We would all do well to spend a little more time thinking about where, exactly, our food comes from – a topic that’s more important now than ever.
It was with some trepidation that I accepted the job in St. Albert, because I was a bit concerned that I wouldn’t have as much opportunity to explore these issues whether as a reporter or in my own personal life.
Apparently, I need not have worried. This is obviously a community that cares about its food, and more importantly, where it comes from. The Botanic Arts City is clearly more than just a clever name.
I’ve been pleased to see the ongoing discussion in the pages of this newspaper about the potential of backyard chickens, and I was even more pleased to see that a casual tweet sent out to gauge interest in urban agriculture garnered such substantial interest with more than 50 people wanting to start a discussion group.
One of the concerns you often hear from ag producers, whether as individuals or an industry as a whole, is the encroachment of cities and subdivisions out into prime agricultural land. Many rural municipalities have land-use bylaws that are specifically geared to preserving good farmland for farmers.
While it’s true that farmland is slowly but surely dwindling, there’s no reason to think that agriculture must by definition involve large-scale grain growing, or sections upon sections of pasture. The potential to grow more food is right here in the urban areas, right in our own backyards.
My wife and I are avid gardeners, and over the past four years at our property in Westlock, we built up our organic garden to the point that we pull close to a ton of food out of it on any given summer. It’s enough to stock our freezer and pantry with frozen and canned fruits and vegetables well into the spring.
I’m not talking about several acres, I’m talking about a typical single-family lot at about a tenth of an acre. Arranged properly and managed well, you might be surprised at just how much you can produce. And the scraps we produced would easily feed a couple of chickens as well, if bylaws had allowed that, further reducing pressure on the system.
Many more educated than me have argued the global food production system is broken and will struggle to effectively meet the needs of a growing and increasingly urbanized population.
In a community like St. Albert and the surrounding county, where you can barely walk down the street without hearing or seeing the name of the venerable Lois Hole, we have the opportunity to be leaders in this transition.
There are many ways our elected officials can help lead the charge: changing zoning rules to allow for small livestock like chickens and bees; community gardens and community orchards; and encouraging back- and front-yard vegetable gardens despite some people seeing them as “unsightly.”
If we want a more sustainable future in this community and elsewhere, then it’s like they say: change begins at home.
