Update ~ Nov. 10: Dani Stancer has been hired as SRCHN's Food Security Specialist. Until recently Grants Coordinator with the City of Merritt, she was previously on staff with the Duncan Farmer's Market, the Community Social Planning Council of Greater Victoria and Cowichan Green Community's Food Hub. In 2021, she was named one of Canada's Top 25 Environmentalists Under 25 by non-profit organization The Starfish.
Original post: Another harvest season is coming to an end, so a suitable time to take stock of Sooke's food security future.
Big/best recent news: Sooke Region Communities Health Network - SRCHN's Christine Bossi has secured grant funding from The Victoria Foundation and Island Health for a nine-month food security specialist who will begin work in the near future. Such a position has long been envisioned in following up to some degree on the work of Erika Rolston and Keeley Nixon, two former coordinators with Sooke Region Food CHI over the last decade. (Rolston also worked in then-Agricultural Minister Lana Popham's office; Nixon, then based out of ALM Organic Farm, was and is a driving force in FarmLink.)
This TBD coordinator is asked to get cracking on the recommendations in SRCHN's 2021 Sooke Region Food Security Report. Its top suggestion is a permanent Sooke Region Food Policy Council involving government, non-profit, First Nation and other participants. It would focus on the general objectives of "community development, service coordination, logistical framework expansion and relationship development." (Example: Comox Valley Food Policy Council).
The necessarily practical and on-point job description states:
- Facilitation of food distribution from existing and upcoming community food gardens and private gardens.
- Arrange with local food safe kitchens to provide access to their facilities for community initiatives and social enterprises on an ongoing basis.
- Provide guidance around social enterprise initiatives related to food security, including food preservation/preparation/distribution and sales through community food safe kitchens.
- Create and run information campaigns for public awareness around services.
- Identify and seek funding opportunities.
To work with this short-term food coordinator, Bossi is now assembling a food-security group poised to include Food CHI, The Sooke Food Bank, Sooke School District, Sooke Meals on Wheels, Holy Trinity Anglican Church, Sooke BC (responsible for the Vital Vittles program), Sooke Baptist Church (including its Sooke Grace Gardens and the Big House breakfast program) and Sooke Family Resource Society, among others
Also in the mix are two dozen students enrolled in Royal Roads University's Bachelor of Business Administration in Innovation and Sustainability. Working through RRU's City Studio, they are spending eight weeks this fall analyzing SRCHN's report and then identifying which of its recommendations can best and most realistically be implemented in the relative near-term. (Full marks to the District's Community Economic Development Officer Gail Scott for linking up with City Studio for what will ideally be the first of many collaborations in future.)
Onwards, then, with another collection of related links to provide context for this latest initiative. Council has informally discussed emphasizing food security in our strategic plan, which is again on hold as we seek a Chief Administrative Officer. In the short-term, we'll be receiving correspondence from the CRD seeking District participation in its Foodlands Access Service (see the PDF reports on pg. 7 of the Nov. 8 CRD Board agenda.)
Related blog entry: Back to Basics - Food & Shelter (June 2021)
written circa the release of SRCHN's Food Security Report.
An excellent source of ongoing news coverage is the Island Social Trends Food Security archive of news stories written by Mary Brooke.
Provincial
- Ministry of Agriculture and Food
- Hon. Pam Alexis, MLA, Abbotsford-Mission
- Mandate letter (Dec. 2022)
- The Future of BC's Food System: Findings & Recommendations from the BC Food Security Task Force (2020)
"British Columbia must be bold. We face daunting challenges. The United Nations predicts that climate change will decrease global agricultural yields by as much as 25 per cent by 2050, while the population continues to increase. Fewer people will be working in conventional agriculture, as an aging population and increasing urbanization worsens our existing farm labour shortage. Global competition is also intensifying ... We must act now to position British Columbia as a powerhouse that feeds itself and the world."
- Climate Change and Food Security in British Columbia (University of Victoria, 2011)
- Drought and California's Agricultural Supply (Public Policy Institute of California, 2022)
- Food Security In BC? Don't Count On It (Policy Note, 2016)
- Study of the British Columbia Agricultural Sector (BC Agriculture Council, 2020)
Agricultural Land Commission
"An administrative tribunal, independent of the Provincial Government, that is responsible for exercising its decision-making authority in accordance with the Agricultural Land Commission Act. Purpose: to preserve agricultural land; to encourage farming on agricultural land in collaboration with other communities of interest; and, to encourage local governments, first nations, the government and its agents to enable and accommodate farm use of agricultural land and uses compatible with agriculture in their plans, bylaws and policies."
