Fork it over. Dig in.

It's time to enjoy more locally grown food

by ANDRE LARIVIERE

Gauging the latest opinion polls, it appears that the majority of you have recently become environmentalists and are preparing to prove it at the ballot box.

Congratulations. Your timing is excellent, especially if you enjoy eating.

In the decade I’ve been writing about (while passionately enjoying) food and restaurants and all the people involved in the product-to-plate system, there’s never been the kind of appetite for positive change we have right now. And nowhere is that desire growing more than here on the Wet Coast.

By “positive change” I’m referring to the desire for a “greener” and more sustainable food system. The measurement of success in such a system considers the real cost of production—from ecological to ethical—rather than reducing it to the cheapest cost per pound. Frame that as, say, fewer “food miles” and fewer tonnes of climate-changing greenhouse gases spewed from trucks moving tomatoes across the continent and, these days, you’ve got not only a much better chance of grabbing someone’s attention but more of their dining budget for a locally-grown Sungold. And that’s before they discover how much better it tastes!

There’s one sticky problem, though: supply. We’re simply not producing or processing enough local food to meet the demand fuelled by happy palates and concern for the planet. Can we, given that only five per cent of provincial land is currently suitable for agriculture? Absolutely. We can grow a whole lot more, and in ways that would bring lasting benefits to communities across B.C. It all depends on how you look at the lay of the land.

At a conference presented last fall by the Fraser Basin Council, a group focused on “advancing sustainability throughout the entire Fraser River Basin,” some interesting numbers about local food production were put in perspective and offered clues as to how and where that perspective could be adjusted.

Provincial agrologist Mark Robbins confirmed that feeding one citizen currently requires 0.52 hectares, or the equivalent of six city lots, with about 10 per cent of it needing irrigation. Or to put it another way, for every 100,000 people added to B.C.’s population, we’d need another 52,000 hectares (about 130 Stanley Parks) producing basic foodstuffs.

That said, remarkably, nearly half of our regular food intake originates in local soil and water. While one of Robbins’ colleagues, Kim Sutherland, trumpeted the incredible 200-plus agri-foods produced in the Fraser Valley alone, she could barely contain her excitement about B.C. blueberries.

The blueberry market has enjoyed a huge growth spurt in recent years, with an annual harvest of more than 27 million kilograms (the second largest blueberry crop in the world) and 4,800 hectares of rich Fraser Valley land now devoted to this blue gold (by contrast, total acreage for ALL organic fruit and vegetable crops in B.C. is just over 8,000 hectares). Container loads are regularly shipped to Asia, Europe, and the United States.

However, in the next breath, Sutherland warned of the critical shortage (less than four per cent) of good farmland remaining in the province’s Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR) and of economic pressures on farmers from increasing global competition. The most promising chance to protect those dwindling resources lies in the growing affection we urbanites have for more farmers’ markets and restaurant menus featuring local produce.

Of course, farmers are in a perpetually tough business and deserve opportunities to make hay on “hot products,” but they’d be the first to tell you their idea of a sustainable food future is one where farmers aren’t forced to chase, catch, and feed global cash cows. Most of them would still rather participate in a neighbourly market system that supports farms and rewards farmers who supply the demands of their local communities. In fact, a strategic report titled Focus on the Future, prepared last year by key players in the B.C. agri-food industry, put “strengthen competitive advantage in local markets” ahead of “build ability to compete in international markets.”

Two things I know for sure: we no longer have time to be pessimistic, and it’s impossible to be pessimistic with a mouthful of tasty local food—grown or harvested by someone in your community. Enjoy it now, to enjoy it later.

Parked at the head of the Green Table, André LaRiviere regularly dines out on changing the world one tasty, sustainability-rich meal at a time.