Version Control

Record of all changes to the proposal. All changes are to be recorded and approved by Group 5 and Tinka Orchard CSA.

Version	Author	Role	Changes	Date
1.0	Group 5	Authors	Initial version	October 4, 2014
2.0	Group 5	Authors	Revised proposal (Version 2)	November 1, 2014

Project Background (__ / 10)

Al and Mary Tinka have been managing the Tinka Orchard ever since they purchased it in 1975. Although the farm is not officially certified as organic, the Tinka Orchard does not use pesticides. The Tinka Orchard adheres to the Community Supported Agriculture model (CSA), which is a form of local agriculture that is composed of a commitment between a farm and multiple community partners. Stakeholders provide money upfront for harvest later in the season. By doing so, farmers have the appropriate finances to grow the food early in the season (Farm City Folk, n.d.) As a result, this model ensures that Al Tinka's farm continues to be economically justifiable, allowing him to continue to farm his fruit trees in an ecologically sustainable way. In addition, community partners receiving and working with local produce have a more direct relationship to where their food is grown, which contributes to an increase in food literacy within the community. In Al Tinka’s model, community partners from both Vancouver and Summerland are allowed to actively participate in harvesting the fruit, contributing to social sustainability in the community. In doing so, the farm demonstrates the effectiveness of rural-urban collaboration.

The project was created to document the advantages of Al Tinka's Orchard in adhering to the CSA model. Our group will create an educational video to characterize his orchard in being an effective model of holistic sustainability (economic, ecological, and social).

Stakeholder Summary (__ /5)

Name, Role & Organization

Responsibilities

Student Team Members:

Hussam Zbeeb
Ally Choo
Kevin Krispin
Sana Kavei
Francesca Lau
Kerlina Li
Helen Garbiec
Hanna Wunsch

Lead all project phases
Create project documents
Lead and manage project team for all phases of project
Document Management (location, updates)
Status Reports
Lessons Learned
Create a promotional media video
Provide an in-depth systems diagram of their business
Collect data via mixed methods, including interviews, observational studies, etc
Visit the orchard to enhance our understanding

Community Partner,

TInka Orchard CSA:

Kristi Tatebe
Al and Mary Tinka

Provide high level guidance to and approve scope, budget and schedule
Provide volunteer opportunities for the students
Provide connections and linkages with community
Sign off Charter and Plan
Sign off on changes to Charter or Plan

Purpose and Research Question (__ / 20)

Purpose

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) "is a growing social movement that endeavours to make direct connections between the producers of food and those who consume it" (Cone and Myrhe, 2000), and in doing so, evenly distributes both the benefits and the risks of food production. The purpose of our project is to increase overall CSA awareness in the BC urban-agricultural community and to characterize the Tinka Orchard's CSA business model as an economically, ecologically and socially sustainable practice for small-scale, independent agri-businesses. By creating an educational video for Al Tinka's CSA initiative on his orchard, we aim to not only assist the development and success of his private business, but to also utilize his success story to share to other independent agri-businesses, in an effort to raise local CSA participation. An increase in CSA participation will help to increase our food security by developing a healthy and sustainable regional food system and a strong local economy. In addition, we aim to achieve a more food-literate society by creating a mutually responsible and supportive relationship between people and the food they eat, those who grow it, and the land on which it is grown.

Research Question

What are the characteristics of the Tinka Orchard?

Methods (__ / 20)

We will conduct our research using a qualitative approach:

Qualitative research:

Pros:

Cons:

Case study
Key-stakeholder Interviews
Participant and environment observation
Semi-structured interviews

Allows us to study the CSA model from the interviewees frame of reference
Allows us to study a range of phenomena such as feelings, thoughts and human interactions
Allows us to explore the value of CSA on more than one level

There is no definitive outcome

Qualitative methods:

Method	Pros	Cons
1. Case Study: of Tinka Orchard CSA	Completely characterize one case Understand how operation works, in it's natural state Establish value of specific organization in specific context (or lack of value) (Stake, 1984)	Findings only apply to the case studied Time intensive (Stake, 1984) Potential for researcher bias (Simons, 2009)
2. Key-stake holder interviews: with Al Tinka, Mary Tinka, Kristi Tatebe, Tinka Farm CSA Investors/customers	In-depth exploratory interviews consisting of questions pertaining to our project purpose and research question. Will include multiple meanings of individual experiences. Open-ended data aids in the creation of themes for our project. (Creswell, 2003)	Subjective data makes it difficult to obtain definitive results.(Creswell, 2003) Error due to variation between each individual researcher. Interpreting data with any kind of personal bias.
3. Participant and Environment Observations: of Tinka Orchard CSA Operations	Increases validity of the study, as observations will help us have a better understanding of the context and situation under study. (Simons, 2009)	The method is labour intensive. Error due to variation between each individual researcher.