- Chair Jennifer Dyson
- 2022/23 Annual Report
- Revitalization Timeline
- Housing in the ALR bulletins
- Permitted Uses of Land in the ALR
- Buying and Owning Land in the ALR
- "Development Demands Place Pressure on ALR Land" - Business in Vancouver, March 2023
Agricultural Land Reserve
Established April, 1973 to protect 46,159 sq. km of farmland (5% of BC's total land base) from development.
- ALR Mapping + ALR Maps
- "Agricultural Land Reserve 50th Anniversary Stirs Rembrance of BC's Political Directions" - Island Social Trends, April, 2023
- Hat tip to the ALR's advocate-in-chief, Richmond, BC councillor Harold Steves
Provincial Programs
- Grow BC - food security eduction within BC's K-12 school system
- Buy BC - province-wide marketing program for BC food and beverages + infographic
- Feed BC - ensuring BC food is served in government-supported facilities, including hospitals, residential care facilities, schools and post-secondary institutions + Economic Analysis Impact Report (2021) + Feed BC Directory of food suppliers
- BC Food Hub Network: The Ministry defines "food Hubs” as “shared-use food and beverage processing facilities that offer food and agriculture businesses access to commercial processing space, equipment, expertise, and resources to support business development and growth."
- "There are currently 12 regional food hubs in the BC Food Hub Network. The B.C. food and beverage processing industry is comprised of 2,995 establishments and is the second largest processing sector in the province in sales. There are 17,500 farms in B.C. that produce over 200 agricultural products."
- Island Food Hub Action Guide
From Sooke's Climate Action Plan: "The BC Ministry of Agriculture invested $1 million in a Food Security Distribution Centre Warehouse in Esquimalt which includes two commercial kitchens with the necessary infrastructure and systems to sell to institutional organizations (grocery stores) to strengthen food security on the Island. Local food producers in Sooke have access to this warehouse facility. + March 2021 funding announcement.
- Related: Kitchen Connect, VIHA-certified shared commercial kitchen space (808 Viewfield Rd., Victoria) + Sooke connection in the person of coordinator Kira Selha.
- Canada-BC Agri-Innovation Program
- Together BC: British Columbia's Poverty Reduction Strategy (2018) + What We Heard report
"13% of households in the Island Health region experience food insecurity"
Province of BC announcements
- BC Increases Food Security, Agricultural Resiliency During Emergencies (Sept. 18, 2023)
- Historic Investment in Food Security Supports British Columbians (March, 2023)
"The Ministry of Agriculture and Food will invest in new and enhanced programs to strengthen B.C.’s food supply chain and expand local food production from producers to processors and from packers to retailers ... Additionally, grants from the Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction will strengthen food banks, food distribution and food access."
- More People Will Get Nutritious Food With New Food Bank Funding (Aug. 24, 2023)
Capital Region District
- Setting Our Table: CRD Food and Agriculture Strategy (2017)
- CRFAIR (Capital Region Food and Agriculture Initiatives Round Table) + research/reports
- Regional Foodlands Access Program Feasibility Study
- Foodlands Trust Business Case (2022)
- Regional Foodlands Access Program - Preliminary (2022)
- North Saanich Analysis of related sections of CRD Regional Growth Strategy (2016)
Proposed Foodlands Access Service (June, 2023 update; phased implementation of 10-15 plots of land for a five-year farmer training pilot program on CRD-owned ALR land within Bear Hill Regional Park; all municipalities will be canvassed re: interest in joining this potential new service later this year; Sooke council indicated wait-and-see support for the program when first conceived in 2019.
See latest Foodlands Access Service update in the Nov. 8, 2023 CRD Board agenda, item 12.3. Goals and Objectives: i) Increase farmer access to productive agricultural lands; ii) Convert surplus CRD and municipal lands to productive food spaces; iii) Encourage farming on private lands through a Land Matching initiative; and iv) Demonstrate viability and build CRD internal capacity for long-term goal of a Foodlands Trust.
