Vancouver political party highlights its support of urban agriculture before municipal elections

‘Vision Vancouver’ – Community gardens and food security

By VoteVision, Press Release
Vision is a Vancouver, BC, political party
Oct 25, 2011

Take a walk through the expanded Cottonwood Community Gardens on Raymur Avenue or the newly formed Mount Pleasant Gardens on Ontario and West 16th and you’ll see the potential for growing food in an urban setting. Tomatoes, bok choi and apple trees abound! Vision Vancouver sees the potential too – we even built a community garden at City Hall.

In 2010, Vision Vancouver established 450 new community garden plots in the city. It’s just one of the ways Vision Vancouver is support urban agriculture and food security. Vancouver now has approximately 3260 community garden plots.

Spread across the Vancouver’s parkland, community gardens are key spaces for residents to increase their own food security. In one of the city’s 74 gardens, you can learn how to grow vegetables, connect with your neighbours and add some green to your neighbourhood. Check to see if you have a garden in your neighbourhood, or start your own!

The City’s goals in encouraging urban agriculture include:

Enhancing the City’s food security and reducing the City’s ecological footprint by reducing “distance to fork” through encouraging more locally grown, culturally appropriate and affordable food production

Encouraging increased social interaction in high density developments

Supporting and encouraging an environmentally and socially sustainable activity.

Increasing the number of community plots in the city is just one way to help residents have access to land to grow their own food. And it’s just one of the ways Vision Vancouver is committed to helping Vancouver become a more sustainable city.

Over its term the Vision Council has approved several policies, motions and staff directives in support of urban agriculture and food security, including:

Developing Urban Agriculture Design Guidelines for new private developments,

Passing a motion in support of Farmers Markets,

Creating 450 new community garden plots,

Supporting the Vancouver Food Strategy.

Your support for Vision Vancouver will help continue this work to become the Greenest City.

See the press release here.