by David Parkinson

What is a food policy charter? What will it do for us? How can we get one?

A food policy charter—food charter, for short—is a document which expresses the attitudes and hopes of a town, city, or region towards food and people’s relationships to it. Generally, a food charter starts from the recognition that even in a society like ours which prides itself on its fair treatment of its most vulnerable members, not everyone can afford to eat well or has access to the knowledge or skills needed to eat well. Alongside the honest accounting of the weaknesses of the current food system, there will be a more positive reckoning of the aspects of the region which already support food security: farming, gardening, food banks, community kitchens, low-cost community dinners, and so on.

Building from that recognition—both positive and negative—of where we’re at, the food charter will develop along lines familiar to anyone who has participated in the creation of Powell River’s regional Sustainability Charter: plenty of meetings, consultations, and probably a lot of lively conversation and maybe a bit of controversy along the way. These meetings and conversations are aimed at developing a regional vision which states where we would like to be in five, ten, or twenty years. From that grand vision, we can formulate more specific goals and objectives, and then work backwards to develop a set of policies and actions which, we hope, can accomplish those goals and objective, and eventually move us closer towards our vision. Some policies can be assigned to our local governments, and some can be assigned to community groups and associations of people who want to accomplish specific tasks.

Plenty of towns and cities throughout North America have developed, or are developing, a food charter: Toronto, Vancouver, Victoria and the Capital Region, Kamloops, Hazelton, Kaslo, and others. There is talk of a BC food charter, which individual communities can sign onto. But on the Upper Sunshine Coast, we might want to think about developing our own charter. Why not?

So what is our vision? What is your vision?

If you ask me, any regional food charter should start from the recognition that this part of the world used to be highly self-reliant in food. Powell River and its environs used to ship out excess food to steamers and ships plying the coastal waters. We have astounding potential for becoming a world leader in local production and eating, and there are already many little projects and initiatives which point in the direction of a stronger and more self-reliant local food economy: the 50-mile diet; the Open Air Market and other smaller markets; the work that our local Farmers’ Institute has put into defending our right to produce meat and slaughter it here; the community and demonstration gardens popping up all over; and so on. But we need policies which support the return to self-reliance.

Here are some of the concrete policies suggested by Michael Ableman in the March 19, 2009, episode of Deconstructing Dinner. Ableman is one of BC’s precious human resources in the struggle to become more food-secure, and his ideas are pretty good ones:

• Every urban area should have an urban agricultural centre, offering practical assistance in urban food production and support for making these activities economically viable;
• These centres should support urban agriculture on all scales, from containers to rooftops to acreages, with a particular focus on fundamental sources of protein and carbohydrates (i.e., grains, beans, eggs, dairy);
• Urban areas should have agricultural extension agents on their staffs offering workshops, classes, and on-site technical support and help in agricultural marketing; • Organic waste should be returned to farms via large-scale composting operations;
• All permits for new housing developments should require that space be set aside for food production;
• All new office, retail, and warehouse projects must contain a rooftop farming component, with greenhouses that use the building’s spent heat;
• All municipalities should immediately phase out lawns (uh oh, controversy!);
• All existing schools, churches, and sports facilities should provide cooperative neighbourhood canning, freezing, and dehydration services to the community;
• All real estate transactions should include a 1% farmland preservation tax and the lands preserved should be put under covenants which protect their status as agricultural land;
• Municipalities should offer property tax credits for landowners who turn their property over to long-term food-growing initiatives.

I’m sure you can imagine plenty more creative ways to boost the local food economy and help ensure that everyone has access to needed food. Imagine—if we could push for local regulations and by-laws to support this sort of ambitious vision for food security! Although some of them may sound radical and hard to imagine, the point is to start with a conversation about the sort of community we want to see ourselves living in. We might be surprised to see where the conversation leads.

If you are interested in being part of a conversation about a regional food charter, please contact me at fsp@prepsociety.org.