Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-q99xh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T16:03:08.309Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A novel methodology to assess land-based food self-reliance in the Southwest British Columbia bioregion

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 February 2016

Caitlin Dorward ,
Sean Michael Smukler  and
Kent Mullinix
Caitlin Dorward*
Affiliation:
Institute for Sustainable Food Systems, Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Richmond, British Columbia, Canada Faculty of Land and Food Systems, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Sean Michael Smukler
Affiliation:
Faculty of Land and Food Systems, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Kent Mullinix
Affiliation:
Institute for Sustainable Food Systems, Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Richmond, British Columbia, Canada
*
*Corresponding author: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

There is a growing awareness that climate change, economic instability, resource limitations and population growth are impacting the capacity of the contemporary global food system to meet human nutrition needs. Although there is widespread recognition that food systems must evolve in the face of these issues, a polarized debate has emerged around the merit of global-versus-local approaches to this evolution. Local food system advocates argue that increasing food self-reliance will concomitantly benefit human health, the environment and local economies, while critics argue that only a globalized system will produce enough calories to efficiently and economically feed the world. This debate is strong in British Columbia (BC), Canada, where residents and food security experts have called for increased food self-reliance while the provincial government largely supports export-oriented agriculture. As elsewhere, however, in BC this debate takes place in absence of an understanding of capacity for food self-reliance. The few studies that have previously evaluated self-reliance in this region have been limited in their approach in a number of ways. In this study we use a novel methodology to assess current (2011) status of land-based food self-reliance for a diet satisfying nutritional recommendations and food preferences that accounts for seasonality of crop production and the source of livestock feed, and applied it to the Southwest BC bioregion (SWBC) as a case study. We found that agricultural land use in SWBC is dominated by hay, pasture and corn silage, followed by fruits and vegetables. Fruit and vegetable production comprise 87% of total food crop production in SWBC by weight, and a substantial amount is produced in quantities beyond SWBC need per crop type, representing an export focused commodity with limited contribution to food self-reliance. Results illustrate that SWBC is a major producer of livestock products, but these industries rely on feed grain imports. The production of feed grain could therefore be considered a major constraint on self-reliance; SWBC's total dietary self-reliance is 12% if discounting livestock feed imports or 40% if including them. Results demonstrate that a diet including foods that cannot be grown in the region or consumed fresh out of season, limits potential food self-reliance. Our methods reveal the value of factoring dietary recommendations and food consumption patterns into food self-reliance assessments and the necessity of accounting for the source of livestock feed to fully understand the self-reliance status of a region.

Keywords

food self-relianceland useagriculturebioregionregional food systemfood needlocal food
Type
Research Papers
Information
Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems , Volume 32 , Issue 2 , April 2017 , pp. 112 - 130
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Arfini, F., Mancini, M.C., and Donati, M. 2012. Rural development and local agri-food systems: a new paradigm. In Arfini, F., Mancini, M.C., and Donati, M. (eds). Local Agri-Food Systems in a Global World: Market, Social and Environmental Challenges. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 49–70.Google Scholar
BC Food Systems Network 2012. Building Food Security in British Columbia in 2013. (September 2012), p. 8. Available at: http://bcfoodactionnetwork.com/sites/default/files/Building Food Security in BC in 2013 Sept 20.pdf.Google Scholar
