MARCH 2020 • COUNTRY LIFE IN BC
Provincial task force charts a
path forward Technology, innovation needed to achieve food security
by PETER MITHAM
ABBOTSFORD – BC imports $16.1 billion worth of food each year, more than the $15 billion worth its own agrifood sector produces annually. Of these, export sales total $4.5 billion, while as much as 40% of the food grown here goes to waste.
Recommending ways to
rejig the balance and ensure that more local food products find their way onto local plates – boosting the province’s food security – was the challenge of the food security task force appointed last summer. The task force’s 80-page
report was submitted in December and released in January, just in time for the Pacific Agriculture Show where chair Peter Dhillon and members Arvind Gupta, a computer science professor at UBC and the University of Toronto, and Lenore Newman, director of the Food and Agriculture Institute at the University of the Fraser Valley, discussed their findings. “This has been an exciting six months for the three of us,” Dhillon said during a discussion moderated by Mike Manion, an agrifood consultant and champion of the local agritech sector. “The mandate was to look at innovation, technology and the role it can play in the agricultural sector as well as food security.” The task force developed
four recommendations following an engagement process that saw 450 responses to an online survey and included more than 100 face-to-face meetings with farmers, packers and processors across BC and
beyond. Roundtables were held in the Lower Mainland, Okanagan, Comox Valley, Cariboo and Peace regions that identified challenges running from land access to distribution. The importance of sustainable, small-scale farms, adaptability to a changing climate and value- added production were singled out. The resulting
recommendations address these concerns, charting a path to success and growth by adopting and
incorporating the United Nations sustainable development goals in agricultural policy; supporting the development, deployment and demonstration of new technologies; creating an agriculture and agritech institute to cultivate talent; and reviewing land use policies with a view to establishing a new agri- industrial class overseen by a commissioner charged with encouraging their use. “We picked four that we think will get us on the path to executing an agritech strategy that will be good for the agritech sector here in BC,” Dhillon said. “We wanted to keep it
simple, straight-forward, but still cover enough ground that we put out a very comprehensive strategy, thus the incubation piece, the academic piece and, near and dear to my own heart, the land piece,” Newman added. “Getting those things right are critical to making this actually work, making sure we have a place to grow.”
Getting it together Speaking with an Ontario
perspective, Gupta said what
9
Cutting edge
The Pacific Agriculture Show was overflowing with exhibitors showing off product lines from tractors to pruners. These gentlemen were watching how easily these pruners could slice through significant branch widths with ease. RONDA PAYNE PHOTO
impressed him most was how everyone said BC had all the ingredients to be an agritech powerhouse – it just had to get its act together. “We’re really lucky in Guelph that you guys aren’t doing it, because it gives us a shot!” he quipped. “If you guys got your act together, you’d pull ahead of everyone else – you’ve got the market, you’ve got the technology, you’ve got a great landbase, a very diverse population.” The Netherlands, he said, was among the countries that
sees opportunities for collaboration with BC if it can develop a coordinated strategy for developing its agritech potential. “It really inspired us to
produce a report that said, ‘how quickly can we get this sector up and running in BC?’ because we think the world will beat a path to our door once we get going,” he said. But it won’t happen
overnight. “You have to play the long
game. This is not something where you invest for a couple
of years and then say ‘Let’s switch to a different sector,’” Gupta warned. Dhillon fears that if BC
doesn’t act, it will get left behind and farmers will suffer. “Farmers should grow food, not hedge funds,” he said. “And what I’m afraid [of] is that hedge funds are going to come in and own this space if we don’t collectively understand the change that’s coming down towards us.” The capital-intensive nature
See TASK on next page o
Listing properties 1 acre or more
GORDON AIKEMA
250.306.1580
gordon@bcfarmandranch.com
Kelowna to Armstrong to Kamloops
KILN DRIED PRESSURE TREATED ROUND WOOD POSTS AND RAILS Preferred supplier for British Columbia Ministries & Parks Canada. Bill Everitt 250.295.7911 ext #102
beveritt@xplornet.ca Toll free 1.877.797.7678 ext #102 Princeton Wood Preservers Ltd. 1821 Hwy 3 Princeton, B.C. V0X 1W0
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52
