The Martlet

Climate change threatens Island food security

Considering the growing popularity of farmers’ markets in B.C., many of us aren’t foreign to the local food movement. But according to climate change and food security experts, there is growing evidence to incite us to accelerate the movement and push for the provincial government to do more than is currently being done.

The Moss Street Market, the James Bay Market and the Metchosin Farmers’ Market draw large crowds every week when they open for the spring and summer. Reducing our carbon footprint by buying local has become the new fad, much like buying organic produce. But not as widely known and talked about is the relationship between food and climate change.

The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) reported last November that the province needs to be 80 per cent self-reliant for food by 2030 or else it could face disruptions in food supply from effects of climate change; namely, extreme weather events. Currently, we import about half of our food.

The main concern is not the effect of climate change on B.C. directly, but rather its effect on places from which we import most of our food, such as California and Mexico.

“When you look at the question of climate change . . . there’s a real problem because we import something like 80 per cent of our fruits and vegetables from California and all climate change models show that the state is drying out,” says Dr. Aleck Ostry, a principal investigator of the Vancouver Island Community Research Alliance (VICRA) Local Food Project.

This concern is why researchers say we need a more localized food system.

“We can’t rely on food from California 20 or 30 years from now,” says Marc Lee, who leads the Climate Justice project for CCPA. “We need to get in place some mechanisms that increase our own self-reliance.”

In light of what could happen, the CCPA report says our current food system needs to be reassessed. Our top priority should be to develop a “made in B.C.” climate and food-planning framework that aims for local self-reliance. This includes plans for better distribution of food, better support for farmers and fishers, and a greater expectation of what is considered healthy food.

Linda Geggie, project co-ordinator for the VICRA Local Food Project, agrees with the recommendation.

“For example, we don’t have a lot of our processing infrastructure like animal processing, cold packing, freezing, storage — those kinds of facilities,” she says. “We do need to have a plan around that. The Ministry of Agriculture has a B.C. agriculture plan but it’s basically sitting on a shelf and has no funding.”

But Ostry says the focus shouldn’t only be on local food.

“Part of the strategy has to be on getting imports from places that are less affected by climate change than California. While buying local is great, the capacity to produce vegetables locally just isn’t there yet,” he says.

The report also says food production itself in B.C. is a contributor to climate change, even more than official statistics claim. So the recommendation for a B.C.-specific strategy also includes setting targets for those emissions.

“We have to encourage local producers to produce fruits and vegetables in ways that are not going to exacerbate climate change,” says Ostry. “For example, one could increase production of local vegetables using greenhouses but the problem with that is it can increase greenhouse gases because it’s energy-intensive. So how we produce fruits and vegetables locally really matters in terms of mitigating carbon emissions.”

Island food fest features the finest from local farmers

With climate change, rising global food prices and local food security a growing issue, the Island Chefs’ Collaborative (ICC) annual Food Fest is well-timed. Islanders will have the chance not only to experience local talent, but sample delicious local food.

The festival aims to expose the public to food grown in their own back yard; only a couple ingredients, such as olive oil and chocolate, are imported. Everything else, from fruit to herbs to root veggies will all come out of Island soil.

“It’s an educational opportunity about what’s available locally,” says Jason Found, the festival organizer.

While Found deals more with the logistics, the chefs themselves source most of the local produce and meat. The task may seem a little more difficult with this year’s cool spring, but Found says it shouldn’t pose too much of a problem.

“The event has three dozen of the best local chefs,” says Found. “They know what’s in season.”

For the chefs, part of the fun is the challenge of creating a unique dish from the local selection.

The Food Fest, now in its fourth year, is hosted by the ICC, an organization made up of chefs and industry reps from Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands. The idea behind the group is to help promote and provide financial aid to farmers and local food producers. Through fundraising, the group provides micro-loans to local farmers. With these loans the farmers are able to produce the food which the chefs are then able to purchase for their restaurants. Through this cycle each group hopes to create a sustainable and stable agricultural system.

The ICC has done a significant amount already, working with almost 50 local farms, mostly through financial aid. The group gives chefs a chance to meet local growers, encouraging a stronger food industry. It all benefits the consumer in many different ways ranging from environmental to economic.

