An idea about greenhouses is germinating in the minds of a newly formed group in Salmon Arm.
With unobtrusive cauliflower gaining unexpected celebrity these days because of its cost, and other produce getting pricey, the Plan 4 Prosperity group has been thinking about ways to start growing local produce quickly.
Spokesperson Jim Kimmerly explains that as the price of produce and the American dollar climb, and with much food imported from California, Mexico and sometimes South America, citizens in the Shuswap are left in a bind.
“There’s no reason why we can’t grow this ourselves but in a greenhouse format,” he says, quickly adding that the idea is still in its early stages and more research needs to be done.
His initial inquiries show about 50 per cent of farmland in the area is unused.
“If you take an acre of land and look at the yield doing traditional farming, a greenhouse could do eight to 10 times more yield than farmland, depending on the crop.”
Kimmerly said he was asked to form the Plan 4 Prosperity group, which includes successful businesspeople as well as those with other backgrounds. Although prosperity is often thought to be linked to the economy, in this context it refers to community, economy, culture and environment. A person can feel rich, for example, if what they’re doing is protecting the environment, he says.
Regarding greenhouses: “You start off trying to supply your local market – Salmon Arm and Salmon Arm area. We will be meeting with farmers to get an idea. We will also be talking to grocers as well to see what their needs are.
“If there was ever a good opportunity, the table’s been set for it. The opportunity is now. The high dollar will stay for a while now. This is the opportune time.”
He’s already heard of another couple of small operations starting up.
“I applaud those people, they see what the potential could be. You start small, build on that and pretty soon you have your own industry.”
He said his group has other ideas as well, and differs from the economic development society and other organizations as it can focus more on specific ideas.
He said he would welcome input from other people who are interested in a greenhouse project.
Retired farmer John McLeod, who serves on the city’s agricultural advisory committee, is pleased with the idea.
“I think it would be an excellent initiative. We all came from an agrarian background and we’ve turned our backs on it. And now, suddenly, a head of cauliflower is all over the news, and we’re surprised. If we don’t look after our food sovereignty, if we put that in the hands of the foreign multinational, there’s a real good chance something wrong could happen, and it is happening, and we’re still not paying attention to it.”
He would like to see food locally grown and prepared for hospitals and seniors’ homes. Now, he says, 50 per cent of hospital food ends up in the landfill. If, for instance, the B.C. budget for hospital food is $10 million, that’s a waste of $5 million. He’d like people to picture dump trucks full of money going to the landfill and dumping it in.
“We could be putting local people to work with local dollars, a local economy, local agriculture.”
McLeod adds that Shuswap Food Action Co-op is currently developing a land database, inviting people with underutilized arable land to go to the co-op website and register it. That way land and potential cultivators could be matched.