BC Pork Producers Association 2015. BC Pork. Proudly Grown Close to Home. BC Pork Website. Available at Web site http://www.bcpork.ca/ (verified 21 March 2015).Google Scholar
Canadian Agri-Food Research Council 2003a. Recommended code of practice for the care and handling of farm animals: chickens, turkeys, and breeders from hatchery to processing plant. p. 54. Available at: https://www.nfacc.ca/pdfs/codes/chickens_turkeys_breeders_code_of_practice.pdf.Google Scholar
Canadian Agri-Food Research Council 2003b. Recommended code of practice for the care and handling of pullets, layers and spent fowl: Poultry—Layers. p. 46. Available at: https://www.nfacc.ca/pdfs/codes/factsheets/Poultry Layer Factsheet.pdf.Google Scholar
Castle, G. 1993. Agricultural waste management in Ontario, Wisconsin and British Columbia: A comparison of policy approaches. Canadian Water Resources Journal 18:217–227.Google Scholar
Colasanti, K. and Hamm, M.W. 2010. Assessing the local food supply capacity of Detroit, Michigan. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development 1(2):41–58.Google Scholar
Coley, D., Howard, M., and Winter, M. 2009. Local food, food miles and carbon emissions: A comparison of farm shop and mass distribution approaches. Food Policy 34(2):150–155.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Connell, D.J., Smithers, J., and Joseph, A. 2008. Farmers’ markets and the “good food” value chain: A preliminary study. Local Environment 13(3):169–185.Google Scholar
Conner, D., Becot, F., Hoffer, D., Kahler, E., Sawyer, S. and Berlin, L. 2013. Measuring current consumption of locally grown foods in Vermont: Methods for baselines and targets. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development. http://dx.doi.org/10.5304/jafscd.2013.033.004, pp. 83–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Conner, D.S., Knudson, W.A., Hamm, M.W. and Peterson, H.C. 2008. The food system as an economic driver: Strategies and applications for Michigan. Journal of Hunger and Environmental Nutrition 3(4):371–383.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cowell, S.J. and Parkinson, S. 2003. Localisation of UK food production: An analysis using land area and energy as indicators. Agriculture Ecosystems & Environment 94:221–236.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Desrochers, P. and Shimizu, H. 2012. The locavore's dilemma. In Praise of the 10,000-mile Diet. PublicAffairs, New York, NY.Google Scholar
Ecological Stratification Working Group 1995. A National Ecological Framework for Canada. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Research Branch, Centre for Land and Biological Resources Research and Environment Canada, State of the Environment Directorate, Ecozone Analysis Branch, Ottawa/Hull, Ontario.Google Scholar
Edwards-Jones, G. 2010. Does eating local food reduce the environmental impact of food production and enhance consumer health? Proceedings of the Nutrition Society 69:582–591.Google Scholar
Edwards-Jones, G., Milà i Canals, L., Hounsome, N., Truninger, M., Koerber, G., Hounsome, B., Cross, P., York, E.H., Hospido, A., Plassmann, K., Harris, I.M., Edwards, R., Day, G.A.S., Tomos, A.D., Cowell, S.J., and Jones, D.L. 2008. Testing the assertion that “local food is best”: The challenges of an evidence-based approach. Trends in Food Science and Technology 19:265–274.Google Scholar
Enshayan, K., Wilhelm, W., and Clancy, K. 2004. Local food, local security. Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems 19(01):2–3.Google Scholar
Fairholm, J. 1998. Urban Agriculture and Food Security Initiatives in Canada: A Survey of Canadian Non-Governmental Organizations. Available at: https://idl-bnc.idrc.ca/dspace/bitstream/10625/8568/24/117781.pdf.Google Scholar
FarmFolk CityFolk 2012. Get Local in Southwest British Columbia. Available at: http://www.getlocalbc.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/MetroVan-Seasonal-Chart.pdf.Google Scholar
Feeney, C., Sussmann, C., and Kilford, R. 2014. Food System Policy Inventory: Four Metro Vancouver Municipalities. Institute for Sustainable Food Systems, Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Richmond, BC. pp. 1–8.Google Scholar
Feenstra, G. 1999. Local food systems and sustainable communities. American Journal of Alternative Agriculture 12(1):28–36.Google Scholar
Foley, J.A., Ramankutty, N., Brauman, K.A., Cassidy, E.S., Gerber, J.S., Johnston, M., 2011. Solutions for a cultivated planet. Nature 478(7369):337–42.Google Scholar