Sooke participation (at an estimated requisition fee of $1.44 per household towards the year-one 2025 budget) would support the Bear Hill pilot and provide grants for Sooke applicants participating in the BC Land Matching Program, which pairs private landowners with farmers ... thus delivering revenue for the former and affordable land-access to would-be farmers who are otherwise facing $64k-per-acre land costs in seeking their share of the CRD's shrinking amount (27,000 acres, down 25% from 2001) of available farmland. [Also of note 20 years ago: An acre of ALR land cost $6k and the average local farmer was aged 53 compared to today's 59.5 -- all the more reason to encourage next-gen farmers.] + video explainer
District of Sooke
- From the 2020 OCP Background Report
"As of Sooke's 2010 OCP, approximately 50% of Sooke's original ALR lands had been removed from the reserve to allow for development and economic investment, or due to lack of suitability for farming. The reduction in ALR lands has created challenges for access to healthy, local foods and has brought attention to tensions between competing land uses, including residential development."
- 606 Aquifer Metchosin/Sooke (pp. 58-61)
"This bedrock aquifer is the largest aquifer in the CRD, encompassing a 537.6 km2 area in the municipalities of Metchosin, Colwood, Langford and Sooke, including the East Sooke Peninsula."
- 606 Water Group + article
- Aquifer 606
Current Official Community Plan Bylaw #400 (2010)
"The 2010 OCP has policies related to agriculture in two sections. Section 4.5 Agriculture and Food Security (pg. 38) has 18 policies related to agriculture and 14 action items. Section 5.7 Land Use Designations ‐ Agriculture (pg. 89) has five policies, one of which reinforces support for the policies in section 4.5.3 plus two action items for a total of 23 policies and 16 actions items."
"Section 4.5: Agriculture and Food Security envisions a vibrant sustainable food culture rooted in viable local production, historical and T'Sou-ke Nation knowledge and environmental stewardship. The protection of capable and suitable farmland throughout the District of Sooke is necessary for the long-term sustainable growth of the community and food security for residents.
The goals of this section of the OCP are: To protect the availability of existing agricultural lands and the ability of the community to produce food locally in a sustainable manner; and to better understand the agricultural potential of the District of Sooke through public consultation, discussions with agricultural stakeholder groups and the preparation of an agricultural plan, lands which have the potential for agricultural and to realize that potential.
* The objectives of this section of the OCP include: To preserve and utilize capable and suitable agriculture lands to foster sufficiency, promote food security and food production, and improve economic diversity; to ensure the continuation of small scale farms to encourage local small scale agricultural productions; and to encourage small scale food production on residential properties of all size."
Pending Official Community Plan Bylaw #800 (2024?)
Agriculture Objectives & Purposes (pg. 73)
Community Policies: Agriculture and Food Systems (pp. 117-124)
OCP 2024 - AGRICULTURAL OBJECTIVES & PURPOSES
* To protect and expand the agricultural industry in Sooke.
* To preserve and utilize capable and suitable agricultural lands to foster food self-reliance, promote food security, protect the environment, and improve economic diversity.
* To ensure the continuation of small- scale farms, encourage local small- scale agricultural production, and options for increased agri-tourism.
Additional Directions
* Encourage agri-food system activities and businesses, such as local food production and processing and agri-tourism, in alignment with ALC Act where applicable.
* Encourage regenerative and other sustainable farming practices.
* Ensure sufficient buffers, including roads and rights-of-way, between agricultural lands and adjacent, non-agricultural properties; use of ‘best practices’ guides from the ALC should be considered during the planning or development processes, e.g. Ministry of Agriculture and Food Guide to Edge Planning and Ministry of Agriculture and Land’s Guide to Using and Developing Trails in Farm and Ranch Areas.
Related OCP Action Items #56-69 (pg. 167/68)
4.6.3.4 Advocate to Provincial and Federal governments for policy change to better support the slaughter and processing of locally raised livestock.
4.6.5.4 Collaborate with T’Sou-ke Nation and other Indigenous community members to develop Indigenous gardens that focus on the cultivation of culturally important species of plants for food, medicine, and ceremony, and provide opportunities for complementary programming or education.
4.6.6.2 Partner with the CRD to educate about and minimize food waste, and leverage agri-food system by- products as resources for the circular economy.adership
4.6.1.3 Support, expand, and work with Sooke Country Market to identify a permanent farmers’ market location, which provides site amenities such as loading zones, public washrooms, access to potable water, electricity, and accessible parking.
4.6.1.4 Align Sooke’s Zoning Bylaw provisions for farm retail sales with the current ALC Act and Regulations. In particular, allow limited sales of off-farm products on ALR parcels.
