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23 Organizations Eliminating Food Waste During COVID-19

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23 Organizations Eliminating Food Waste During COVID-19

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A recipient carries a box of food as others wait in line for food bank distribution for those in need during the coronavirus pandemic on April 9, 2020 in Van Nuys, California. Mario Tama / Getty Images

By Aaron Mok

The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has upended nearly every aspect of modern society, but especially the food system. Farmers are being forced to discard unprecedented amounts of food surplus because of the closure of schools, restaurants, and hotels. And, because of the complex logistics of the food supply chain, diverting food supply away from wholesalers directly into the hands of consumers can be costly. Experts like Dana Gunders from ReFED are concerned that more food waste will be produced in 2020 than in previous years.

Despite these challenges, organizations around the world are working to reduce food waste. In honor of Stop Food Waste Day on the 29th of April, Food Tank is highlighting 23 organizations and companies trying to eliminate pandemic-fueled food waste.

1. AgriMax (Europe)

Funded by the European Union, AgriMax is a food waste recovery project that converts crop and food processing waste into organic compounds through biorefinery. These compounds can be used in food packaging, food ingredients, and agricultural chemicals. Additionally, AgriMax recently launched an online platform that connects crop producers to biorefineries in Spain and Italy to generate profits from waste. AgriMax also promotes educational webinars on the bioeconomy, and offers tips to help people recycle household food waste.

2. Binghamton Food Rescue (BFR) (United States)

Binghamton Food Rescue (BFR) collects perishable food waste and redistributes it as packaged meals and groceries to food-insecure communities in the city of Binghamton, New York. Over 21,319 kilograms (47,000 pounds) of food have been rescued since the organization's inception. The organization is encouraging community members to report local food waste so they can pick up and re-purpose it. BFR also collects food donations and delivers them to around 100 households per week.

3. Brothers Produce (United States)

Brothers Produce is the largest Texas-based food and beverage distributor, supplying goods to retailers in Texas and Louisiana. In response to the pandemic, Brothers Produce has developed a new business model where boxes of fresh produce are sold directly to customers instead of companies. This ensures that food surplus that would otherwise be thrown away is redistributed and helps to keep the business afloat.

4. City Harvest (United States)

As the world's first food rescue program, New York-based City Harvest is responding to COVID-19 by rescuing perishable produce. The organization aims to feed New York City's food insecure communities by redistributing food waste and providing educational programming. Despite the closure of over 85 of its food programs, City Harvest is still committed to feeding those in need. The organization has opened seven emergency relief sites for New York's food insecure communities, and 22 more relief sites are on their way.

5. Community Alliance with Family Farmers (CAFF) and Farmers Guild (United States)

Based in California, The Community Alliance with Family Farmers (CAFF) and Farmers Guild is a nonprofit striving to build a more sustainable food system. To do so, they engage in political advocacy and develop grassroots programs to empower farmers and local communities. To eliminate the food surplus in California's food system, CAFF works with farmers to redirect their food supply away from their usual commercial customers and into the hands of consumers. Additionally, CAFF created a spreadsheet designed to connect the state's food surplus to consumers.

6. Compass Group (United Kingdom)

Operating in over 50 countries, Compass Group is the biggest food service company globally. In response to COVID-19, Compass Group UK partnered with food recovery organizations and food safety experts to create a plan to distribute food surplus to nonprofit organizations across the United Kingdom. Within 3 weeks of the plan's inception, around 60,000 meals were donated to more than 30 national nonprofits and local relief organizations.

7. Divert (United States)

Divert is a technology company that uses data to inform solutions to minimize food waste from the retail supply chain. Divert currently partners with supermarket chain Giant to recycle perishable foods. Perishable food is removed from the supply chain and repurposed to generate clean energy. Divert also recycles all food waste that cannot go to food banks.

8. Edible York: The Abundance Project (United Kingdom)

Located in the United Kingdom, Edible York is an NGO that aims to build a healthier York community through edible gardening and horticultural workshops. The organization runs a program titled "Abundance" that collects surplus fruit that would inevitably end up in a landfill. Volunteers then redistribute the fruit to the York community. Volunteers also rescue potatoes and deliver them to the most vulnerable people and families impacted by pandemic. Additionally, Edible York is providing information on farms that have remained open for business.

