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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