A local food security group is hoping the City of Burnaby will help create more community gardens, especially with rising produce prices.
Burnaby Food First, which started to help low-income families get fresh fruits and vegetables, wants Burnaby to identify city and park land for possible gardens.
“We want people to grow more of their own food and the City of Burnaby to support this,” said Leona Skovgaard, a retired school counsellor and Burnaby Food First volunteer. “People who are earning a good salary are having trouble getting fruits and vegetables, let alone people living on a low income.”
Statistics Canada is reporting that produce prices in January were up 18.2 per cent compared to the previous year.
Burnaby Food First made a presentation to the city’s environment committee, asking for three things.
The first was to identify city or park land that people could possibly grow food on. The second was to offer some of that land for community gardens or agriculture, and the third request was for city staff or resources to help create infrastructure that would support more community gardens in Burnaby.
Other cities in the Lower Mainland already do these things, Skovgaard said.
“They so far haven’t even identified land people garden on, and other jurisdictions do this,” she said.
City Coun. Anne Kang, who chairs the environment committee, said staff are looking into any plots of land already identified for community gardens.
“We are interested in the community gardens, and it’s all about identifying the right part, the plot of land. I’m sure our city has that already,” she said.
