DOWNLOAD A COPY OF: “Living Water Smart in British Columbia: Is our food security slipping away without anyone noticing?” – released by the Partnership for Water Sustainability in November 2024

November 19, 2024 - Posted in ...2024, PUBLICATIONS & DOWNLOADS

Note to Reader:

Published by the Partnership for Water Sustainability in British Columbia, Waterbucket eNews celebrates the leadership of individuals and organizations who are guided by the Living Water Smart vision. The edition published on November 19, 2024 features Ted van der Gulik and his perspective on how British Columbia can achieve food security. As the former Senior Engineer in the BC Ministry of Agriculture, he was ahead of his time when he spearheaded development of the Agriculture Water Demand Model almost two decades ago. With this tool, British Columbia has been able to quantify what the province has versus what the province needs with respect to land and water for food security.

 

Is our food security slipping away without anyone noticing?

Two decades ago, Ted van der Gulik had a vision for agricultural water management and he made it real. As the Senior Engineer in the BC Ministry of Agriculture…and continuing after his retirement from government…Ted van der Gulik has put innovative ideas and numerous online tools into practice.

“Food security, land security and water security are not separate issues. They are one and the same,” states Ted van der Gulik.

 

What we have versus what we need for food, land and water security in British Columbia

“How many hectares of food lands do we have? How many do we need to irrigate for food security? And how many hectares are we losing within the Agricultural Land Reserve and without even knowing it?”

“To quantify what we have versus what we need, we have British Columbia’s Agriculture Water Demand Model and the Agricultural Land Use Inventory program. This combination of tools yields accurate data about land use and water need in all regions of British Columbia.” “Thanks to satellite imagery, British Columbia has a powerful capability for understanding exactly what is happening on the land. We also have a 500-metre gridded climate data set – the only one in North America.”

 

Loss of food land within the Agricultural Land Reserve

“For the food lands within Metro Vancouver, we completed the first analysis of water requirements in 2013. Metro Vancouver co-funded land use inventory updates on the south and north sides of the Fraser in 2022 and 2023, respectively.”

“The comparison between then and now has revealed the accumulating loss of up to 50 hectares per year due to land sterilization within the Agricultural Land Reserve. To compound matters, everything I am seeing in our water management program is not conducive to supplying water to our food lands.”

 

 

To Learn More:

To read the complete story, download a copy of Living Water Smart in British Columbia: Is our food security slipping away without anyone noticing?

The story behind the story is structured in four parts (topics). The bookends are about the existing Agriculture Land Reserve and a potential Agriculture Water Reserve as foundation pieces for food security. In between are high-level perspectives about a mind-set change and the pragmatic tools we now have to protect water and soil.

The spotlight in Topic One is on the food lands in the Fraser Valley because few people in British Columbia know or appreciate how important the Agriculture Land Reserve in the Fraser Valley is to food security for British Columbia. Also, that water security is key to food security. 

 

DOWNLOAD A COPY: https://waterbucket.ca/wcp/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2024/11/PWSBC_Living-Water-Smart_Ted-van-der-Gulik-perspective-on-food-security_2024.pdf