9. The Felix Project (United Kingdom)

Based in London, The Felix Project is a nonprofit that collects fresh food thrown away by wholesalers, and delivers it to charities and schools. As the pandemic creates a spike in the demand from food banks in London, The Felix Project is expanding their deliveries to emergency food hubs, homeless shelters, churches and hospitals. Through these steps, they ensure that London's most vulnerable communities are fed.

10. Food Aid Foundation (Malaysia)

Malaysia-based food recovery nonprofit Food Aid Foundation distributes supply chain food surplus among the country's most vulnerable populations. They have carried out emergency food relief efforts in Malaysian neighborhoods such as Alor, Setar, Ipoh, and Penang. The organization receives donations from renowned Asian chefs such as Alex Chong, and partners with major food conglomerates like Captain Oats and Indofood to fund their initiatives.

11. Food for Soul (Italy)

Based in Italy, Food for Soul is a self-proclaimed cultural project that recovers imperfect foods from landfills in countries ranging from France to Brazil, and repurposes them into meals for the homeless, refugees, and other vulnerable communities. Seeking creative ways to encourage food waste reduction, Founder and Italian chef Massimo Bottura hosts a family-friendly Instagram cooking show that teaches viewers how to repurpose household food waste into meals.

12. Food Recovery Network (FRN) (United States)

Food Recovery Network (FRN) is a nonprofit led by college students who collect campus food waste and donate it to local nonprofits, churches, and other community organizations. FRN operates on 230 college campuses across America. Despite mass college campus closures, over 30 student chapters continue to rescue food waste. And since the beginning of the pandemic, several companies have donated their food surplus left by business closures and event cancellations. FRN also created a logistical resource guide that includes information on ways individuals and businesses can reduce their food waste.

13. FruPro (United Kingdom)

Launched in response to the pandemic, FruPro is a London-based online platform that connects major foodservice and catering suppliers to independent retailers to eliminate losses in the food supply chain. Since FruPro's launch, 36,741 packages of fresh produce have been delivered, feeding around 500,000 people. FruPro is also developing a plan to distribute food to local nonprofits and food banks.

14. The Harvard Law School Food Law And Policy Clinic (FLPC) (United States)

Directed by Emily Broad Lieb, Harvard Law Schools' Food Law and Policy Clinic (FLPC) is leading an emergency COVID-19 response effort to inform the public the pandemic's impact on food systems. The response includes informational resources analyzing opportunities for low-cost home food delivery. It also includes policy briefings urging Congress and the USDA to take legislative action to mitigate the pandemic's burden on the food system and its workers.

15. Imperfect Foods (United States)

Operating in 43 states, the San-Francisco based company, Imperfect Foods, aims to eliminate food waste by collecting blemished food rejected by grocery stores. They then redistribute it in customizable boxes to customers. As a result of COVID-19, delivery services face delays due to an increase in demand and a decrease in staff. Nonetheless, Imperfect Foods' Twitter offers daily tips on how to lower household food waste.

16. Mesa Brasil SESC (Brazil)

Mesa Brasil SESC is a Brazilian food bank network whose objective is to reduce national food waste by redistributing food surplus to food insecure Brazilian communities. Mesa Brasil's network contains over 1100 companies that include supermarkets, restaurants, and food service distributors. According to their Facebook page, "Mesa Brazil is acting with full force to combat the effects of the pandemic among the most vulnerable populations." As of April 1st, they had donated over 23,500 kilograms (52,000 pounds) of food to 148 charity organizations across the country.

17. Move for Hunger (United States)

If food is discarded during one's relocation process, Move for Hunger is available to collect and donate it to food banks. The organization connects people who are moving with a moving company to coordinate a pick up time for non-perishable food items. The service operates across the United States and parts of Canada. Since the beginning of the pandemic, Move for Hunger has expanded its operational efforts, delivering food to food banks faster than ever before.

18. Planet Food: The Real Junk Food Project York (United Kingdom)

Based in the United Kingdom, Planet Food York is a nonprofit that recovers food that would end up in a landfill. The food is then sold at their "pay-as-you-feel" food store. In the face of COVID-19, Planet Food York is partnering with local churches and food banks to deliver bags of food to the community. The food ranges from fresh produce to chocolate Easter eggs.

19. ReFED (United States)

ReFED is a U.S.- based consortium that seeks to discover policy solutions to end food waste. The organization has published numerous educational resources on the ways people can get involved to combat food waste. ReFED also hosts a weekly interactive webinar series titled "Better Together: Food System Best Practices for Navigating COVID-19" every Wednesday at 3PM EST which focuses on specific food system challenges and potential solutions.

