CITY OF PENTICTON – FOOD SECURITY STRATEGY BACKGROUND REPORT
5.0 INSPIRING STRATEGIES A number of communities across British Columbia and other jurisdictions have plans and strategies that address food security The aim of providing this information is to understand how regions or municipalities are perceiving food security and insecurity and, within their specific context, the different ways they plan on addressing these issues. The strategies and plans reviewed are recent documents from the past five years. They are mostly from communities or regions in BC, and have either agriculture, food security, or urban agriculture as a focus. Key planning documents which provide a range of relevant strategies are: the Metro Vancouver Regional Food System Action Plan (2016), Food Secure Oliver (2018), and Kamloops Food and Urban Agriculture Plan (2015). These key documents and the others included below strategize around the following key areas to varying degrees: • • • • • •
Protecting and expanding agricultural production locally. Improving the viability of food production by local farmers. Improving access to emergency food supports for food insecure individuals. Supporting and expanding urban agriculture opportunities. Improving food literacy among the public, particularly in educational settings. Identifying ways to improve food waste collection (e.g. food recovery, compost programs).
Strategies and actions which are most relevant to Penticton have been included in Table 2 below. In some cases, the language has been adjusted to improve relevancy. Table 2 – Food Security Strategy Best Practices
Plan/Policy Metro Vancouver Regional Food System Action Plan (2016)
Key Highlights • • • • • • •
BC Strategy 1.1 Protect agricultural land for food production Strategy 1.3 Enable expansion of agricultural production Strategy 1.4 Invest in new generation of food producers Strategy 1.5 Expand urban commercial food production in urban areas Strategy 2.1 Increase the capacity to process, warehouse and distribute local foods Strategy 2.2 Include local foods in purchasing policies Strategy 2.3 Increase direct marketing opportunities for local foods
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