photo - Saanich council candidate Nathalie Chambers and ALR founder & Richmond Councillor Harold Steves
During our successful Farmland Trust Town Hall event in Saanich on August 26th which Harold Steves (ALR co-founder), Alice Finall (North Saanich Mayor), Linda Geggie (Exec. Dir. Capital Region Food and Agriculture Initiatives Roundtable), Dave Chambers (Madrona Farm), and other speakers joined myself and almost 100 community farmland champions to discuss solutions to the threats facing CRD food security, the Saanich/CRD Urban Containment Boundary (UCB) and the survival of farmers.
For years as a long-time Saanich resident, mother, author and Madrona Farm food grower, I have been championing protection of the the environment, farmland and the Saanich Urban Containment Boundary. Clearly, removal of the former Royal Oak Golf Course property in Saanich from the ALR, and similar development proposals are not consistent with the mandate of the Agricultural Land Commission, and such prospective farms and affordable remaining green spaces should be safeguarded in perpetuity by inclusion in a CRD Farmland Trust.
As Linda Geggie points out in her letter below, on September 23rd the Capital Region Directors will vote on the fate of a region-wide Farmland Trust, first proposed and advanced by Saanich Council due to our collective efforts in the Farmland Protection Coalition.
Your letter-writing efforts to CRD Directors before the September 7th deadline (for written public submissions from the public) in support of a Farmland Trust may determine whether farmland protection comes to life in the CRD.
Time is short. With the municipal election looming on October 20th, the time to write and speak up to encourage the current CRD Directors to do the right thing is now!
Please join Linda and I in animating the CRD Directors to crown their terms with a new Food and Farmland Trust!
From my heart to yours,
Nathalie Chambers
Revitalizing the Spirit of Saanich
http://www.nathaliechambers.ca/
FROM LINDA GEGGIE:
As you know we need food and farmland that is protected and accessible to farmers over time. One strategy is to create a local government supported Food and Farmland Trust.
On September 23, the CRD Planning and Protective Services Committee will decide to advance this proposal or not. They need to hear your thoughts.
Its time to get those letters in (send to lgeggie@telus.net) if you want to see a local government supported Food and Farmland Trust that provides stable land access to food providers and farmers in the region over the long term.
What is the issue?
At over $100,000 an acre, local farmland is no longer accessible to farmers who want to farm the land. It is being purchased by non-farmers. In addition, over half our farmers will retire in the next decade. This combination is resulting in the significant loss of an important regional resource for self-reliance and food security-farm land. A proposed local government supported Food and Farmland Trust that protects farmland in a land bank that provides long term leases to farmers is being proposed for the CRD. It would be a vehicle to get farmland that is already owned by the CRD into production but also provide a vehicle to add additional farmland to this bank as farmers retire, or important farms come onto the market. We have successfully protected our watersheds and parks in this way. Should we look to protect our valuable farmland this way as well? More info: http://www.crfair.ca/farmland-and-foodlands-initiative/
What can I do? Write a letter, show up and speak to the CRD PPSC
On September 23, the CRD Planning and Protective Services Committee will decide if the CRD will support advancing this effort or not. They need to hear your thoughts.
Deadline for letters: September 7
The CRD Board, and the Planning and Protective Services Committee that will be receiving the report and staff recommendations around the Food and Farmland Trust. We know that their questions about supporting this initiative are centered in the following:
Don’t think local food security is of concern to the CRD That farming is not viable Cost to the taxpayer Write a letter! Attached (below) is a sample letter framework that you could complete and provide addressed to the following:
CRD Chair
CRD Board of Directors
CRD Planning and Protective Services Chair and Committee
6th Floor Boardroom
625 Fisgard St.
Victoria, BC V8W 1R7
*CC your letter to me at lgeggie@telus.net
Speak up! The meeting where the discussion will occur:
Planning and Protective Services Committee Meeting
Sep 26, 2018, 9:30am
Follow this link if you would register to speak:
Here are the current CRD Directors who sit on that committee-if you want to approach them directly-that would be most effective.
Alto, Marianne (Director) Desjardins, Barbara (Director) Finall, Alice (Director) Jensen, Nils (Director/Vice Chair) Plant, Colin (Director) Price, Steve (Ex Officio) Ranns, John (Director) Seaton, Lanny (Director) Williams, Ken (Director/Chair) Windsor, Ryan (Director)
Appreciatively,
Linda Geggie
Executive Director
Capital Region Food and Agriculture Initiatives Roundtable
Cell 250-896-7004
SAMPLE LETTER
(Please also send submission to Linda Geggie lgeggie@telus.net)
ATTN: CRD Chair
CRD Board of Directors
CRD Planning and Protective Services Chair and Committee
6th Floor Boardroom
625 Fisgard St.
Victoria, BC V8W 1R7
Date:
Re: Support for CRD Food and Farmland Trust
The Regional Food and Agriculture Strategy was created to support the implementation of the CRD Food and Agriculture Strategy.
The CRD Food and Agriculture Task Force has been working to provide guidance and support to the implementation of the Strategy. Over the past year they have done considerable work to review the different strategies for increasing the protection and access of farmland in the CRD. A proposal is coming before the Board to consider the results of the study done by Uplands Consulting: Capital Regional District Regional Food Lands Improvement Feasibility Study and Business Case.
This report is to look at different approaches that can be taken to support foodlands access and recommends supporting a Farmland Trust and land bank model would be the most impactful.
I am writing to express my support for this direction because:
Why is food security important to you? What do you see as some of the issues related to farmland? Why do you think this is an important initiative for the CRD (role in regional coordination)
Small scale agriculture is viable with security of land: Small scale sustainable agriculture is viable and important to our economy (this model can produce approx. $40,000-$60,000 acre where as large scale mono production ranges about $20,000 acre (on average, high variability due to crop type, land conditions)
Biggest barrier to new farmers is access to land, there is not a shortage of new entrants: Young Agrarians have a land linking service that has new farmers waiting for land, waiting list for current incubator farm plots in the region.
Name, address
Nathalie Chambers for Saanich Council · Canada
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