Food: our most intimate and delicious connection with nature. From our gardens’ bounty to the chocolate and bananas we import, it needs a stable growing environment.
Climate disruption destabilizes our environment and affects every level of the food system, locally and globally, making the backbreaking work of our farmers harder and driving up food costs.
Scott Humphries from Bent Plow farm in Blewett reports, “The 2021 heat dome changed the way we think about how we schedule staff — starting early, taking a big break, doing a later shift, having respirators and N95 masks for when it’s smoky. As fire season approaches, I feel anxiety building in me.”
Weather unpredictability messes with crops too. Disruption of pollinators’ schedules can prevent crops from ripening. Extreme heat, drought, flooding, wind storms or sudden cold snaps can kill crops. BC’s grape and soft fruit crops (cherries, peaches, etc.) were devastated by the sudden harsh freeze in January 2024, after months of unseasonable warmth and little snow cover. With fruit trees still recovering from the heat dome, some suffered long-lasting damage.
The breadbasket of California, which provides year-round food, is hurting too. The California Climate and Agriculture Network points out that “rising temperatures, constrained water resources, and increased pest and disease pressure threaten to fundamentally challenge California agriculture in future years.” Meanwhile, the CEO of our formerly friendly southern neighbour sees Canada as a “very large faucet” he wants to own.
Local food retailers feel these impacts. According to Kootenay Co-op store manager Dirk Gibbs, “With our southern supply chain for produce, food is weather damaged, not growing, coming in early or late. All food growing regions are having some level of challenge: too much rain, not enough rain, heat. We see this every day.”
With unpredictable crops and fickle international trade relationships, food prices will likely soar, while many go hungry. Food Banks BC reports total visits rose by 81 per cent between 2019 and 2024.
But consuming cheaper, industrially-grown food has consequences for local farmers, our health, and the climate. Relying on subsidized, pesticide-laden fruits, vegetables, grains, meat and packaged food makes non-subsidized locally grown foods comparatively more expensive, leaving small farmers with a pricing dilemma as they try to make ends meet. Imported, mass-produced foods and inhumane, ecologically disastrous industrial meat production cause massive climate pollution and environmental damage. They destroy soil ecosystems, release climate pollutants like methane, and use mind-boggling quantities of fossil fuels for production, processing, packaging, shipping, refrigeration and marketing.
This creates a destructive cycle of climate and ecosystem impacts, food insecurity, and human costs. We rely on large-scale industrial agriculture, which worsens the climate and biodiversity polycrisis and makes small-scale ecological farming harder. We become vulnerable to global agriculture supply chains shaken by climate and political turmoil.
In the Kootenays, many are taking action to reduce climate impacts, help local growers, and ensure food security. How can we work with them?
Patrick Steiner, past president of the Central Kootenay Food Policy Council, points out that “locally or organically grown food generally has much lower impacts than imported food. It’s worth asking: ‘Where do I get local food? Who are my local food producers?’” He adds that besides farmers’ markets and direct-to-consumer CSAs, local retailers and food guides like the one the CKFPC puts out are great resources.
Patrick also comments that local farms need direct government support to build climate-resilient infrastructure like polytunnels, drought-conscious water systems and bio-based plastic covers for mulches, because “the farmers can’t bear those costs themselves.”
In Winlaw, Rob Hay of the Valley Kitchen tells us they’re working on an emergency food response plan that could potentially include doing an inventory of local farms, their locations and food related businesses.
In Cranbrook, the Good Food Branch of the Community Connections Society helps people assist local farmers. They also collect edible but non-saleable food, 70 per cent of which goes back to people, 29 per cent to farms, with just one per cent actual waste. Sophie Larsen, program manager, feels we need more diversity in how we grow food, including methods, food recovery and prioritizing getting food to people. This reduces waste, including labour, transport costs and soil inputs.
Amanda Verigin, Kootenay Co-op marketing director, brings it together clearly:
“Eating local is a form of climate action. Your climate efforts may look like a drop in the ocean, but what you can do in your area is empowering. Eating locally has huge benefits from reduced transportation, supporting local employment, and having local food available. The efforts we can make in our own backyard are key.”
For an in-depth discussion of the interconnected world of food culture and production, consider joining our interactive webinar on May 28 (details at westkootenayclimatehub.ca).
Diana van Eyk lives in Winlaw, where she’s exploring intergenerational living.
Tamara Schwartzentruber is a musician, teacher, editor and healer who lives in Kaslo with her partner and two kids and volunteers with the West Kootenay Climate Hub.
