Growing Green
Sustainable Food Policy
and Legal Reform
Project Partners:
FarmFolk/CityFolk
West Coast Environmental Law
Liu Institute for Global Issues (UBC)
What is Growing Green?
• Two-year law and policy reform project
on food and sustainability funded by
Canada’s Voluntary Sector Initiative and
Tides Canada
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Project Objectives
• Develop, in strategic areas, practical law
and policy models and reform proposals
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Project Objectives
• Develop in strategic areas, practical law
and policy models and reform proposals
• Strengthen capacity of voluntary
organizations to contribute to law and
policy
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Project Team
• West Coast Environmental Law
• FarmFolk/CityFolk
• Liu Institute for Global Issues
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Project Focus
• Federal, provincial and local law/policy
as it applies to growing food in and
around BC’s urban areas
• Innovative ideas generated across
Canada and around the world
• Community groups and Reference Group
asked to identify priorities
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Case for Growing Green
• Food system produces environmental services
• Food system needs to produce more environmental
services to be sustainable
• Wide spectrum of solutions proposed, including:
– Help sustainable farmers by removing regulatory barriers
– Prepare ‘Plan B’ to current reliance on cheap fuel
– Overhaul system; build a local food economy
• Growing Green: reforms that offer meaningful
progress towards all three
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Project Approach:
community collaboration
Work with farm, food and voluntary
organizations to:
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Solicit and review policy suggestions
Develop policy recommendations
Solicit comments on recommendations
Refine policy recommendations
Report results/further developments
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Strengthening Capacity:
network building
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Work with other NGOs, academics, farmers, gov’t
Encourage policy dialogues
Use creative problem solving techniques
Use most effective ways to share information
Provide tools, resources to assist voluntary sector
policy input
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Strengthening Capacity:
policy dialogue-’sharing the benefits’
Year 1 financial contributions to:
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Certified Organic Associations of BC
Lower Mainland Food Council
POLIS Project on Ecological Governance
Small Scale Food Processor Association
BC Food Systems Network
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Strategic Law Reform:
determining project priorities
• Over 50 potential projects identified in
collaboration with farm, food, and
voluntary organizations
• Priorities shaped and determined with
advice from Reference Group, based on:
– Requested by farm, food, or voluntary
group?
– Can Growing Green can add value?
– Practical, useful, and doable?
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Strategic Law Reform:
priorities
• Making sustainable food systems work
• Making sustainable food systems pay
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Strategic Law Reform
making sustainable food systems work
• Making the case for community based
food councils
• Showcasing model Official Community
Plans and Bylaws
• Contributing to provincial public health
legislation
• Attracting small scale food processors
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Strategic Law Reform
making sustainable food systems work
Making the case for community food councils
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Importance of community-based food systems
Need for inter-sectoral food forums
Need for food policy and planning
Food councils help deliver economic,
environmental, social benefits in communities
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Strategic Law Reform
making sustainable food systems work
Showcasing model OCPs and bylaws
• Work with Smart Growth, other partners
• Inform and educate regional/municipal partners
• Link food councils to Agricultural Advisory
Committees
• Draft or amend bylaws, sections of OCPs
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Strategic Law Reform
making sustainable food systems work
Contributing to BC public health legislation
• Negotiate for new Public Health Act that:
– includes healthy eating as a core service
– includes food security as basis for healthy eating and chronic
disease prevention
– includes key duties and obligations
• Explore development of a BC Food Council
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Strategic Law Reform
making sustainable food systems work
Attracting small-scale food processors
• Help develop BC Food and Beverage Processor
Association with input from small-scale operators
• Help develop a pilot regional
manufacturing/distribution network
• Explore regional brands (e.g. Fresh from the Islands)
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Strategic Law Reform
making sustainable food systems pay
• Making long-term land management pay
• Making ecological practices pay
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Strategic Law Reform
making sustainable food systems pay
Making long-term land management pay
• Investigating co-farming/multi-family housing
• Bringing UK National Trust and other ‘working
farm’ trust models to BC
• Restoring right to conservation covenants
• Obtaining quota to use collectively
• Registering short-term leases against title
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Strategic Law Reform
making sustainable food systems pay
Making ecological practices pay
• Accounting mechanisms
• Reward mechanisms
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Strategic Law Reform
making ecological practices pay
• Rationale: Carefully managed, farmland protects the
soil, provides a buffer against droughts and floods,
and can provide habitat for a range of species.
• Problem: In many situations, farmers are penalized
for protecting the environment, since “sustainable
practices” increase costs and make farms
uncompetitive.
• Goal: Investigate methods that will reward farmers
who use “sustainable practices.”
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Strategic Law Reform
making ecological practices pay
Accounting Mechanisms
• The USDA’s Proper Ecosystem Functioning Condition
has been successfully applied in a number of cases
on Vancouver Island.
• The LEED programme of certifying green buildings in
the US could be applied to farms in British Columbia.
• Organic standards could also be extended to
encompass farms that promote ecological functions
like wildlife habitat.
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Strategic Law Reform
making ecological practices pay
Mechanisms to reward:
• Tax Shifting: using municipal property tax to provide
breaks for farmers who promote habitat on their
farms;
• Marketing: government sponsored marketing for
farmers who promote habitat and are certified
through a mechanism identified in proposal #1,
• Compensation: compensation for wildlife damage.
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Ancillary Projects
• Case studies
– Noble Food and Education Centre
– Engeler Farm
– Local sourcing for school food
• Host information from related food
initiatives on Growing Green website
• Further ‘think pieces’
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Growing Green Website:
www.ffcf.bc.ca/GrowingGreen.html
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Project description
‘Making the Case for Growing Green’
Project priorities
Biographies
Links
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