4.6.2.5 Consider updating Sooke’s Zoning Bylaw to implement an appropriate minimum on-site or off- site requirement for food growing space such as community gardens or allotment gardens based on proposed gross floor area for larger multi-unit and mixed-use developments.
4.6.4.4 Create a District policy for ALR exclusions.
4.6.4.5 Explore opportunities for local property tax and other incentives to encourage food land preservation and production.
4.6.5.3 Collaborate with T’Sou-ke Nation and other Indigenous community members to identify and protect lands and waters supporting gathering and harvesting of traditional foods.
4.6.6.4 Update the District procurement policy to address social procurement objectives including local food acquisition opportunities.
4.6.2.4 Support a food and agriculture advisory body to support the implementation of agriculture and food security policies.
4.6.3.3 Establish District-specific food production targets, linked to a self-sufficiency goal, and enable them by supporting a thriving urban farming sector (whether indoor, rooftop, industrial, ALR, and in-ground models).
4.6.6.3 Explore opportunity to develop a Sooke composting facility.
Farm Village/Hamlet Pilot Project in Sooke. See pp. 91-210 of the March 28, 2022 council agenda.
Partnership with Greenplan's Jack Anderson to develop a prototype for "farm hamlets" -- a small group of families who live and work on the farm, sharing in the management of the farm. Cllr. St-Pierre, the CRD, Guy Dauncey and Farm Folk/City Folk's Heather Pritchard are involved directly. Among his other projects, Anderson consulted on the net-zero Harmless Home in East Sooke. This pilot follows up to a degree on the valiant The Village Farm vision (2012-15), which was intended to revitalize 153 acres of the Helgeson farmbelt.
"The Farm Village Template offers a planning tool to assist the Agricultural Land Commission and local governments across the province to systematically support increased housing density on ALR lands proportionate and in sync with the growth of agricultural activity on the farmland. The Template includes a focus on providing the prospective farm with appropriate education and professional support to ensure long term growth and success of the farm in meeting community sustainability & resilience goals in the pursuit of food sovereignty. The Farm Village Template will require the continued support of local government planning and building-permit departments to explore housing options on ALR lands."
Sooke Climate Action Plan (2022)
See pp. 41-44 for the food security section. This was prepared by the Sooke Climate Action Committee's Jessica Prieto, also a board member with Sooke Food CHI. Among the recommendations:
1. Establish a baseline measure of current local food production;
2. Revisit the unrealized action plan in the District's Agricultural Plan (2012);
3. Establish a Food Policy Council
Local Government Climate Action Program funding 2023/24 -- supports Sooke participation in the CRD's regional Love Food, Hate Waste campaign.
Sooke Agricultural Plan (2012)
In pointing to the current Food Policy Council priority, this plan generated through full public process identified creation of a standing Sooke Agricultural Advisory Committee as its first/best action. Also: Division of large ALR parcels into smaller affordable lots for new farmers; cooperative, farmstay or eco-village concepts; a farm school training new generations of food producers; and variations on the “farm village” idea captured in this powerpoint from Guy Dauncey.
Agricultural Plan Actions (pp. 59-62)
SHORT TERM (Less than six months)
5.1.1 Decide which of the two options presented in this report for addressing ALC’s comments regarding the Technical Industrial Overlay shown over ALR lands on Schedule ” A” of the OCP and the references in Action Item 4.5.4 (c) to the area bounded by Gatewood, Grant and West Coast Road to pursue.
5.1.2 Examine ways in which the District can support the Sooke Country Market and capitalize on the social and economic benefits associated with the Market by assigning a staff member to consult with the Sooke Country Market Association and vendors and prepare a report on specific ways that the District can support the Market. Given the tourism and economic benefits of farmers’ markets, staff should also consult with the Chamber of Commerce, the District of Sooke Economic Development Commission and Sooke Food‐CHI when preparing this report.
5.1.3 Provide a link on the District’s website to the CRD’s webpage containing information on Deer Management.
MEDIUM TERM (Six months to Two Years)
5.1.4 For future budget years, evaluate ways in which the District can provide funding or in‐kind support to community gardens and education programs for yard waste.
5.1.5 Investigate the merits of establishing of a $10,000 reserve fund for local food security initiatives as compared to the current approach of funding these types of programs through the Community Grants fund.
5.1.6 Change the Sign Regulation Bylaw to clarify how the bylaw applies to agricultural operations and ensuring sandwich board signs are permitted for farm gate sales.
