Food Security on Vancouver Island: Why it Matters
In 2009, the World Summit on Food Security stated that the four pillars of food security are availability, access, utilization, and stability. The pillars of our own food system here on Vancouver Island are in need of some serious repair before the whole thing comes toppling down. Here’s why:
The backstory:
Up until the 1950s, 85 percent of our food supply was grown locally here on the island (1). Today in 2019, our local food supply has dwindled to roughly 10 percent. Our island economy now imports more fruits and vegetables than we export and we lean heavily on California and other warmer regions to supply us with our food. With the human population on the island increasing so is the demand for healthy food. Vancouver Island’s mild climate and prime agricultural lands make it a great region for food production, so why aren’t we growing more of our food here? High land values, urbanization, and a shrinking farming population are just some of the reasons our local food system has declined.
Ok, so we import most of our food to the island but why does that matter?
Importing our vegetables comes with weighty repercussions.
With so many amenities at our fingertips, it is easy to forget that we live on an island and are vulnerable to transportation disruptions. In the face of fuel shortages, natural disasters or conflict, the food supply in our communities would be seriously impacted. Most communities on the island only have a three-day supply of fresh food in light of an emergency.
Importing our vegetables from warmer countries comes with a heavy carbon footprint, creating plenty of greenhouse gas emissions that come with transporting them to Vancouver Island.
With the advancement of climate change in the form of record-breaking windstorms, forest fires, droughts, heat waves, and droughts, the regions that we depend heavily on for our food supply a