While collecting all of this data, our team will also consider our ethical responsibilities to all parties involved:

We will respect the Tinka's privacy and not over-step our boundaries, with respect to the media piece.
Maintain constant communication so all parties involved are on the same page.

Other resources we will need:

Video Camera
Camera
Transportation to the orchard
Accommodations

Deliverables (__ / 5)

The main component of the final report will address the question: what are the characteristics of the Tinka Orchard? The report will address how Al Tinka's orchard adapts and uniquely characterizes the business model of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). Specifically, the report will include interviews of Al Tinka discussing the details of his orchard, as well as his perspectives on issues related to food literacy and food security. Moreover, the report will discuss the role of the Tinka Orchard within the Vancouver food system.

By the end of the project, a media piece in the form of a video will also be created as a means to characterize Al Tinka's unique orchard and his successful Community Supported Agriculture methods. Moreover, it will contain suggestions for using other forms of social media to enhance exposure, such as using Instagram or Twitter to connect with community members in Vancouver and worldwide. Other deliverables will include update and progress reports, as well as photos for potentially promotional uses.

Deliverable	Author	Format
Proposal	Group 5, with feedback and approval from Tinka Orchard CSA (Al Tinka, Mary Tinka and Kristi Tatebe). All group members will be delegated to work on individual aspects of the proposal, with Hanna Wunsch taking lead on delegating roles. All members will also be responsible for editing the proposal as a whole and approving it before submission.	Word document
Systems diagram	Group 5, Sana Kevai taking lead with input and approval from Al Tinka, Mary Tinka, and Kristi Tatebe.	Prezi
Media piece	Group 5, with input from Tinka Orchard CSA. Kevin Krispin and Kerlina Li will take lead.	Video
Final Report	Group 5, with feed back and approval from Tinka Orchard CSA (Al Tinka, Mary Tinka and Kristi Tatebe). Helen Garbiec will lead and delegate appropriate roles.	Word document

Success Factors/Criteria (__ / 10)

The objectives of the project are:

To characterize the CSA model from social, economical and ecological perspectives.
To attract more people to join the CSA Tinka Garden and increase the loyalty of current members so that the farmer Al can keep on running his orchard garden.

Success factor for our community partner Al: To determine whether the project assists the Tinka Orchard CSA in its development, interviews with its members will be conducted. Members will be asked their thoughts on the adoption of the CSA model and if they have any suggestions for the current system. The feedback from the members will give Al and Mary Tinka an idea of how their members/investors feel about their business model and if there are any improvements that could be made. For example, last year a member mentioned that the number of plums she received at one time was too much for her own consumption. This year, the Tinka Orchard CSA is offering a smaller fruit share with half the amount of plums (25lb instead of 50lb). The members appreciate it.

Other suggestions from members:

Partner with other CSAs to offer more varieties of fruit
Educate children by involving them in the farming and harvesting practices at the orchard.

Follow-up study is needed to determine how CSA model adopts these suggestions. Status of the fruit subscription list could be measured.

Success factor for CBEL project: At the end of the project, a video and a report will be made to document how the the Tinka Orchard CSA operates, and to characterize the Tinka Orcahrd CSA and its effects on sustainability (environmental, ecological and social) in Summerland, BC and Vancouver, BC. Positive feedback on the video and the report from the community partners indicate a successful project.

Scope Change

The main goal of our project changed after visiting the Tinka Orchard in person and discussing the project with Al Tinka. Instead of focusing on creating a media piece to promote the CSA model, we now hope to create an educational video that captures the essence of Al Tinka's Orchard and characterizes his CSA. In addition, after completing our data collection at the Tinka Orchard, we have decided not to include quantitative methods in our research project, as our case study is characterized predominantly as qualitative.

Communication Plan (__ / 5)

Action Item	Deliverable	Dates	Accountable +
Weekly Updates	Progress Report (bullet points (easy to read), updates on deadlines, what we are planning to do over the next week/how well we accomplished last weeks plan)	Fridays	Hanna Wunsch is responsible for compiling and sending update to Kristi Tatebe
Meeting Attendance (in person or skype)	More detailed updates of our accomplishments. Answer any questions and clarify anything that is unclear.	Monthly (upcoming dates yet to be determined)	Group 5 will discuss potential dates and times for meeting and find one that works for both us and Kristi (Hanna Wunsch will confirm with Kristi. Hanna with feedback from other members is responsible for creating a meeting agenda to be sent to Tinka Orchard at least 2 days before the meeting.)
Information sharing as it becomes available	Project Specific Information, anything that requires feedback from community partners	Ongoing	All stakeholders to provide information in a timely manner and to provide prior and reasonable notice of dates when they will be unavailable. Hanna Wunsch will be the main e-mail contact, and will be ensuring that every member of Group 5 is kept up to date with what communication has taken place from and to Tinka Orchard CSA by posting e-mails to the facebook group.
General in-group communication	Facebook group posts, facebook messages, text messages, emails	Ongoing	When each individual group member (of Group 5) has a question or information to share it will be posted on the facebook group (LFS 350 Group 5) if it pertains to someone in particular they will be tagged in the message and if said object of communication is time sensitive then a facebook message or text message will also be sent out to ensure the item is dealt with in a timely manner. If another mode of communication is used (eg e-mail sent to community partner or the dropbox is updated) a note will be made in the facebook group as well so that there is a record of when something was done, and all group updates and communication can be accessed in one place.
File sharing	Facebook file sharing and drop box for larger files and pictures from our visit to Tinka Orchard	Ongoing with the majority of the files being uploaded in the week after our Orchard visit (October 20-27)	This is to ensure all of us have access to the footage taken at Tinka Orchard, so that when we discuss the video and work on our individual sections it is possible to cross reference our main primary source (our key stakeholder interviews)