20. Replate (United States)

Operating in more than 300 U.S. cities, Replate is a nonprofit comprised of professional drivers known as "food rescuers" who collect surplus meals from businesses and distribute them to vulnerable communities. By partnering with Beyond Meat and DoorDash during the pandemic, Replate is able to provide fresh, nutritious meals to frontline workers and food insecure communities.

21. Rock and Wrap It Up (United States)

Rock and Wrap It Up is a New York-based anti-poverty organization that works to divert excess food from stadiums, companies, and other commercial enterprises towards food banks and veterans. Since the beginning of the pandemic, Rock and Wrap it Up has collected thousands of pounds worth of food from Madison Square Garden and MetLife Stadium. As of early April, film and TV partners have donated over 2,000 additional pounds of food.

22. Second Harvest (Canada)

Second Harvest is Canada's largest food rescue organization. Second Harvest recently committed CAD$4.5 million dollars (USD $3.2 million) towards local charities and nonprofits that distribute surplus food to food insecure Canadians. The organization currently accepts food donations from companies such as Loblaw, Starbucks, and Sysco, and is working to partner with farms and smaller community stores

23. Winnow (United Kingdom)

Winnow is a technology company that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to reduce food waste in commercial kitchens. Winnow's Waste Monitor System, a food waste tracker, is used by chefs in more than 40 countries. Additionally, Winnow Vision is a system of cameras pointed at garbage bins that collects data on food waste. Through AI, Winnow has saved over USD $42 million dollars in food purchasing costs.

Reposted with permission from

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23 Organizations Eliminating Food Waste During COVID-19

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A recipient carries a box of food as others wait in line for food bank distribution for those in need during the coronavirus pandemic on April 9, 2020 in Van Nuys, California. Mario Tama / Getty Images By Aaron Mok The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has upended nearly every aspect of modern society, but especially the food system.

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MONCTON, N.B. -- City centres around the Maritimes are quiet these days as the closure of many businesses like bars and restaurants have left streets empty.

That means less garbage and food waste -- and that means rats are hungry.

"There's a lot less waste around," says Orkin Canada technical director Sean Rollo. "A lot less trash for the rodents to get into, so they're having to adapt and when they adapt they are looking for new resources."

Those new food sources are now being found around homes. Birdfeeders, compost bins, even animal waste can attract rodents.

"We don't want to discourage people from having birdfeeders, but definitely some maintenance around that birdfeeder would be advised," Rollo said. "As well as placing it as far away from the home as possible."

It's important to check around your home for small holes that may let rats inside, and they don't need much room. A rat can fit through a hole about the size of a toonie.

"If they take root inside of your home, and they've made a nest and start populating, the problem is obviously much more substantial than just seeing one or two around the outside of the property," Rollo said.

Like other cities, Halifax is seeing increased visibility of rats in some residential areas.

"A lot of people are not spending a lot of time outside," said Kenneth Penney a branch manager for Orkin in Nova Scotia. "There is less human pressure, so they are going to be around the exterior more often and looking for ways to get in."

The experts say the best thing to do is fill in any holes around your foundation, make sure there is no debris in your yard, because once they're inside they're difficult to get rid of.

Moncton fire chief Conrad Landry said rats will also chew on the electrical wires, and if those wires touch, it could create a spark similar to touching the ends of jumper cables together and that spark could cause a house fire.

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Exterminators say rats are finding new food sources around homes; birdfeeders, compost bins, and even animal waste can attract rodents.

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With so many restaurants closed during pandemic, rats look for food in residential areas

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MONCTON, N.B. -- City centres around the Maritimes are quiet these days as the closure of many businesses like bars and restaurants have left streets empty. That means less garbage and food waste -- and that means rats are hungry. "There's a lot less waste around," says Orkin Canada technical director Sean Rollo.

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The farm-labour pool has been affected by COVID, what do you think about this? 

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The farm-labour pool has been affected by COVID, what do you think about this? 

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Melina Plante has found that, on her five-hectare fruit and vegetable farm south of Montreal by the U.S. border, one experienced Guatemalan farmhand can produce more than two Quebecers.

She and her husband, Francois D'Aoust, have hired the same four Guatemalan seasonal workers year after year. They typically clock up to 70 hours per week on the farm in Havelock, Que., and though the pay is relatively low, the workers value it.

But this year, Plante said, the farmhands are stuck in Guatemala due to travel restrictions their country has imposed to limit the spread of COVID-19.