5.1.7 Develop a strategy on how to increase the profile of agriculture and food security with Council and its Committees.
5.1.8 Consider adopting the CRD’s model Pesticide Control Bylaw.
5.1.9 Discuss the creation of an Agricultural Advisory Commission and including consideration of other options for representation and dialogue such as membership on the Peninsula Agricultural Commission.
ON‐GOING AND LONGER TERM
5.1.10 Continue investigating opportunities for local composting.
5.1.11 Lobby senior government for legislative changes to further reduce water costs for agricultural purposes, increasing the length of land leases and improvements to the process for assessing farmland for taxation purposes.
5.1.12 Lobby the Juan de Fuca Water Commission and the CRD for reductions in water costs for agricultural purposes including for produce grown on residential lots and in community gardens.
5.1.13 Take action on and be receptive to innovative approaches to increasing utilization of farmland for agricultural use.
Sooke Non-Profits
Sooke Region Food CHI
* 2021 Annual Report
* Sooke Seedy Saturday 2023
* Local food resources
* AGM report 2013
* SNM report on 2012 AGM attended by Horgan and Popham
* Sooke Region Food and Farm Guide (2013)
* Awareness Film Night Food & Farm Galas (2018 example)
* Sooke Farm Tour (2013 edition)
Sooke Farmland Trust
Now dormant (read: fallow awaiting fresh energy exemplified by founding member Mary-Alice Johnson). It published a position statement in 2017 identifying how the Sooke food shed might be revived and sustained. Priority: Long-term affordable leases for new farmers who can’t buy the land outright but have a passion for farming that needs to be encouraged if we’ve ever to live up to our ambitions for regional food security: (The urgent need for action on local food security was the common theme of Chief Gordon Planes, Premier Horgan, Mayor Tait, Director Hicks, Elida Peers and Ellen Lewers in their comments at the opening of the 2017 Sooke Fall Fair).
- Sooke Region Foodshed Roundtable (circa 2015)
Sooke Farms, Markets and Food Gardens
* Sooke Country Market (May to October)
* Sooke Night Market at the Sooke Museum (June to September)
* Food CHI video profiles of 16 local farms (coordinated by the late Kay Lovett)
* Woodside Farm, Sooke (founded 1851, Western Canada's oldest continuously operating farm)
* ALM Organic Farm
- Farm legacy letters - Mary Alice Johnson
- Sowing Seeds at ALM (Sooke Region Museum video)
- Business Booming for Sooke Farmers (SNM, March 2020)
* InishOge Farm, Sooke
- Thinking like a Foodshed by Mary Coll
- "Strong Warmth, Real Growth" (video)
* Mrs. Lewers Farmhouse
* Cast Iron Farm
* Sunriver Community Garden
* Grace Gardens at the Sooke Baptist Church
* Transition Sooke Community Garden Working Group (launched 2023) led by Levi Megenbir
* Community Garden Accessibility Toolkit (City of Victoria, 2022)
* Sooke Garden Club
* Sooke participation in the My Fed Farm program (2020/21) organized by FED Urban Ag + 2023 report
* Vancouver Island Regional Library Sooke Branch - Seed Library
Sooke School District #62
- Opportunities For Building Healthier School Food Environments in the Capital Region (report, 2021)
- Edward Milne Community School Eco Academy + brochure (teaching lead: Patrick Gauley-Gale)
- District of Sooke Supports Farm to School Program at EMCS (Oct. 2023)
- SD 62 Summer Garden Program
- Farm To School BC Capital Region + 2019 annual report
- Flourish! School Food Society (Greater Victoria)
- Good Food Box program distribution locally via EMCS Society
- John Muir Elementary School Food Garden (created in 2016 with support of Sooke Rotary Club)
- EMCS Food Garden - Excerpts from a 2021 report by former EMCS Food Garden Coordinator Matthew Kemshaw: "Our garden is growing more and more each year. Over 250 students have been involved in planning, planting, tending, and harvesting produce this school year, from Nature K (now at Saseenos) to grade 12. We focus on interesting heirloom varieties and include as many Indigenous crops as possible, including two Milpa (or "Three Sisters") plots this year. We are also working towards increasing our Winter harvest, through growing citrus and cold hardy crops. Student grown produce is used in our Culinary Arts (Cafeteria) program, significantly in our salad bar as well as hot meals. We also use lots in our Foods classes, preparing and sharing a total of over 600 meals per week ... Indigenous learning- we've had a wide variety of local First Nations knowledge holders share with our students. We've learned about and harvested local ethnobotanical plants, cooked salmon and other seafood over fires at French Beach with Nature K, harvested seaweed, processed cedar bark, and created a collaborative First Nations tapestry to be displayed in the school."
