Official Community Plan

C

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With over 95% of food imported from off island, the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted many of the fragilities that currently exist in the local food system. The Comox Valley Chamber of Commerce identifies food security access a top priority for local businesses, despite this topic traditionally falling outside of their mandate. According to the Comox Valley Food Policy Council, there is a vital network of food growers, businesses, and organizations across the valley that are collaborating to strengthen food access and the local food economy. Farmers have the land capacity to increase production, but require more access to community food assets such as storage, and processing facilities, aggregation and distribution services, and locally produced feed. A changing climate highlights food security risks as well, whether that food is local or imported. The Comox Valley’s climate is expected to change to longer, hotter summers with less precipitation, and winters characterized by higher temperatures and more varied storm occurrences. An increase in expected frost-free and growing degree days can support more local food production, however more heat waves and insufficient irrigation are expected to be challenges to that production in the peak growing months. On the demand side, recent engagement and research on the local food system have revealed that there is also a lack of sustained access to healthy, local food and food systems for equity priority groups across the Comox Valley. 1 This work underscored the importance of shifting the community away from charitable and emergency food services to a system that focuses on empowerment, education, preventative measures, and upstream approaches that address systemic inequality.

1 Food Security , Poverty, Housing and the Local food system; closing the loop in the Comox Valley. LUSH Valley. 2019

PART C Thematic Policies