Fresh fruit and vegetables straight from the farmer鈥檚 field are among the pleasures of rural life, and the City of Victoria is considering a plan to bring farm stands into town.
If it saves food from going to waste and helps us eat locally, it could be a welcome addition.
Under city bylaws, a portion of a property can be used to produce retail fruits and vegetables, but they can鈥檛 be sold on the site. The proposal is to remove that restriction, so backyard farmers could have front-yard produce stands.
Under the changes, which go to public hearing Aug. 25, growers would require a $25 seasonal business licence. They could build the stand without a development permit.
Mason Street City Farm is a successful example of urban agriculture in Victoria, selling salad greens to restaurants and supplying a food-box program to 11 families. However, under current rules, it can鈥檛 sell its produce to passersby from a roadside stand.
The proposed change would apply to both the Mason Street farm and a family with a thriving vegetable garden or fruit trees.
鈥淲hat this would do is allow people to sell the food they鈥檙e growing on their property. So for example, at the house I grew up in, we had an apple tree that had so many apples that we could probably only use a tenth of them,鈥� Coun. Jeremy Loveday said. 鈥淲ith these changes, you鈥檇 be able to set up a stand and sell them at the front of your property.鈥�
As Loveday suggests, it鈥檚 not simply a question of supplementing the family income. It鈥檚 a chance to use produce that might otherwise go to waste.
Groups in the region are already working on that.
The Lifecycles Project is perhaps the best-known example of a community effort to harvest backyard bounty so it doesn鈥檛 go to waste. It gathers 30,000 to 40,000 pounds of fruit from properties around the city. Homeowners, food banks, volunteers and community organizations share what is gathered.
That鈥檚 largely unseen, as volunteers pick the backyard fruit and move on. A farm stand beside the road, where money changes hands, is a different operation.
In Saanich, on the Peninsula and on the West Shore, farm stands are common sights. Saanich allows them only on land zoned as farmland, but that rule is enforced only if someone complains. The complaints are usually about traffic, which would be of little concern at a small stand.
However, the city would do well to consider broader, unintended consequences. At a time when farms in the region are struggling, would a proliferation of small gardens selling produce be one more threat?
Few Victoria homeowners have the space or the inclination to grow large amounts of produce. Those with both are more likely to be in Saanich or Central Saanich, where the practice is already widespread.
It鈥檚 unlikely that the rule changes would induce many Victorians to turn Rototillers loose on their lawns, but the city should have some idea of what would happen if the program turns out to be a runaway success.
Growing more food for our neighbours and ourselves seems like a good step toward self-sufficiency. If the proposed changes will move us toward that goal without damaging side-effects, the city should allow farm stands.