- Opportunity Blooms At This Sooke School Garden (The Discourse, Aug. 18, 2021)
- The Coalition for Healthy School Food (representing 270 groups across Canada)
- Healthy Schools BC (Ministry of Education)
- "A Fresh Crunch In School Lunch: The BC Farm to School Guide" (2015)
- Growing Chefs (Vancouver-based non-profit; 2021 annual report)
- Farm to Cafeteria Canada
ALR Exclusions and Requests in Sooke
- ALC Exclusion Application Guide
"As of September 30, 2020, private landowners are no longer able to make an application for ALR exclusion, as a result of amendments made to the Agricultural Land Commission Act in an effort to protect the size, integrity and continuity of the land base of the ALR. Henceforward, only a local government (or First Nation or prescribed bodies, such as BC Hydro, Regional Health Board, Educational Body, Improvement District) may submit an exclusion application to the ALC ... Previously, a private landowner would make an application to the ALC to exclude their land and this application would be referred to the local government for determination on whether it should proceed to the ALC or not. The costs of the application and required advertising (newspaper ads, notification sign) were born by the private landowner and the private landowner was advocating for the exclusion."
In the first six years after the District of Sooke's incorporation in 1999, much of Sooke's ALR land was excluded for development purposes -- once illegally ("Island Developer Fined $200k for Basi Bribe," CBC, Oct. 2010). Since then, the District has only recommendation for exclusion of several small parcels -- in January, 2022, for recent instance, re: a 1.32 acre piece of wetland at the northeast corner of Throup and Church in the town centre for the purposes of constructing a roundabout for the future Throup-Grant Road bypass route. + The Westshore article
6912 and 7166 West Coast Road (2017) near Prestige Hotel
- Sooke News Mirror report
- Agricultural Capability Survey for 6912 West Coast Road (Stantec, Sept. 2017) <clip> "The agricultural limitations are moderately severe due to deficient moisture limitations that requires moderately intensive management practices to ameliorate, or moderately restricts the range of crops."
Original 2016 application letter in the May 1, 2017 Committee of the Whole agenda.
Proposal was for a pig farm. “There are several slaughtering stations on the island including but not limited to; Brauns, Quists, Hidden Valley, Springford Farm and Gunter Bros.,” wrote Davidson in correspondence to Sooke Pocket News. “There are no large-scale slaughter houses but these facilities would be sufficient for our purposes.”
Shaw Property: West Coast Road
- 2012 ALR removal request (ALC decision)
- 2014 ALR removal request (Times Colonist coverage) + <clip> "Sooke Mayor Wendal Milne has noticed the commission has been taking a harder line on land removal applications over the last few years. “They’ve basically taken the position that really no land is coming out of the ALR,” Milne said. The Shaw family, he said, have been up against “a stone wall … after our last meeting [with commission staff], I didn’t see any chance of any flexibility.”
The area south of Grant Road between West Coast Road and Otter Point is deemed by many to be a “natural growth area,” with ready access to the Sooke sewer system, electricity and emergency services.
District of Sooke ALR Application Procedure Policy
https://sooke.civicweb.net/document/11210 (April 2003)
https://sooke.ca/district-services/departments/development-services/agricultural-land-commission-application (from the current DOS website)
Canada
Federal government: Food security page
Agriculture Canada - Policy Development + Overview of Canada's Agriculture Sector (2023)
Food Policy For Canada: Everyone At The Table (2019)
- Canadian Food Policy Advisory Council
- Office of the Auditor General: Protecting Canada's Food System (2021)
- The Affordable Housing and Groceries Act (Bill C-56, introduced on Sept. 21, 2023)
- Bill C-56 (first reading)
- Bill C-56: The Good, The Bad And The Useless (Globe & Mail, Oct. 4, 2023)
- Food Secure Canada (Montreal-based national association) + food policy consultation, May 2023
International
- The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2023 (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations)
~ Synopsis: "About 29.6 percent of the global population – 2.4 billion people – were moderately or severely food insecure in 2022, of which about 900 million (11.3 percent of people in the world) were severely food insecure ... Worldwide in 2022, an estimated 148.1 million children under five years of age (22.3 percent) were stunted, 45 million (6.8 percent) were wasted, and 37 million (5.6 percent) were overweight."
