MAY 2019 • COUNTRY LIFE IN BC
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Sustainability goes beyond saving farmland Food security initiatives must overcome established consumer, farming habits
by RONDA PAYNE
MAPLE RIDGE – The message that BC’s food system needs to change was hammered home in an April 4 session titled “Let’s Get Farming,” hosted by Maple Ridge’s Agricultural Advisory Committee. Presentations were
delivered to a standing-room crowd by representatives from Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s Institute for Sustainable Food Systems (ISFS), the Agricultural Land Commission and the BC Ministry of Agriculture. ISFS senior research associate Wallapak Polasub said BC’s eating, shopping and farming patterns poise the province for a dramatic drop in food sustainability and availability. A world population set to
approach 10 billion people by 2050, increasing food prices, food insecurity and changing agricultural practices all compound the issue. “Agriculture has been in
the world over 10,000 years. Modern agriculture of today has been with us less than 100 years. Monoculture introduced us to mass production but at the same time, it’s caused a lot of problems,” she says. “The same amount of food we eat today has less nutrients than it did 50 years ago.” Globalized food systems make the issue an
international concern, she said, noting that a mere handful of companies control the world’s food supply. “I just read the other day that only four or five corporations control 75% of the world’s grain trade,” she says. Yet, farmers have been
making the same level of money for decades despite an increase in total cash receipts. Operating expenses have kept pace with those receipts. “Our farmers aren’t doing
well,” says Polasub. They’re also aging. Just 7% of farmers in BC are under age 35; in Japan, the majority of farmers are more than 70 years old.
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Matsqui Ag-Repair Abbotsford, BC
604-826-3281 Land prices Land prices are another
factor ISFS has been looking at. ALR land sales in municipalities across the Lower Mainland in the last 10 years has revealed higher sale prices when ALR land doesn’t have farm class. Smaller lots also sell at higher per-acre prices than large lots. “Full results on the
institute’s study will be published in May,” she says. “Speculation driving the land price up so high is such a complex issue. No one policy can deal with it.” Yet, Polasub remains
hopeful. “We have to start thinking
about growing our own regional food system to be resilient,” she says. “Based on the data that we have, Southwest BC is at 40% of food self-reliance and I have to say 40% is an optimistic number.” Food self-reliance was calculated on 2011 data and shows how well a region can supply residents with locally grown food – 100% means everyone could be fed from local production. ISFS then projected current standards of eating, land use and farm methods to 2050. Self-reliance would drop to 28% over that period. “We won’t be able to feed
our own people if we don’t do something different,” she says. “It’s not only fruits and
vegetables, but also livestock.” If changes are made to
protect the environment and improve production, the same land base could boost local food self-reliance to 49%. Using underutilized land would meet 57% of local food needs. “We still eat things we can
not produce,” Polasub says. “We still eat bananas and mangos. We also still eat blueberries in January. I’m not saying that we have to reach 100%. I want to see a vibrant, regional food system all around BC that complements the world food system. Currently, the world system drives us.”
Vision
Making changes must start with a vision of how food systems in the region can change. This vision must be agreed and adhered to for the long term, she says. “Second, we need to have
food system planning. I think we are moving in the right direction based on all of us here,” she notes. “Next, we need land – land that people can afford and access.” She adds that more farmers
are needed along with food system leaders at every level – from business and non- governmental organizations to local producers and entrepreneurial markets and processors. “We also have to have consumers committed to it,”
she says. “There needs to be an education piece so that people better understand.”
Competing priorities Kim Grout, CEO of the
Agricultural Land Commission, says Polasub’s information puts the onus on local governments to take even more responsibility for their role in using and interpreting farmland legislation in order to ensure food security. “There’s a lot of competition for a very small amount of land,” Grout says. “The conversations now are the same conversations we were having in the 70s. Land use, how to preserve it, how to feed our population.” Kamelli Mark, the ALC’s
South Coast regional planner, noted that about 57% of parcels in the ALR are less than four hectares (10 acres). “They are even smaller in
Maple Ridge,” she says. “85% are less than four hectares.” Grout notes that local
governments have control over the decisions that work for their community. “I get told that quite often [land] is needed for things other than production,” she says. “We have 153 municipalities [in BC] that have a regulatory role over land in the ALR and I can tell you they are all doing it differently. Some are doing it better than others.” She hears that affordable
housing, industrial jobs and other uses need access to agricultural land. “We at the commission want to see a shift from defense [of agriculture land] to offense,” Grout says. “We appreciate that municipalities have a hard time dealing with legislation around agricultural land.” Grout says that protection of lands is not enough. She feels public opinion must shift to actually value farmland, followed by better decision- making by municipalities. Capacity must be found in communities to encourage farming. Agricultural advisory committees have valuable roles to play in the process. The farmers in attendance
may have taken notes when Chris Zabek, Fraser Valley North regional agrologist for the province, spoke about the sources of funding available to farmers. “We do have cost-shared
incentive funding, but it does depend on certain outcomes,” he explains. “[The BC Agri- Business Planning Program] is probably the best cost-share program I’m aware of.” Zabek also spoke about the
Young Agrarians Land Matching program, the Environmental Farm Plan, Bee BC and a number of other resources. “This is all kind of a larger, bigger picture,” he says. “There’s a lot to go to get everything right.”
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