GC 2020
42 results found
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Include rentable, inspected kitchens in the mandate of Parks Board's community/rec centres
Growing food is just part of the local food solution. We also need affordable, inspected kitchen spaces for canning workshops, hands-on cooking classes, community kitchens and small scale food processing.
As part of the move towards food precincts or neighbourhood food centres Vancouver needs kitchens.
The Kits and Mount Pleasant Community Centres do have kitchens, but they are not available for the public to rent. Trout Lake's new facility will have a rent-able kitchen but it is a rare case.
11 votes -
Reduce residential encroachment on agricultural land
In order for us to have more local food in our supply chain we need to protect the agricultural land we have in the Lower Mainland including the Fraser Valley. Right now residential and commercial land zoning is encroaching too much on our prime agricultural land. Soil is a resource that must be protected!
71 votesThe City can advocate for the protection of the ALR. This is an action identified in the draft Greenest City Action Plan.
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24 votes
The draft Greenest City Action Plan includes an action to create a local food procurement strategy for City facilities.
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Start window farms in Vancouver
http://www.windowfarms.org/
This could be great for Vancouver with all of our donwtown condos. Unfortunately this is only available in the US. City could start this in Vancouver and make it available like the water saver kit.38 votesThis is a strategy best implemented at the individual level. The City is not taking an active role on this idea.
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Bring community gardeners together with those who have extra yard space
Create a program for homeowners & community gardeners to work together. For example, elderly people who want to stay in their homes but can no longer maintain their yards, would have their yards maintained by gardeners, in exchange for garden space in the home owner's yard to grow food.
69 votesA great idea and one that has already been started by City Farmer. Check out the great tool they have created to link those with space with those looking for space to garden: http://www.sharingbackyards.com/browse/Vancouver,BC&welcome_box=3
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mobile community gardens in empty lots
Community gardens could be setup in the gated empty lots around the city. The lot owner could put up a sponsorship sign so they get the free advertising of supporting something helpful to the community. The garden could be setup in a way that it could be moved to another lot when the original lot was eventually put to another use.
32 votesDraft Greenest City Action Plan includes a strategy to increase community garden plots of a variety of scope and scale.
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Green Urban Cook book
Develop tasty recipes for urban nuisances such as crow a l'orange, pigeons au vin, raccoons en sauce, and coyote a la brouche.
5 votes -
Urban Farm Coop
Mandate urban farm coops in backyards. City Hall would then collect taxes in the form of fruits and vegetables. This could be as successful as it was under Stalin. It resulted in an unexpected benefit -- the reduction of the population by 15 million people. Vive La Revolution Vert!
5 votes -
farmBay
It is difficult for local farmers to actively and regularly connect with consumers (i.e., eaters) around specific food items.
Let's say a local farmer has a few dozen extra eggs or a few pounds of extra tomatoes. What does the farmer do? He usual composts the extra.
Across town a restaurant or person at home would like to get some fresh eggs or tomatoes for tonight. But, the farmers market isn't for several days.
How do they connect up? farmBay - eBay for farmers and eaters. Farmers post food for sale and eaters buy it in an eBay like format.
11 votesThis idea has been started through a community-led initiative. Please visit: http://www.sharedharvest.ca/metrovancouver
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create an urban farm network
Create an urban farm network, a hub that links farms, farmers, local food distribution and storage in the city and provides resources to everyone (including organized farms, non-profits, individuals, schools, community groups, city, etc) and provide business advice, links to funding, assistance in creating and sustaining local jobs, training farmers, and develop partnerships and connection to other urban farm resources throughout the city
121 votesCommunity groups are in early stages of discussing the implementation of this idea.
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improve solar access for food growing
Access to sufficient solar exposure is often the most challenging impediment to food production on an urban site. Trees and buildings can create shade in spots that would otherwise be ideal for growing food - the ones just outside the kitchen or front door.
As counter-intuitive as this may seem, the city's plan to plant massive amounts of trees for carbon sequestration will probably interfere with many existing food gardens, and many more trees that are nearing the end their life-span could be removed to create room for food production. An exemption favouring food gardens could be made within the…
9 votesSolar access is always a consideration when we search for local food growing opportunities, community garden space, etc.