Fortin, S. 2014. SWBC Bio-Region Food System Design Project: Phase I Stakeholder Engagement Report. Institute for Sustainable Food Systems, Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Richmond, BC.Google Scholar
Galloway, J.N., Burke, M., Bradford, G.E., Naylor, R., Falcon, W., Chapagain, A.K., Gaskell, J.C., McCullough, E., Mooney, H.A., Oleson, K.L., Steinfeld, H., Wassenaar, T., and Smil, V. 2007. International trade in meat: The tip of the pork chop. Ambio 36(8):622–629.Google Scholar
Galzki, J.C., Mulla, D.J., and Peters, C.J. 2015. Mapping the potential of local food capacity in Southeastern Minnesota. Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems 30:364–372.Google Scholar
Giombolini, K.J. et al. 2010. Testing the local reality: Does the Willamette Valley growing region produce enough to meet the needs of the local population? A comparison of agriculture production and recommended dietary requirements. Agriculture and Human Values 28(2):247–262.Google Scholar
Government of British Columbia—Ministry of Agriculture Grains. BC Farm Products A-Z. Available at Web site http://www.agf.gov.bc.ca/aboutind/products/plant/grains.htm (verified 16 December 2014).Google Scholar
Government of British Columbia—Ministry of Agriculture 2014. Land Use Inventory Report: Metro Vancouver Regional Report Summer 2010 & 2011. Government of British Columbia, Abbotsford, BC.Google Scholar
Government of British Columbia—Ministry of Agriculture and Food & Government of British Columbia—Ministry of Environment 1983. Land capability classification for agriculture in British Columbia, Kelowna, British Columbia. Government of British Columbia, Victoria, BC.Google Scholar
Government of British Columbia—Ministry of Agriculture and Lands 2006. BCs Food Self-Reliance: Can BCs Farmers Feed Our Growing Population? Government of British Columbia, Abbotsford, BC.Google Scholar
Government of British Columbia—Ministry of Agriculture Statistics and Research 2013. Sector Snapshot: B.C. Agriculture—2011. Government of British Columbia, Victoria, BC.Google Scholar
Government of British Columbia—Ministry of Health Services 2004. British Columbia Nutrition Survey: Report on Food Group Use. Government of British Columbia, Victoria, BC.Google Scholar
Government of British Columbia—Provincial Agricultural Land Commission 2013a. About the ALR. Available at Web site http://www.alc.gov.bc.ca/alr/alr_main.htm (verified 1 September 2013).Google Scholar
Government of British Columbia—Provincial Agricultural Land Commission 2013b. Provincial Agricultural Land Commission Annual Report 2011/12. Available at: http://www.alc.gov.bc.ca/assets/alc/assets/library/commission-reports/annual_report_2011-2012.pdf.Google Scholar
Government of Canada—Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada 2009. Soils of Canada. Agriculture Interactive Maps. Available at Web site http://atlas.agr.gc.ca/agmaf/index_eng.html#context=soil-sol_en.xml&extent=-5526654.4147768,-813560.6215052,6054416.4147768,3983332.6215052&layers=place37M,place25M,place15M,place5M,place1M,place500K,place250K;rivers25M,rivers15M,rivers5M,rivers1M,rivers5 (verified 16 January 2015).Google Scholar
Greenberg, G. and Andrews, E. 2013. 40 Organizations That Are Shaking Up the Food System. Food Tank Blog. Available at Web site http://foodtank.com/news/2013/05/forty-organizations-that-are-shaking-up-the-food-system (verified 17 March 2014).Google Scholar
Griffin, T., Conrad, Z., Peters, C., Ridberg, R., and Parry Tyler, E. 2014. Regional self-reliance of the Northeast food system. Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems 30(4):349–363.Google Scholar
Halweil, B. 2002. Home Grown: The Case for Local Food in a Global Market. The Worldwatch Institute, Danvers, MA.Google Scholar
Harris, G. et al. 2014. Delineating a bioregion for food system planning: A case study for Southwest BC. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development (submitted).Google Scholar
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health—Center for Health and the Global Environment 2015. Local and Urban Agriculture. Available at Web site http://www.chgeharvard.org/topic/local-and-urban-agriculture (verified 25 January 2015).Google Scholar
Health Canada 2002. Canadian Nutrient File, version 2007b—Health Canada. Available at Web site http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/nutrition/fiche-nutri-data/index-eng.php (verified 4 January 2014).Google Scholar
