‘Above all, do no harm:’ The co-development of cover cropping strategies for high-value tree fruit within a living lab in British Columbia, Canada

In 2022, a ?Living Lab? was established across four agricultural sectors in British Columbia (BC), Canada, to explore practices for mitigating climate change. Cover cropping is widely promoted as a natural climate solution but is not used extensively in BC orchards. Considering the time and money required to establish productive orchards, which must be maintained over many years, the adoption of new management practices presents greater risks than for annual crops, which are only maintained for one season. Using the Living Lab, farmers, researchers, and industry employed a co-development model to identify and address concerns surrounding cover crop establishment costs and methods, including weed, irrigation, pest and disease, and nutrient management. Using this co-development model, cover cropping experiments were established in two orchards in 2023. As more on- farm trials ?bear fruit,? the co-development process can be used to build local expertise in cover cropping while carefully monitoring and protecting farmers? long-term investments.