The benefits of locally sourced food

The food industry emits a large amount of greenhouse gases (GHGs). Agriculture in Canada accounts for  about 8% of the total GHG emissions nationally. With large scale food production, factors such as monoculture defence, transportation and distribution, fertilization and water use, all contribute to emissions. Food found locally, near Edmonton, emit less due to the proximity of the farm and ability of the region to naturally support the food type. And local foods grown in the region require less energy to transport to market.

We sat down with Dustin Bajer, a co-chair of the Edmonton Food Council and local food advocate, to discuss his thoughts on the importance of local food. Edmonton’s food identity is something Dustin is passionate about.

“I want to know what this place tastes like, I want to find those varieties of apples or apricots or goji berries that were developed and are from here because then I think it becomes part of the identity of this place.” With greater access to local goods, “restaurants are going to be different here than what you are going to get in Calgary.” And as Dustin portrays, “that can have a really positive effect on how people view and embrace where we are from.”

Dustin, who was also a school teacher, created a food forest in the courtyard of his school. He planted 80 different and local, edible perennials as part of his school’s permaculture club. The idea was to “try to mimic what happens in an ecosystem so that you have multiple stores of plants, you try to build in diversity so that no one pest will kill the whole thing, you use things like the natural leaf fall of your taller species to mulch the integrity of the soil over time.”

“When you are talking about local food, you are talking about eating food that supports the local economy, smaller to medium scale farmers” － people, as Dustin says, who may have the ability to be “more nimble and are able to try the quirky things that grow here, or perhaps are delicious but don't ship very well and so you end up with more variety.”

Local food can be found at farmers market throughout Edmonton. Dustin had a lot to say about the economics of local food. Read his blog where he goes into details about the feasibility and variety local food can provide.

If you are thinking of incorporating a garden, or some local food into your life or kitchen, Dustin explains, “The biggest piece of advice I have received but not always followed is ‘start small, find success and then grow.’ There is no shame in growing a herb in your classroom window if all of a sudden there is demand for growing another pot.”

Another quote which Dustin mentioned was by Stewart Brand saying, “Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly.” Meaning, if something is worth doing, it's worth doing even if not done perfectly. If everyone was able to plant a pot or two of their favourite local vegetable or buy from a local vendor, the reliance on large emitting imported food would be reduced.

Dustin left us with some insight: “If we have the patience and humility to stop and observe and figure out what [the ecosystem] is doing and think about what we want to accomplish, there is no reason why we can't partner with ecology to grow food.”

For more info on the economics of local food, check out Dustin Bajer’s blog post, The Long Tail of Food.

This post was written by our summer students, Stephanie and Graham. If you live in Edmonton and have a climate change story to tell, let us know! Your story could be shared here too.