Health Canada 2011. Eating Well with Canada's Food Guide. Government of Canada, Ottawa, ON.Google Scholar
Hild, C. 2009. The Economy of Local Food in Vancouver. City of Vancouver, Vancouver, BC. p. 23.Google Scholar
Horrigan, L., Lawrence, R.S., and Walker, P. 2002. How sustainable agriculture can address the environmental and human health harms of industrial agriculture. Environmental Health Perspectives 110(5):445–456.Google Scholar
Horst, M. and Gaolach, B. 2015. The potential of local food systems in North America: A review of foodshed analyses. Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems 30(5):399–407.Google Scholar
Hughes, D.W. et al. 2008. Evaluating the economic impact of farmers’ markets using an opportunity cost framework. Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics 40(April):253–265.Google Scholar
Hutchinson, A. and Hutchinson, F. 1996. Bioregionalism regeneration modelling: A holistic approach to health through environmental management. Environmental Management and Health 7(3):37–40.Google Scholar
Ikerd, J.E. 2004. The globalization of agriculture: implication for sustainability of small horticultural farms. In Bertschinger, L. and Anderson, J. (eds). XXVI International Horticultural Congress: Sustainability of Horticultural Systems in the 21st Century. ISHS Acta Horticulturae, Toronto, ON, pp. 399–410.Google Scholar
Kantor, L.S. 1998. A dietary assessment of the US food supply: Comparing per capita food consumption with food guide pyramid serving recommendations. US Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service, Food and Rural Economics Division, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Kastner, T. et al. 2012. Global changes in diets and the consequences for land requirements for food. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 109(18):6868–6872.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lee, M. et al. 2010. Every Bite Counts: Climate Justice and BC's Food System. Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, Vancouver, BC (November).Google Scholar
Mason, A. 2012. Open solver—an open source add-in to solve linear and integer programmes in Excel. In Klatte, D., Lüthi, H.-J., and Schmedders, K. (eds). Operations Research Proceedings 2011 SE—64. Springer, Berlin. p. 401–406.Google Scholar
Matt, D. et al. 2013. Pesticide residues in Estonian local and imported food in 2008–2011. Acta Agriculturae Scandinavica, Section B—Soil & Plant Science 63:78–84.Google Scholar
McAllister, A. 2014. BC Public Attitudes Toward Agriculture and Food 2014. Real Estate Foundation of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC (August), p. 23.Google Scholar
Meehan, M., Yeh, M.-C., and Spark, A. 2008. Impact of exposure to local food sources and food preparation skills on nutritional attitudes and food choices among urban minority youth. Journal of Hunger & Environmental Nutrition 3(March 2015):456–471.Google Scholar
Microsoft Corporation 2014. Microsoft Excel. Redmond. Microsoft Corporation, Washington, DC. Google Scholar
Milà i Canals, L. et al. 2007. Comparing domestic versus imported apples: A focus on energy use. Environmental Science and Pollution Research International 14(5):338–344.Google Scholar
Morrison, K.T., Nelson, T.A., and Ostry, A.S. 2011. Methods for mapping local food production capacity from agricultural statistics. Agricultural Systems 104(6):491–499.Google Scholar
Mullinix, K., Dorward, C., Shutzbank, M., Krishnan, P., Ageson, K., and Fallick, A. 2013. Beyond protection: Delineating the economic and food production potential of underutilized, small-parcel farmland in metropolitan Surrey, British Columbia. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development. http://dx.doi.org/10.5304/jafscd.2013.041.005, pp. 33–50.Google Scholar
Mustel Group Market Research 2011. Metro Vancouver Regional Food System Strategy Public Opinion Survey. Metro Vancouver, Burnaby, BC (March).Google Scholar
National Farm Animal Care Council & Canadian Sheep Federation 2013. Code of Practice for the Care and Handling of Sheep, p. 103. Available at: http://www.nfacc.ca/pdfs/codes/sheep_code_of_practice.pdf.Google Scholar
National Farm Animal Care Council & Dairy Farmers of Canada 2009. Code of Practice for the Care and Handling of Dairy Cattle, p. 67.Google Scholar
