The novel coronavirus pandemic has resulted in speculation about our lifestyle when (and if) the pandemic is ever over.
Near the top of the worry list is the fragility of our food supply system.
B.C. has agricultural challenges. We don’t have much farmland to begin with and much of what we do have is developed for other uses (Site C) or owned by foreigners. When the Agricultural Land Reserve was introduced in 1973, B.C. produced 86 per cent of our vegetables and small fruit. Now it’s about 43 per cent.
According to reports, B.C. produces some $3 billion worth of food each year. We export half of it — meat, dairy, seafoods, grains, etc. We import about $2 billion worth, mostly from California and Mexico. Climate changes and changes in political powers are making imports less reliable and more costly. We need to rely more on ourselves but our society is still in the “economic growth” mode. We take food for granted. Will we wake up in time to change that?
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