Food – A Medium That Connects

Editor’s Note: Food is the cornerstone to a healthy community. The City of Courtenay believes that planning, sustainability and a strong local food system go hand in hand. Planner Nancy Hofer takes a moment to share her thoughts with us. Thank you to the City of Courtenay Green Team for their sponsorship with the 2011 Food Challenge:

 

By Nancy Hofer, Environmental Planner, City of Courtenay

There’s a food-related trend afoot, and those who have the wisdom of time on their side will say that we are going back to the future on how we approach our food. The movement is characterized by adjectives like local, organic, small-scale, diverse, community-supported and fair, and applied to many food systems worldwide until relatively recently. In the past, these characteristics described a method of producing food that was sustainable by necessity.

Going back to the future in how we approach our food systems means finding a way to grow and distribute food using less fossil energy. It means providing food in a way that respects the dynamic, biological context of the systems in which it is grown. Studies are showing that local, organic, small-scale and diverse agricultural systems have the potential to be more productive and adaptable to changes over time and thus present opportunities to contribute to sustainability.

What do sustainable food systems have to do with land use planning and local governments? For one, the planning profession province-wide is experiencing a parallel trend of interest in sustainable food systems. At a recent annual conference of B.C. Planners, food was a popular topic: access to food, distribution networks, support for small scale farmers, and the land and water from which it grows. This is not entirely novel or particular to the present; the protection of agricultural lands throughout the province has been governed by the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR) framework for decades.

Community planning is a blend of science and art. Technical tools, such as the ALR, and analytical approaches are essential to good land use planning, and to ensuring a sufficient, appropriate variety of food is available to us. What stood out amongst the speakers at the conference was an acknowledgement of the art of planning in highlighting the ‘deeper soulful roots of place’ as a means to distinguish one’s community in a homogenizing world. The agricultural sector is an industry well positioned to exemplify local traditions and culture, rooted in local ecologies.

While there remains debate on the particulars of changing climatic conditions and diminishing energy supplies, few argue that these trends will alter how we live in and provide for our communities. The trend of globalization is expected to reverse to favor again more local economies, with food as the foundation. Planners, who are tasked with figuring out future trends, are looking back to consider how we might prepare for this future.

Supporting sustainable local food systems can be more than an exercise in land use. Local food systems, when celebrated and made accessible, can also provide a tangible activity through which individuals physically connect to the systems that sustain us. As the saying goes, “In the end we will conserve only what we love. We will love only what we understand. We will understand only what we are taught.” One might wonder then what a relationship to the earth and community through growing our own food teach us?

Category : Blog