FOOD SELF-RELIANCE – The 2006 BC Food Self-Reliance report
(BC government), includes hard to find information that reconciles BC grown food with the foods actually eaten by BC residents. (you can make images bigger on a touch screen)

Can the lands pictured below feed the people in the great towers?

Can we feed ourselves in BC or Alberta or Canada?

On page 12 of the already referenced study, you find the above chart comparing foods grown in BC, by food group; to foods actually eaten in BC. Vegetables and Fruits are our main focus.

The Canadian Food Guide in 2006 recommended 3.75 vegetable servings and 3.75 fruit servings be eaten daily. That is 7.5 combined servings. At that time, only 2.9 vegetable and 1.9 fruit or 4.8 combined servings were being eaten. This is below the minimum of 5-a-day where health benefits start.

Table 5 below shows how much land is needed to produce the daily servings recommended for one person for a whole year.

Production of meat takes the most land (.39 hectares) compared to vegetables and fruits combined which requires the least land (.033 hectares, irrigated). I am in favour of grass fed and finished meat produced using carbon capture farming methods. The point here is to show how well vegetables and fruits fit in with food security efforts using carbon capture farming practices.

See our blogs and other resources for more detailed food security discussions.