According to B.C.’s Ministry of Agriculture, B.C. farmers produce 40 per cent of all foods consumed in the province.
It’s a frightening statistic — one that demonstrates how much food is imported into the province to ensure you can enjoy a healthy number of calories.
According to Professor Lenore Newman of the University of the Fraser Valley, “We have the ability to provide food security in B.C. coupled with the opportunity to create innovative ways of growing it.”
A key step forward is the just-launched sustainable food systems for Canada platform that will create a national agri-food innovations and entrepreneurship program.
Newman is one of two national directors of the program and says that “the world is facing significant challenges with food security. We need to support agri-food entrepreneurs and encourage the development of technologies that will increase Canada’s food production and resiliency.”
Newman joined a Conversation That Matters about bolstering our food security and developing food production systems and equipment that meet domestic and international needs. See the video at vancouversun.com/tag/conversations-that-matter.