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Buying of Local Foods
Encourage the buying of local foods so products can be bought and sold without harmful chemicals, and are sold and grown with natural products
36 votesThe draft Greenest City Action Plan includes an action to create a local food procurement strategy for City facilities.
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Support Urban Farming Entrepeneurship
Urban farming from an entrepreneurial approach holds one of the most exciting possibilities for urban food production. Urban farming is a great way for Vancouver to achieve “worldwide entrepreneurial recognition” and create sustainable urban jobs.
Other successful urban farming systems (i.e., Havana, Cuba; Detroit, Michigan) have developed out of necessity and urgency. Such conditions do not yet exist in Vancouver. Yet urban farming, which is now a multi-million dollar “industry” in North America, holds the potential to create economic opportunities for those wanting to engage in urban food production; provide the most local food possible to Vancouver residents (and visitors);…
215 votesSupport for this via the creation of urban farming opportunities (e.g. SOLE food). Also July 2010 Council approved expanding farmers markets.
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Municipal tax break for property owners that allow urban farmers to farm their yards
There already exist entrepreneurs producing significant amounts of food in yards in Vancouver, often through a CSA distribution model (Inner City Farms, Fresh Roots, City Farm Boy, My Urban Farm, and others). The landowners that partner with these farmers should receive tax breaks based on the amount of food being produced on their property. With such inflated property taxes in Vancouver, this would provide a delicious incentive for landowners to allow urban farmers to access their land.
256 votes -
make food not lawns
Stop planting grass and instead plant food that people can eat. The big living roof on the convention centre has grass right now but it, and other roofs and lawns could have edible plants living on them.
74 votesThis idea is included within the draft Greenest City Action Plan. It has been started, with City-owned property being converted to community gardens and green streets. See: http://vancouver.ca/engsvcs/streets/greenstreets/index.htm
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food...food...and food... how do we know it's actually good?
When I go to the grocery store, how do I know that the food I'm buying is hormone and/or pesticide and/or pesticide free? Even if it says it's organic...is it really? My idea is to 1. put more of a REAL control on the food we're selling to the general public and 2. why not start growing real organic food...from real soil ourselves...urban agriculture?
4 votes -
Serve only nitrate free hotdogs/ cooked meats
All the food served in City should be free of chemicals & nitrates. Support organic/ natural -local if possible.
6 votesLocal and healthy local food options are under consideration in the draft Greenest City Action Plan. Parks board already has an Ethical Purchasing Policy in place that encourages the purchasing of Fair-Trade and organic products. http://vancouver.ca/parks/info/policy/pdf/policy_ethical_purchasing.pdf
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Local Food Guide or Cookbook
The City should publish a guide to local foods. To be truly sustainable it must only include foods grown in sufficient quantity to feed everyone in the region (otherwise it's just elitism) and should exclude anything grown in greenhouses.
5 votesThe draft Greenest City Action Plan includes an action to create a local food information hub. This will not necessarily be a cookbook.
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Develop incentives to restore the bee populations
[Submitted via email by Patrice Allen]
Develop incentives to restore the bee populations, not only for their products but for cross-pollination in ALL green spaces.
18 votesHobby bee keeping guidelines under review and there are beehives on top of City Hall. For details on the City of Vancouver bee keeping initiatives, please visit: http://vancouver.ca/commsvcs/socialplanning/initiatives/foodpolicy/projects/beekeeping.htm
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Create local food distribution system
We have a back/front yard garden that grows primarily produce. Some years, like this one, the yield is pretty meager. But other years, like last summer, we have WAY more produce than we can possibly use, even with constant canning.
I typically start giving away the extra to unsuspecting friends and neighbours, but I would love to have a way to sell it.
Most back-yard gardeners don't produce enough produce to go to the trouble of selling it, but if there was an easy way to sell the excess into a system that could then combine it with the produce…
24 votesSome elements of a local distribution network are in place with the Farmer’s Markets. The New City Market will increase the scale of this. This idea is included in the draft Greenest City Action Plan.
