Workshop One - Food

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Workshop One - Food
If we dont get sustainability in agriculture
first, sustainability will not happen. Wes
Jackson, Land Institute
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Workshop One - Food
Goals Working Group on Food

• To investigate food production, transportation
  and security in the Metro Vancouver region.
• To identify the driving forces propelling
  regional food production and consumption trends
• Explore key indicators that help to define the
  relationship between food and urban form
• Propose recommendations on how the regional food
  system can contribute to the provincial target of
  an 80 reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by
  2050.

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Workshop One - Food

• Food Resources
• Modern Agriculture Cheap Energy
• 1910 1 BTU fuel energy 1 BTU food
• Today 20 BTU fuel energy 1 BTU food
• Implications of Peak Oil Peak Water

Source SEFC Urban Agriculture Study
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Workshop One - Food
Industrial Agriculture

• Modern agriculture monoculture
• 12 plant species provide three-quarters of the
  worlds food.
• 50 of the worlds food energy comes from
  varieties of rice, wheat, and maize.
• Concentration Farm Ownership
• Number of Farms in Canada
• 1951 - 623,087
• 2002 - 246,920

Source International Development Research
Centre, SEFC Urban Agriculture Study, Statistics
Canada
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Food Miles Globalization

• weighted average source distances (WASD

• Between 1968 and 1998, world food production
  increased by 84, population by 91, while food
  trade increased 184 .
• Estimated amount of food imported into the US
  (2001)
• 39 of fruits,
• 12 t of vegetables,
• 40 of lamb,
• 78 of fish and shellfish

WASD Weighted Average Source Distance Source
Leopold Institute, Iowa State University, 2003
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Context of Food Metro Vancouver

• Amount of food consumed in Lower Mainland
  produced locally 20-60
• Considering population projections, production
  will need to expand by 60 to meet current levels
  of food security

• Between 2002 and 2006 70 increase in the number
  of farmers markets in BC
• Typically a 3 year waiting list for a community
  garden plot in the City of Vancouver

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• Clearly, our present ways of agriculture are
  not sustainable, and so our food supply is not
  sustainable. We must restore ecological health to
  our agricultural landscapes, as well as economic
  and cultural stability to our rural communities.
  For 50 or 60 years, we have let ourselves believe
  that as long as we have money we will have food.
  That is a mistake.
• Wendell Berry and Wes Jackson
• NY Times, January 2009

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Number certified organic producers in Canada

• Drivers Increased Sales of Organic Food
• Increased consumer emphasis on health and
  nutrition
• Consumer concerns about food safety,
  environmental protection, GMOs
• Entry of mainstream food marketers General
  Mills, Heinz, Kellogs and McDonalds

Source Certified Organic Production reports
1992-2005, Anne Macey for Canadian Organic
Growers
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Sustainable Local Food Supply

• Redesign, re-structure, and reform local food
  systems
• De-centralize - Move to integrated, dispersed,
  stable systems.
• Minimize transportation distances
• Build food production in and around urban areas
• Rebuild the cultural basis of food production

Israeli Kibbutz
Agricultural Urbanism
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Workshop One - Food

• Questions
• What does a strong regional food system mean to
  urban development/ redevelopment in Metro
  Vancouver?
• Are there optimal urban forms or patterns that
  support a strong/resilient food system?

Food Production Transect Southlands Design
Charrette
Rooftop Garden, Waterfront Hotel
Center for Urban Agriculture, Seattle
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Workshop One - Food

• What opportunities/ obstacles does urban design
  in Metro Vancouver present to enhancing a strong
  regional food system?
• Are there regulatory barriers political/social/
  economic/ technological?

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Food Community
Workshop One - Food

• What synergies exist between regional and urban
  agriculture, and other sustainability goals?
• Are there development conflicts between
  supporting regional and urban agriculture, and
  other sustainability goals?

Source SEFC Urban Agriculture Study
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• By beginning to make agriculture sustainable we
  will have taken the first step forward for
  humanity to begin to measure progress by its
  independence from the extractive economy.
• Wes Jackson

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Workshop One - Water
Living Water Smart in Metro Vancouver
Alignment of Regional Actions with Provincial
Goals
image
Kim Stephens, MEng, PEng Program
Coordinator Water Sustainability Action Plan for
BC Chair Metro Vancouver LWMP Reference
Panel Chair Sustainability by Design Water Group
What the Cell is to the Body, The Site is to the
Region
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Presentation Outline
Workshop One - Water

• Provincial Goals Provides Direction
• Regional Regulation Drives Action
• How SxD Can Make a Contribution

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Workshop One - Water
Living Water Smart, BCs Water Plan
is a visionary document

• It encourages local governments to
• do business differently
• prepare communities for change
• choose to be water smart

Provincial Goals
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Workshop One - Water
Green Communities Project complements and
supports Living Water Smart
Key Messages The Province is fostering
partnerships, collaboration, innovation and
integration The Province is leveraging change
through grants
Provincial Goals
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Regional Regulation
Workshop One - Water
Key Message The LWMP is a powerful regulatory
tool that has the potential to truly effect
change for the better on the ground
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Workshop One - Water
The Reference Panel identified these theme areas
for structuring the Plan Elements
NATURAL ENVIRONMENT protection
and/or improvement of stream habitat and marine
receiving environment
SEWAGE TREATMENT
technology choices, level of treatment and
innovation
BUILT ENVIRONMENT asset
management, cost control greening of
urban landscape
Regional Regulation
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Workshop One - Water
The theme areas have evolved into a model for
integration in the region
Regional Regulation
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Regional Regulation
Workshop One - Water
We have informed the Metro Vancouver Board that a
Design with Nature approach and re-use of
resources are key to climate change adaptation
which must be part of this plan

• Develop compact, complete communities
• Increase transportation options
• Re-use and recycle water, energy and nutrients
  from liquid wastes
• Protect and restore urban green space
• Strive for a lighter hydrologic footprint
• Achieve higher levels of stream, wetland and
  receiving water protection

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Workshop One - Water
SxD participants can help advance THE NEW
BUSINESS AS USUAL by

• Championing the Living Water Smart Vision, in
  particular these objectives for doing business
  differently
• STREAM HEALTH By 2012, all land and
  water managers will know what makes a stream
  healthy, and therefore be able to help land and
  water users factor in new approaches to securing
  stream health and the full range of stream
  benefits
• WATER USE By 2020, overall water use in
  British Columbia will be 33 more efficient

• Advocating use of the Water Balance Model to
  establish watershed-specific targets that achieve
  the stream health objective

SxD Contribution
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SxD Contribution
Workshop One - Water