Required Readings and Resources
- Berry, W., 1998: Conserving Communities. In J. Mander, 1998: The Case against the Global Economy, Sierra Club Books, San Francisco, CA, pages 254-263. Available on Canvas.
- Newman, L., Powell, L. J., & Wittman, H. (2015). Landscapes of food production in agriburbia: Farmland protection and local food movements in British Columbia. Journal of Rural Studies, 39, 99–110. Access through UBC Library
- PODCAST: Foo, S. (May 01, 2015). Same Bed, Different Dreams: Act 2 - Smell You Later. This American Life. NPR.
In our visit to Nicomeckl and Donia farms we had an opportunity to witness first hand the impacts of urban expansion and encroachment into previously rural areas. These farms are located in Surrey, a region that was historically an agricultural settlement, that has undergone and is continuing to undergo processes of urbanization. For instance, at Donia Farms we learned that the surrounding area used to support 10 -12 dairy farms and presently there are only two that remain. Expansion of urban and population centres into rural and agricultural areas is a process that has been occurring since settlement and continues to occur. In British Columbia, as is the case across Canada the best farmland and the biggest population centres overlap. This is clearly evidenced in the Lower Mainland of BC where we are located. The Lower Mainland region contains the largest population centres (Metro Vancouver) and is the region that generates the highest level of farm gate sales. There has a been a dramatic shift in the distribution of urban to rural population in BC and globally (see Figure 1 below).
Along with a declining rural population (proportionally) there has been a decline in the number of farms and farmers in Canada. Farmers make up 2% of Canada’s population and 1.5% of BC’s population. The number of farms in Canada has declined from over 700,000 in 1940 to just over 200,000 in the 2011 census of agriculture. The average farm size has increased over time representing a process of consolidation (fewer larger farms) in Canada’s farm sector. The loss of farmers, farmland and farmers is one of the most significant impacts of the shift in population and urban expansion. Farmland is a limited resource (only 5% of BC’s land base is considered arable) and farmland loss is a major concern. With farmland and farmers we cannot have a local agricultural sector which is foundational to our food system in BC. The impact of urban expansion and associated processes of rural decline do not only have an impact of farming and food production but has socio-economic and cultural impacts, in terms of a loss of rural culture, that are discussed in this weeks Wendell Berry reading.
For those farms who are remaining in proximity to urban areas there are both challenges and opportunities that arise. Challenges include rising cost of farmland as it becomes valued for non-farm uses, conflict with neighbours over smell, noise, etc., loss of farming community and loss of farm suppliers (e.g. irrigation stores, hay producers). Opportunities include larger and closer markets and distribution channels - urban farmer’s markets, retail markets, restaurant sales, and opportunity to integrate other activities into the farm such as educational programs, agri-tourism, and festivals that provide income and build community (think back to the term multifuncitonality, and the programs and opportunities at UBC Farm that tie into its location in an urban centre). In this week’s second reading on ‘agriburbia’ (agriculture in the suburban or peri-urban areas) examples of civil society led farmland protection initiatives are discussed as an opportunity that arose from the location of agriculture in urban proximity.
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Figure: Proportion of BC’s population that is urban and rural over time. Data Source: Statistics Canada 2011 Census of Population.
In the This American Life podcast episode, Smell You Later, we get a glimpse of another aspect of the changing rural landscape, migrant labour. According to a recent report published by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, Citizenship and Precarious Labour in Canadian Agriculture (2015, p. 04), many agricultural workers in BC are "immigrants and migrants, subject to coercive employment practices with serious consequences for health and safety. Farmworkers’ fear of losing hours or jeopardizing their employment leads them to accept unsafe work or transportation, work long hours, work while ill or injured and, in the case of migrants, acquiesce to poor housing. Meanwhile, regulations and enforcement for this sector are very weak. Certainly our current food system can’t be seen as “sustainable.”