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Spring is just a couple of weeks away and some local farmers are already plowing their fields. The highways and back roads that criss-cross Delta afford a fine opportunity to appreciate our vast fields of plenty.
Driving around these areas can break down the hard line between farmland and our residential neighbourhoods and can give us pause to reflect on food and farming.
I feel strangely deja-vuish now, in the sense that 30-odd years ago, the public was introduced to the idea of global warming and climate change.
Although still contentious amongst skeptics and advocates, the global reach of climate change is brought to our attention daily.
In the case of food and farming -- floods, droughts, crop failures, input costs and other factors that affect our food security should be alarming, or at the least, concerning.
Educators, governments, policy makers and developers need to blur the rural/urban edge, if only to stimulate awareness as how best to interact with and better comprehend our relationship with food. We shouldn’t be as detached from understanding agri-food as most of us are.
A fine way to witness the blur of the rural/urban edge is to take the half-hour walk from the Tsawwassen Town Centre to Southlands Market Square, via the Sixth Avenue path. This wonderful stroll can offer a moment to witness real-world food production and consider the vast complexities within it.
At a time when farming and food production is becoming increasingly perilous, taking a thoughtful minute or two to better grasp and appreciate the function of our regional breadbaskets is not only appropriate, but critical.
We need to do a better job in becoming agri-literate and to know who and how the custodians of our dinner tables manage in an ever-changing environment.
Our empathy and support for farmers and all who participate in the multi-layered agri-food sector needs to be brought up a notch.