They are among the roughly 5,000 seasonal and temporary workers that Quebec's farmers' union estimates will be missing on the province's farms this year because of the pandemic, leaving Plante, D'Aoust and scores of other farmers with a tough choice: They can either reduce this year's food production or take a chance on inexperienced but eager Quebecers thrown out of work by the pandemic.

In response to the foreign labour shortage, the provincial government on April 17 announced a $45-million program to pay an extra $100 a week above regular wages as an incentive to work on a farm. About 2,800 Quebecers have so far responded to Premier Francois Legault's call.

But it is still unclear if there are enough unemployed Quebecers able and willing to do the work - and whether those who do will stick around if the economy picks up and their old jobs return.

Plante said bluntly that in the past, Quebecers have proven unreliable farmhands.

"That's been our experience - and why we turned to foreign labour .... We estimate that one Guatemalan worker can be replaced by 2.5 Quebecers," she said by phone from her farm.

The provincial program pays minimum wage, plus the $100 per week top-up and requires that applicants be available to work at least 25 hours per week. But Marcel Groleau, president of Union des producteurs agricoles, which represents about 42,000 Quebec farmers, says those kind of schedules simply won't cut it.

"It will take farms - at a minimum - 40 hours per week, per employee, to replace the foreign labour," he said in a recent interview.

The Canadian border remains open to seasonal farm workers, he explained, but many of them are having difficulty obtaining travel permits in their home countries.

Quebecers answer call to work on farms, but are they up to the task?

"The pandemic made us realize how much we rely on foreign labour - but it's been hard to attract local labour in the fields for many years now," Groleau said.

Florence Lachapelleis hoping she'll qualify for the extra $100 per week.

She had already agreed to work on Plante's farm to help replace the Guatemalan farmhands before the province created the recruiting program. The 19-year-old visual arts student from Montreal met Plante and D'Aoust through family.

Lachapelle said she got involved in environmental activism at her junior college but since the pandemic doesn't know what to do with her energy.

"I think the key to fighting climate change is through agricultural self-sufficiency and knowing how to work the earth in a respectful way," she said in a recent interview. "I really want to learn how it works."

And while people such as Lachapelle may be helping to fill a critical gap created by the pandemic, there are other fragile links in the agricultural supply chain exposed by the pandemic.

COVID-19 has highlighted the problems associated with industry concentration, particularly within the food-processing sector, Groleau said.

"There are fewer and fewer (processing plants),and the ones that are left are bigger and bigger," he said. "When there is an issue at one of them, there are serious impacts for the rest of the supply chain."

For example, the closure of a single meat packing plant in Alberta last week forced Canada to curtail beef exports to meet domestic demand. The Cargill-operated factory in Alberta has seen an outbreak linked to at least 484 cases of COVID-19s, including one death.

"We are not, at this point, anticipating shortages of beef," Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said earlier in the week, "but prices might go up.''

Aside from higher prices, Plante said she and other farmers in her network expect food shortages this fall. She and her husband have already estimated they will have to cut production this year by about a third.

Pascal Theriault, a lecturer at McGill University's farm management and technology program and vice-president of Quebec's order of agronomists, said he hopes this crisis forces Canadians to rethink their relationship with food.

"We worked on producing food at the lowest possible cost and that's all that counted," he said in a recent interview. But over the years, international supply chains controlled by a handful of big players have contributed to Canadians' alienation from the food they eat.

"I think the crisis will build awareness to eat more locally," he said. "It's not that we weren't doing it before, but now we are really paying attention to it."

Buying local could mean higher grocery bills for Canadian consumers used to seeing stores stocked with imported produce grown with cheaper labour under fewer regulations.

Canadians spend about 10 per cent of their budgets on food - one of the lowest proportions in the world, Theriault said. So there is room to pay a little more for local products - but not that much more, he said.

Lachapelle started her new job Thursday. She'll live in a trailer on Plante's farm and keep mostly to herself for two weeks to ensure she is not carrying the virus. Then when she starts what she expects will be gruelling work in the fields, she will respect physical distancing guidelines.

"I am very hard-working," she said. "I'm 19, and I think I am ready, physically and mentally. I know it's going to be a challenge. But I think it'll be will super fun!"

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 26, 2020.

