An upcoming presentation co-hosted by Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) and the Sunshine Coast Community Food Action Initiative will try to place the Coast's local food movement in a province-wide frame of reference.
Those interested can swing by the board room of St. Mary's Hospital on June 17 from 11 a.m. to noon to catch Local Food and You: Where Are We Headed? Kim Sutherland, a Coast Region agrologist for the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands, will be presenting by video conference on B.C.'s capacity for food self-sufficiency.
"I will provide an overview of agriculture in B.C., and specifically the food production system that is the Fraser Valley," she said. "Our agriculture is very different from other provinces in Canada it's more focused on quality, local, geared-to-the-consumer production."
She hopes to satiate public curiosity about why food security is a growing issue, with an evolving definition - and why the provincial ministry of health, through VCH and other means, is beginning to get involved in food issues.
"In the past, food security was about all citizens having access to healthy food," she said. The question often asked, she said, was whether a grocery store was close enough for people to access. Now, food security tends to focus more on community gardens and food self-sufficiency, she said.
"I think the crisis in grains has rattled everyone a little bit," she said. "But we still need to participate in the global food market they need us, and we need them. Land-base wise, we can't meet people's food needs through community gardens." Nadi Fleschhut, food security co-ordinator for the One Straw Society, will follow up by discussing what steps can be taken locally, through programs such as Grow Your Own Dinner or the Sechelt Indian Band's traditional food skills program. The floor will be open to discussion in the afternoon.
