聽It was interesting to sit down with Dean Rugland the manager of the Yorkton Peavey Mart about how the company is trying to focus on small farmers, acreage owners, and the growing realm of urban farmers.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 聽The world of food is becoming one which while I am not personally worried when I walk into a grocery store, I can appreciate those who are starting to wonder just what we are consuming.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Pick up anything that is processed and read the ingredient label, and unless you have a degree in chemical engineering, you might as well try to decipher something written in Martian.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 The idea of bacon that can sit on a shelf and then be mirowaved in mere seconds is at least somewhat disquieting if you think about it.
聽And one has to at least be aware of growth hormones and insecticide residues and a host of other potential issues with food if any link in the chain from the farm to the table is broken, or the safety measures lessened.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 The alternative is to take greater control of our own food.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Most are simply consumers now, and they will not change. It is like darning a pair of socks, once it was common practice. Now a sock with a hole in it is destined for the landfill, while the wearer heads to a department store to buy a new pair.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 I appreciate the cost is often less to buy new, especially if you assign any value at all to your time, but still it is a reality which feeds commercialism.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 But back to taking control of food security.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 In small cities and towns we might question just how much control we can have, but the ability to control what we put on the table should be more at hand than we realize.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 To start with most backyards can be good gardens. Many may have turned that space over to grass and a gazebo as an outdoor living space, but that is, as they say a choice.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 A backyard should also have the potential be a place which produces more than vegetables.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 In this space before I have suggested urban egg production should be allowed. Most major cities have moved in that direction. Edmonton is among those currently undertaking a test run to make sure they have the right regulations in place.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 There are now enough urban municipalities allowing urban laying hens that cloning a workable bylaw should be simple.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 In cases where requests for urban layers have met resistance from Council it can only be seen as short-sighted reactions by the Councils involved.
聽The backyard should also be a place for honey bees.
聽Again many urban communities are allowing hives, again with rules, a fence to keep the curious and the vandals away.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Honey bees are less an issue if you stay away from their hives than wasps and hornets, so again, if the bylaw is done right, they can be safely raised.
聽Now I did mention this in passing to friends who were immediately concerned if a hive went in the yard neighbouring someone allergic to bees.
聽It was a concern but one I鈥檓 not sure you can take too far.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Does a farmer with bees in a clover field need to check with every farm yard within a mile or two to see if someone there is allergic?
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Do we ask people on our city block if they have聽cynophobia before buying a Doberman Pinscher? Cynophobia is a fear of dogs.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 And ultimately are bees buzzing into a yard where there are no flowers, since I would suspect people with bee allergies do not grow something which attract bees and there are wild bees, bumblebees and such to worry about naturally in any community.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Now no one is going to suggest a milk cow, well some might, but common sense makes that request unreasonable. The size, noise and waste from a cow is more than is reasonable for a backyard.
聽Three or four laying hens, a doe rabbit and litter for the deep freeze, or a hive of bees do not raise the same concerns, provided of course there are regulations in place.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 While there will always be those with concerns, a larger community concern should be allowing people the best options for looking after the basic need for safe food.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Hopefully, over time more urban municipalities will establish such regulations, and more people will have a chance to take back at least some level of control in terms of their own food.聽