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Farmers say it takes more than two Quebecers to replace one migrant worker

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Melina Plante has found that, on her five-hectare fruit and vegetable farm south of Montreal by the U.S. border, one experienced Guatemalan farmhand can produce more than two Quebecers. She and her husband, Francois D'Aoust, have hired the same four Guatemalan seasonal workers year after year.

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CoVid 19 outbreak near Vancouver, does it make you think differently about eating chicken? Why or Why not?

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Vancouver Coastal Health says 28 employees at United Poultry Company Ltd., an East Vancouver chicken processing plant, have tested positive for the COVID-19 virus.

The plant, located at 534 East Cordova Street, has been shut down by health officials.

Dr. Patricia Daly with Vancouver Coastal Health said the authority first became aware of a potential outbreak after a lab test for an employee at the plant came back positive on Sunday, April 19. Upon interviewing the infected person, Daly said her team found out the staff member had worked in the processing plant while symptomatic, prompting a public health team to be sent to the plant Monday.

On arrival, Daly said the team noted that several other workers had symptoms, so they decided to test all 71 staff members present.

That resulted in 27 more positive cases.

"There may be more cases, because there were several other staff members who were reported to be home sick yesterday," Daly said. "So we will follow up on all of the other staff as well."

B.C. provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said an investigation is underway into the outbreak and close contacts of the people who tested positive have been notified.

The plant has been shut down, and will remain so for at least 14 more days.

Cause of outbreak still under investigation

Daly said the plant is under the regulation of a federal body, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, who has its own COVID-19 guidelines.

She said it is not clear at this time whether the virus was spread through contact during work, or within a break room.

"There was evidence at the plant that employees did have access to gloves and some plastic face coverings," she said. "But we have identified that the plans that were in place were inadequate or were not appropriately executed."

There is at least one other plant owned by the same company will be inspected by Vancouver Coastal Health.

Daly said the company says there is no crossover of staff between the two plants, but it will still be inspected.

Chicken products from the plant still safe, say health officials

Health officials cite the Canadian Food Inspection Agency as saying there is no evidence that food is a source of virus transmission, so there is no recall of chicken products distributed from the plant.

"We don't have any evidence that COVID-19 can be spread from meat and from consuming products like that or from packaging on meat or chicken in this case," said Henry. She reminded people that raw poultry can have harmful bacteria on it and should be cooked and handled properly.

Bill Vanderspek, the executive director of the B.C. Chicken Marketing Board said the outbreak was "one of the worst fears we had" and said he hoped it would be the first and last plant in the province to be affected.

He said other processing plants will be able to take up the extra processing due to the plant closure and that it wouldn't have an impact on chicken availability to consumers.

"There is no shortage," Vanderspek said.

Henry repeated her message that even essential workplaces need to have precautions in place, monitor staff for illness and ensure they are taking appropriate steps to protect people who are working in those environments.

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COVID-19 outbreak discovered at Vancouver chicken processing plant | CBC News

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Vancouver Coastal Health says 28 employees at United Poultry Company Ltd., an East Vancouver chicken processing plant, have tested positive for the COVID-19 virus. The plant, located at 534 East Cordova Street, has been shut down by health officials.

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And you thought Food Waste was big during the Pandemic, check this out! 

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And you thought Food Waste was big during the Pandemic, check this out! 

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Dumped Milk, Smashed Eggs, Plowed Vegetables: Food Waste of the Pandemic

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With restaurants, hotels and schools closed, many of the nation's largest farms are destroying millions of pounds of fresh goods that they can no longer sell.

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How do you know your food supply is secure these days? 

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How do you know your food supply is secure these days? 

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It's mid-afternoon and Harold Steves has taken a break from planting seeds to take my call. He picks up while washing his hands.

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"I'm washing off dirt," he reassures me, "not COVID-19."

Steves has been a Richmond city councillor for more than 50 years, with a break to be an MLA in the early 1970s. During his short time in provincial politics, he helped establish the Agricultural Land Reserve, created in 1973 to protect millions of hectares of arable land. He established the province's first community garden the same year.

Farmland preservation, urban agriculture and food security are his passions. He's also putting his hands where his heart is - in the earth.

"I figured a long time ago that the best thing for me to do was to be involved in actually doing food security rather than just talking about it," says Steves, who has been working around the clock on his family farm.

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Food security and the call to "buy local" have taken on new significance in the time of COVID-19. The pandemic has brought into sharp focus B.C.'s dependence on foreign imports of all kinds, particularly with the U.S. government's recent attempt to block exports of protective equipment like face masks.

