubyssey article mentions the UBC Society for Pollution and Environmental Protection wanting to "actively wage war against pollution." Students here were also involved with Greenpeace, which started in Vancouver in the 1970s, participating in boat journeys to observe nuclear bomb testing and whale hunting. The 1970s saw students focused on clearcut logging and fossil fuels, with some historians calling it "the environmental decade." The AMS Student Environment Centre, a resource group today, was set up in 1989 to get rid of styrofoam cups, and UBC became the first Canadian university to adopt a sustainability policy in 1997.