Milestones (__ / 5)

Milestone	Event or Deliverable	Target Date (2014)	Responsibility
Milestone 1	Skype meeting with Kristi (Sent her a draft of food systems model prior to Skype meeting)	Friday, Sept. 19	All members
Milestone 2	Attend pick up event. Meet Kristie, Farmer Al and shareholders.	Friday, Sept. 19	All members
Milestone 3	Complete first draft of Project Charter & Proposal	Wednesday, Oct. 1	All members
Milestone 4	Proposal Presentation	Wednesday, Oct. 1	All members
Milestone 5	Written Project Charter & Proposal	Saturday, Oct. 4	All members
Milestone 6	Visit Al’s Orchard Garden-Community: Service Learning (CSL) Activities and record video footage	Saturday-Sunday, Oct. 18-19	All members
Milestone 7	Revised Charter and Proposal	Saturday, Nov. 1	All members
Milestone 8	Final Presentation	Wednesday, Nov. 26	All members
Milestone 9	Community Partner Feedback	Monday, Dec. 1	All members
Milestone 10	Final Written Report	Wednesday, Dec. 3	All members
Milestone 11	CSL Reflection	Friday, Dec. 5	All members

Approvals (__ / 5)

The following individuals hereby approve this Project Charter:

Approval of version one:

Role or Title	Name and Signature	Date
Group 5 member, Project Background	Hussam Zbeeb	Oct 4th 2014
Group 5 member, Methods and Prezi	Sana Kavei	Oct 4th 2014
Group 5 member, Milestones	Francesca Lau	Oct 4th 2014
Group 5 member, purpose&research question	Allison Choo	Oct 4th 2014
Group 5 Member, communication	Hanna Wunsch	Oct 4th, 2014
Group 5 Member, success factors,	Kerlina Kaiqi Li	Oct 4th, 2014
Group 5 Member, deliverables,	Helen Garbiec	Oct 4th, 2014
Group 5 Member, Methods	Kevin Krispin	Oct 4th, 2014

Approval of version two:

Role or Title	Name and Signature	Date
Group 5 member, Project Background	Hussam Zbeeb	Nov 1st, 2014
Group 5 member, Methods and Prezi	Sana Kavei	Nov 1st, 2014
Group 5 member, Milestones	Francesca Lau	Nov 1st, 2014
Group 5 member, purpose&research question	Allison Choo	Nov 1st, 2014
Group 5 Member, communication	Hanna Wunsch	Nov 1st, 2014
Group 5 Member, success factors,	Kerlina Kaiqi Li	Nov 1st, 2014
Group 5 Member, deliverables,	Helen Garbiec	Nov 1st, 2014
Group 5 Member, Methods	Kevin Krispin	Nov 1st, 2014

References (__ / 5)

Sources:

Chen, W. (2013). Perceived value in community supported agriculture (CSA). British Food Journal, 115(10), 1428-1453. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/BFJ-01-2011-

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Cone, C. A., & Myhre A. (2000). Community-Supported Agriculture: A sustainable Alternative to Industrial Agriculture. Human Organization, 59. Retrieved from

http://sfaa.metapress.com/content/715203t206g2j153/

Creswell, J. W. (2003). Research design: qualitative, quantitative, and mixed method approaches. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications. (pp. 3-23)

CSA Programs. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.farmfolkcityfolk.ca/resources/knowledge-pantry/csa/

Simons, H. (2009). Evolution and Concept of Case Study Research. In Case Study Research in Practice. (pp. 12-28). London: SAGE Publications, Ltd. doi:

http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/10.4135/9781446268322.n1

Stake, R.E. (1984). Case Studies. In Handbook of Qualitative Research. (pp. 236-246). London: SAGE Publications, LTD. Retrieved from

http://www.tlu.ee/UserFiles/Katariina%20Kolled%C5%BE/K.%20Maslov/Case%20studies_Lecture_4-5.pdf

Writing Quality (__ / 10)

For a proposal report to receive full writing quality marks, it should be well organized and easy to read. It should address all of the topics articulated in the assignment details above, and it should be free of grammar, punctuation, and spelling mistakes.