Canada: Victoria urban farm looks to cultivate sustainable city-sourced food system

New Vic West micro farm owners hope to inspire movement of youth growers

By Jake Romphf
Today in BC
April 5, 2024

Excerpt:

FED runs several food-growing education programs around Victoria, but having the farm allows them to engage more people in urban agriculture by running more workshops, scaling up production and bringing on more volunteers.

“We had been looking for our own land for years and always basically just wanted this,” said Brianna Stewart, FED’s program manager, referring to the Vic West site. “We’re really trying to demonstrate sustainable agriculture and using land that would otherwise just be sitting here vacant.”

The Island used to produce 85 per cent of its own food, but now only produces around a tenth of what residents consume. In the last two decades alone, Statistics Canada data shows the country’s total farmland fell by at least eight per cent, while B.C. saw an 11 per cent reduction during that time.

Stewart said they want to get people excited about seeing where their food comes from. Creating a more localized food system is also needed as climate change worsens extreme weather, she added, pointing to the 2021 atmospheric river rains severing key South Island routes.

Read the complete article here.