Miscellaneous: Food Insecurity
- Community Farms Roundtable and Farmlands Trust Visioning (Farm Folk City Folk, 2014)
BC Centre for Disease Control
- Household Food Insecurity Update Report (October 2023)
- The Affordability of Healthy Eating in BC (infographic, 2023)
- Food Costing In BC 2022 Report
- BC Household Food Insecurity (2011 infographic)
- Canada's Food Price Report (UBC and others, 13th edition, 2023)
- Healthy Food Increasingly Out of Reach for Vancouver Island's Poorest (Times Colonist, May 28, 2023)
- A Deep Dive On Vancouver Island Food Security (Douglas Magazine, Oct. 2020)
"The region is far from food secure — less than 10 per cent of the food consumed in the CRD is produced here. The goal, set by CRFAIR’s Good Food Network, is to reach 25 per cent by 2025. The CRD’s 2018 Regional Growth Strategy also set a target of 5,000 additional hectares of land in food production by 2038."
- Vancouver Island Food Security Action Guide (Island Food Hub, 2017)
"We are food insecure when we cannot reliably access the foods we need to live healthy and active lives. About 10 per cent of those living in the Vancouver Island region are food insecure— they cannot always count on getting the next meal on the table. Poverty is often at the root of the problem, living in an isolated community is another challenge and some people just need a helping hand with shopping and cooking."
- Climate Caucus Food Security page
- Saving Farmland: The Fight for Real Food - Nathalie Chambers, Rocky Mountain Books, 2015
- Municipal Food Policy Entrepreneurs: A preliminary analysis of how Canadian cities and regional districts are involved in food system change (Vancouver Food Policy Council & others, 2013) + "The report is the first scan of municipal and regional food policy development in Canada. It reveals that a growing number of communities right across the country have launched food charters, food strategies and action plans, and created food policy councils."
- Food Policy Councils (National Centre for Healthy Communities, Province of Quebec, 2011)
- Working With Local Governments on Food Policy (BC Food Systems Network, 2018)
- Drafting A Resolution to Create a Food Policy Council (US Public Health Law Centre)
- Vancouver Food Charter (2007)
- BC Agriculture Climate Change Action Plan 2010-2013 (BC Climate Change Adaptation Program)
- Taking Action To Revitalize the Global Food Chain (2021 Royal Roads thesis by Patricia Reichert)
BC Organizations and Links
(borrowed from the links page I created and maintained pre-election for the Sooke Farmland Trust)
- Young Agrarians + U-Map resource listings
- BC Ministry of Agriculture
- CRD Water
- Farm Folk/City Folk's Community Farms Program
- BC Agricultural Council
- The Young Agrarians
- FarmLink
- Island Farm Fresh: Guide to Vancouver Island Farms & Farmers
- Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC
- Island Organic Producers Association
- National Trust for Land and Culture (B.C.)
- Land Trust Alliance of British Columbia
- TLC The Land Conservancy
- Centre for Sustainable Food Systems at UBC Farm
- Salt Spring Island Farmland Trust Society
- The Gabriola Commons
- Delta Farmland and Wildlife Trust
- Peninsula & Area Agricultural Commission (Saanich)
- BC Farm Industry Review Board
- BC's Farm Practices Protection (Right to Farm) Act
- Young Agrarians' Land Access Guide
- The Greenhorns' archive of PDF publications and resources
- CRFair's Good Food Progress Report (2019)
- Farm Folk/City Folk and the TLC's April 2010 Review of Farmland Trusts
- Legal Tools & Comparative Models for Community Farm Trusts - University of Victoria's Environmental Law Centre
- Vancouver Island Community Research Alliance's Indigenous Food Systems on Vancouver Island
- BC Farms and Food's Online Farm Map for Vancouver Island's 100-Mile Diet
- Taking Action On Food Security report (2008)
- Farm Class Guide - BC Property Assessment Appeal Board
- BC Ministry of Agriculture Service Plan 2019-21
Screenshots ...
1. Silver Cloud Farm's Kaidyn Robertson pictured, COVID-era, in the pending Sooke Official Community Plan
2. The Way It Was In Sooke: From the late Maywell Wickheim's memoir Life On The Land In Sooke's Midlife.
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