Naylor, R. et al. 2005. Agriculture. Losing the links between livestock and land. Science (New York, N.Y.) 310(2005):1621–1622.Google Scholar
Neff, R.A. et al. 2011. Peak oil, food systems, and public health. American Journal of Public Health 101(9):1587–97.Google Scholar
Ostry, A. and Morrison, K. 2010. A health and nutritional evaluation of changes in agriculture in the past quarter century in British Columbia: Implications for food security. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 7(6):2653–65.Google Scholar
Ostry, A.S., Miewald, C., and Beveridge, R. 2011. Climate Change and Food Security in British Columbia. Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions, Victoria, BC (November).Google Scholar
Passidomo, C. 2013. Going “beyond food”: Confronting structures of injustice in food systems research and praxis. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development 3(4):89–93.Google Scholar
Pelletier, N. et al. 2011. Energy intensity of agriculture and food systems. Annual Review of Environment and Resources 36(July):223–246.Google Scholar
Peters, C.J., Wilkins, J.L., and Fick, G.W. 2007. Testing a complete-diet model for estimating the land resource requirements of food consumption and agricultural carrying capacity: The New York State example. Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems 22(2):145.Google Scholar
Pradhan, P. et al. 2014. Food self-sufficiency across scales: How local can we go? Environmental Science & Technology 48:9463–9470.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Smith, A. and MacKinnon, J.B. 2007. The 100 Mile Diet. Random House, Toronto, ON.Google Scholar
Soret, S. and Sabate, J. 2014. Sustainability of plant-based diets: Back to the future. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 100(Supplement 1):476S–482S.Google Scholar
Statistics Canada 2011a. 2011 Census of Agriculture. Available at Web site http://www.statcan.gc.ca/ca-ra2011/ (verified 21 October 2013).Google Scholar
Statistics Canada 2011b. Table 002–0011—Food available in Canada, CANSIM (Database). Available at Web site http://www5.statcan.gc.ca/cansim/a26?lang=eng&retrLang=eng&id=0020011&tabMode=dataTable&srchLan=-1&p1=-1&p2=9 (verified 10 December 2012).Google Scholar
Statistics Canada 2013a. CANSIM—Canadian Socioeconomic Database from Statistics Canada. Available at Web site http://www.statcan.gc.ca/ca-ra2011/ (verified 21 October 2013).Google Scholar
Statistics Canada 2013b. Census consolidated subdivision (CCS). Illustrated Glossary. Available at Web site http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/92-195-x/2011001/geo/ccs-sru/ccs-sru-eng.htm (verified 18 November 2014).Google Scholar
Statistics Canada 2014. The Canadian Population in 2011: Population Counts and Growth. 2011 Census of Population. Available at Web site http://www12.statcan.ca/census-recensement/2011/as-sa/98-310-x/98-310-x2011001-eng.cfm (verified 16 November 2014).Google Scholar
Statistics Canada—Agriculture Division 2003. Livestock Feed Requirements Study (23-501-X). Government of Canada, Ottawa, ON, (23).Google Scholar
Statistics Canada—Agriculture Division 2007. Canadian Food Statistics Methods and Data Sources. Government of Canada, Ottawa, ON.Google Scholar
United States Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service 1992. Weights, Measures, and Conversion Factors for Agricultural Commodities and Their Products. Available at: http://www.ers.usda.gov/media/935958/ah697_002.pdf.Google Scholar
Van Bers, C. and Robinson, J. 1994. Farming in 2031. Journal of Sustainable Agriculture 4(1):41–65.Google Scholar
Weber, C.L. and Matthews, H.S. 2008. Food-miles and the relative climate impacts of food choices in the United States. Environmental Science & Technology 42(10):3508–13.Google Scholar
Wheeler, T. and von Braun, J. 2013. Climate change impacts on global food security. Science 341(6145):508–513.Google Scholar
Wirsenius, S., Azar, C., and Berndes, G. 2010. How much land is needed for global food production under scenarios of dietary changes and livestock productivity increases in 2030? Agricultural Systems 103(9):621–638.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wittman, H. and Barbolet, H. 2011. “Super, natural”: the potential for food sovereignty in British Columbia. In Desmarais, A.A., Wiebe, N., and Wittman, H. (eds). Food Sovereignty in Canada: Creating Just and Sustainable Food Systems. Fernwood Publishing, Halifax, NS. p. 190–211.Google Scholar