A staff report is coming to Vancouver city council which could lead to double the number of farmers markets in Vancouver. But some say it would be tough to keep up with that kind of demand.
The report looks to guide the city’s future food strategy and will serve as a blueprint for the kinds of actions the city can take, including policies for expanding community gardens, farmers markets and dealing with compost.
“It'll accelerate the whole path we've been on, which is more food, more food security, more waste control with the composting, and it gives us the policy we need to make those decisions," said Vancouver City Councillor Heather Deal.
The doubling of farmers markets is part of that food plan, and would bring the number to 22 by 2020.
The number of farmers markets in Vancouver has already doubled since 2010 to 11 markets, with 15,000 to 20,000 people visiting each week.
Tara McDonald with the Vancouver Farmers Markets Society says that kind of growth can only happen with the right kind of demand and services.
"If we're going to expand to 22 markets across the city we're going to need more farmers and we're going to need more consumers, more shoppers," said McDonald.
Local farmers like Kevin Klippenstein have already been dealing with that kind of rapid growth for years.
Klippenstein said the family farm, Klippers Organic, has doubled production every year since 2002 and is now at its limit.
"We had to buy more land to keep up with demand and we're now farming 40 acres," he said.
Deal said thousands of people have already had input into the report, and it’s needed to fix some out-of-date notions such as allowing orchards in parks.
“It will take the direction we've been heading in and just jump-start it,” she said.
The staff report will be brought before council Tuesday.
With a report by CTV British Columbia’s Penny Daflos
