The case for local and organic, by Hilary Crowley

What’s all the fuss about organic produce anyway? I spoke with Robert Bucher of P& R Farms recently to learn more about it. They have a certified organic farm in Salmon Valley and run an organic food store on 3rd Ave. In a future column, we will explain what it takes to be certified organic. Peter Amyoony, a well known gardener from Dunster, also gave an interesting talk recently at REAPS. Peter grows a wide variety of plants and vegetables from an abundance of seeds to ensure diversity in his products. These include heritage seeds. February 25th is “Seedy Saturday” in Prince George, which will be held at Exploration Place and interested gardeners will have a chance to buy and exchange heritage seeds which have adapted to local conditions over generations of planting.

Many will have noticed that produce in the organic section of grocery stores is nearly always more expensive than the rest. The main reason for this is that the local organic farmers are more likely to be receiving a fair wage for their produce whereas the corporate farms are likely to employ low-wage workers. In the same way agriculturalists in the developing world only receive a tiny portion of the cost of the product, for their labour. That is how the Fair Trade system came into being as we realized this discrepancy between the cost of produce and the poverty of farmers in the developing world.

Most of the produce in grocery stores has not only traveled thousands of kilometres, causing greenhouse gas emissions on the way, but also has been sprayed by toxic pesticides that often contain cancer producing agents. Also there is a good chance that some of these substances have been genetically modified, GM, which involves introducing foreign substances, into the cells of fruit or vegetables. These substances may also include toxins and could be allergenic but since, in this country, it is not mandatory to label GM foods, we don’t know which ones have been modified.

Food safety is becoming a big issue in our society. The same corporations that are responsible for GM foods, also make the pesticides, patent the seeds and have introduced the terminator seed, which is designed to be sterile, preventing any seed collection. This technology would devastate farmers in the developing world. These trends are removing local control of our food supply and are centralizing power in multinational corporations.

Switzerland recently banned GM technology in their country. Europe won’t buy some Canadian produce that has been genetically modified. A pasta supplier in Italy was recently sued by the Italian Government for mixing Canadian durum wheat with the local flour, as the cancer producing agents in the batch of Canadian wheat were above the acceptable levels allowed in Italy. Why don’t we make the Prince George area, including the Robson Valley, Cariboo, Peace country and Nechako/Bulkley Valley a GM and pesticide free zone? It has been done on the Sunshine Coast. Why not here? If we do this and support a “buy local campaign”, we could go a long way to improving our health and reducing health care costs.

Eating nutritious food and leading an active lifestyle are the most important elements leading to good health. BC was recently identified as having the healthiest population in Canada and this was attributed to the active lifestyle of many British Columbians. We can build on this trend by making a transition to organic and locally grown produce.

First published in PGTW.