The festival does not only feature local plant produce, though there will be a vegetarian tent this year. Along with fruits and veggies, there will be lamb, pork and chicken involved in the dishes created. Seafood will also play a large roll, of course, with the marine selection coming from just off our own shores. As an added bonus, there will be a wide selection of alcohols representing the many breweries and vineyards on the island. A couple of ciders will also be available.

One brew is of special note, but it’s not a beer. Teafarm from Duncan will be a newcomer to the festival, sharing it’s organic free-trade tea blended with locally grown herbs with the crowd. Teafarm is even planning on growing its own Cowichan Valley tea, a testament to the possibility of local options, which is what the festival is all about.

“Wherever there are local options we want to promote that,” says Found.

The festival will also showcase a variety of sustainable activities and related objectives. The Greater Victoria Compost Education Centre will have a setup to encourage composting, and organizations such as the Dogwood Initiative and The Land Conservancy will have booths discussing environmental issues.

While the focus is on local food, there will be a classic counterpart to the meals in music. Four bands are lined up, all local of course. There will also be local artists and a small marketplace for those who want to take the produce home right away.

Haliburton Farm proves viable alternative to development

Ten years ago, a group of concerned citizens worked together to protect prime farmland in Saanich from urban sprawl. Today, it is a thriving community farm that grows an array of organic fruits and vegetables, and demonstrates a viable farming model.

In 2001 a piece of land on Haliburton Road, off the Pat Bay Highway in Saanich, was destined for housing development. However, a lobby group formed to stop the CRD, who owned the nine and a half acres at the time, from selling it to developers. After extensive discussion, Saanich agreed to buy the land from the CRD. Supporters of organic farming then formed the nonprofit Haliburton Community Organic Farm Society (HCOFS) in 2003 to manage the farm and lease the land from the municipality.

As a small-scale, organic farm, Haliburton Farm produces everything from tomatoes to herbs to strawberries. To date, they have eight farmers, some of whom work together to make up five individual businesses on the farm.

“Each business leases the farmland from the society’s board of directors, and together we form a co-operative model,” says Elmarie Roberts, who is a board member and has been involved with the farm since its establishment.

Haliburton Farm can be called a co-operative farm because the farmers collaborate in many ways; but because there are individual businesses, it’s more like a community farm. The farmers often call it a co-operative community farm to indicate a mixture of both.

“I think in a true co-operative, you each share [resources],” says Roberts. “Here we each have our own businesses, but we share certain things, like [vending at] Moss Street Market — we have to pay to be there. We also share the water and oil bill.”

The farm is modelled after B.C.’s Community Farms Program, which defines a community farm as a producer of local food using sustainable agricultural methods. It’s held together by the support of landowners, farmers and local communities.

Through this model, the society demonstrates that this type of farming is a viable alternative to development — and that it’s profitable.

“The biggest issue facing farmers today is land access and how to make money. Any successful business model is based on one acre, and that’s why most of the farms here are one acre . . . it can be profitable,” says Roberts.

Haliburton Farm is within the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR), land in B.C. deemed optimal for agriculture and given priority for it. Only four per cent of land in B.C. is in the ALR.

Although the Agricultural Land Commission Act protects this type of land, anybody who owns land in the ALR can apply to have the designation removed, as a developer did for the Haliburton farmland in 2001. According to UVic law professor Deborah Curran, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to do this.

“The Agricultural Land Commission has a variety of criteria by which they assess whether farmland should be removed. If it’s beneficial for farming, they generally refuse for it to be removed,” says Curran. “The ALR system is the envy of many jurisdictions across North America, and the question is perhaps how to better support agriculture in a region so that farming is viable and more people want to use land for farming.”

Ana Ayala, one of the Haliburton farmers, wants people to know the farm is more than just organic agriculture, especially since the term ‘organic’ may be overused.

“We tell people we are organic agriculture . . . [but] we are producing on a small scale a lot of produce and are being more than organic,” says Ayala.

“We are certified organic,” says Roberts. “We have an inspector [from the Islands Organic Producers Association] that comes once a year. We get a farm number so you can check to see if we are truly organic . . . the standards are very high.”