Food Security Is of Increasing Concern

The term food security was barely heard a decade ago on Vancouver Island but with the new reality of climate change and peak oil,  food security is of increasing concern. 
Fifty years ago a substantial percentage of food consumed on the Island was produced here.  The fall agricultural fairs were bursting with displays of fresh locally produced vegetables, fruits and grains.  Fast forward to 2009 and we find less is grown on the Island while the population has swelled.  Easy building on farmland has swallowed up productive land. The Agricultural Land Reserve system is meant to protect farmland from further incursions by land speculators intent on building subdivisions.  It has not been very successful.  Last night I attended a meeting hosted by our Nanaimo Regional District to allow eight developers to tell the residents of Cedar about their plans for new developments.  One of the projects proposes to build ten new houses on what was agricultural land a little over two years ago -- ten more acres lost to production. Cheaper imports from California and Mexico have made farming a marginal business.
Why should we worry here about food security?  The supermarkets are full of produce and meats.  The food is cheap.  Nearly everyone can afford a nutritious diet.  Why not build affordable housing on easy to build farmland and import our food from China and Chile where people are happy to work in the fields?  Because this scenario can't last.  Ryerson University Centre for Studies in Food Security has defined the concept of food security.

Right now our purchasing power can meet the first component - availability.  We have sufficient food being imported into the country as long as the supply chain is not interrupted.  Vancouver Island is particularly vulnerable to interruptions because it is served by a combination of private and government ferries.  Any interruption to the ferries will quickly cause shortages on the Island.  Of greater concern is that climate change and accompanying drought conditions has reduced planting in Mexico and California, which supply much of our winter and early spring vegetables.
Adequacy refers to food that is both nutritious and safe.  We have seen recently recalls of tomatoes, peppers, peanuts because of bacterial contamination. Pesticide use in foreign countries may not adhere to our fairly strict regulations, leaving toxins on the produce.  Fresh vegetables are no longer fresh if they take two weeks before landing on your dinner plate and nutrients start to degrade when the vegetable is picked.  Adequacy also refers to food being produced in an environmentally sustainable manner.  Food produced on mega farms using petroleum based fertilizers and shipped thousands of kilometres to N. American supermarkets is not environmentally sustainable.
So what's a person to do?  Buy locally produced fruit, vegetables and meats where possible.
Patronize your local farmers' markets.  There are currently five farmer markets around Nanaimo. 
Be prepared to eat more seasonally.  You are unlikely to get local strawberries in January, but right now strawberries are in season, just picked and bursting with flavour.  No treatment with fungicides to keep that pesky mould at bay.
Be prepared as well to pay a fair price for your food.  Farmers have house and truck payments too.
Get involved in local politics.  If we allow planning departments to nibble away at agricultural land so that it can be lost to food production, we will never be able to have food security.
I've gone on a lot about food security on Vancouver Island.  It's where I live.  Much of what I've said here can apply to where you live.  Changes are coming.