Growing Green

Sustainable Food Policy and Legal Reform

Project Partners:

FarmFolk/CityFolkWest Coast Environmental Law

Liu Institute for Global Issues (UBC)

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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:

• Solicit and review policy suggestions• Develop policy recommendations• Solicit comments on recommendations• Refine policy recommendations• Report results/further developments

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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

Strengthening Capacity:network building

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Year 1 financial contributions to:• Certified Organic Associations of BC• Lower Mainland Food Council• POLIS Project on Ecological Governance• Small Scale Food Processor Association• BC Food Systems Network

Strengthening Capacity:policy dialogue-’sharing the benefits’

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• 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?

Strategic Law Reform:determining project priorities

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• Making sustainable food systems work

• Making sustainable food systems pay

Strategic Law Reform:priorities

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• 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

Strategic Law Reformmaking sustainable food systems

work

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Making the case for community food councils

• 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

Strategic Law Reformmaking sustainable food systems

work

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Strategic Law Reformmaking 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 Reformmaking 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 Reformmaking 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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• Making long-term land management pay

• Making ecological practices pay

Strategic Law Reformmaking sustainable food systems

pay

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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

Strategic Law Reformmaking sustainable food systems

pay

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Making ecological practices pay• Accounting mechanisms• Reward mechanisms

Strategic Law Reformmaking sustainable food systems

pay

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Strategic Law Reformmaking 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 Reformmaking 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 Reformmaking 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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• 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’

Ancillary Projects

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• Project description• ‘Making the Case for Growing Green’• Project priorities• Biographies• Links

Growing Green Website:www.ffcf.bc.ca/GrowingGreen.html