Empty grocery store shelves have reminded Canadians how vulnerable we are to food shortages, and how dependent we are on imports - not just from our southern neighbour, but the world.

And that inspired many residents to turn to local producers or their own green thumb for sustenance this growing season.

"It's a wake-up call. Something that we said could happen, is happening," Steves says. "The potential for a crisis like climate change and COVID-19 has been anticipated for a long time. It just came sooner than we expected."

When the Agricultural Land Reserve was created, B.C. growers produced 86 per cent of the fruit and vegetables consumed in the province, Steves says. Half a century later, only 43 per cent is grown in the province.

Today, B.C. imports 84 per cent of its broccoli and cauliflower, 76 per cent of its strawberries and 69 per cent of its lettuce and root crops from California, he says.

And as California's agriculture falters, first because of drought caused by climate change and now due to the pandemic, Steves worries about our food supply.

"People are realizing that we only have three days of food supply in Vancouver," he says. "We've concentrated on the factory farms and the large farms for too long when our production, for years, was always the small farmers. I think that's coming back and we have to promote it."
Relying on temporary foreign workers
B.C.'s agricultural industry - like California - relies on cheap labour. Statistics from 2017 show increasing dependence on temporary foreign workers, with about 7,500 agriculture workers coming from outside the country. Nationwide, Canada's agriculture sector imports tens of thousands of temporary foreign workers each year, most of them in Ontario and Quebec.

But the pandemic is raising questions about that reliance. Health authorities have been grappling with how to reconcile the need for a seasonal agriculture workforce with travel restrictions designed to reduce the flow of COVID-19 into the country. On March 20, the federal government exempted temporary foreign workers from its air travel restrictions, though they are still subject to a mandatory 14-day isolation period.

Less than two weeks later, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry announced that 14 foreign workers at a West Kelowna nursery had tested positive for the virus. By this week, the outbreak had grown to 26* workers.

Susana Caxaj, an assistant professor at the University of Western Ontario who studies migrant workers in the Okanagan, said Bylands Nurseries - where the outbreak occurred - is believed to be among the better employers using foreign labour in B.C.'s agricultural industry.

"What if there are farms where there is no interest in even reporting symptoms by the employers' part?" she says. "What we're seeing is all the ways that it is legal to cram workers together in bunkhouses, side by side, that already promotes increased risks to their health and is made exponential by the pandemic."

On April 7, the agriculture ministry released requirements for farms employing temporary foreign workers. In addition to increased handwashing and physical distancing, it requires sleeping bunks be spaced at least two metres apart and employees who become sick be moved to separate accommodation.

Caxaj is among a group of experts calling on governments to enforce public health measures for migrant agricultural workers - or else put the program on pause.

She worries that the people at the heart of our domestic food supply are also among the most vulnerable to falling ill from COVID-19.

"I am really terrified that we are going to bring them onto farms to make them really sick or die," she says. "If they want migrant agricultural workers here to work on a farm, they need to treat them as the essential workers they are and they can't be sacrificial lambs for a failed experiment. Because we still won't have food on the table plus we'll have a lot of sick people."

If farmers are going to bring migrant workers into Canada this year they should have to prove they can safely accommodate them within the new guidelines, Caxaj says.

"Even in a typical season, these workers aren't really included in public health planning. For years we've asked public health leaders to visit the farms," she says. "In B.C., those inspections are done by private inspectors and that health perspective isn't brought into monitoring potential challenges on a farm."

Instead of putting workers' lives at risk, she suggests residents could temporarily forego some of the fruits and vegetables we've grown to expect.
Looking to buy locally grown food
As an alternative, many B.C. residents are looking to their own backyards for fresh produce.

Heather O'Hara is the executive director of the BC Association of Farmers' Markets. Some market vendors have said that demand for their product has tripled this season, she says.

"Our food vendors are busy," O'Hara says. "Right now, we don't have any supply chain issues, but if we do, that's where the rubber hits the road."

The association supports 145 member markets, which in turn support local producers in selling their products.

But this year markets have hit a speed bump. While farmers markets are deemed essential services on the province's COVID-19 list, they are also social hubs in many communities and present a challenge to rules restricting gatherings to under 50 people.

That's especially true in the province's north, where the start of outdoor market season marks the end of a long winter.

"It draws a really significant crowd," said Margo Peill, who manages the Skeena Valley Farmers Market in Terrace. "We wanted to do everything we could to prevent large gatherings of people and really promote the physical distancing that's been recommended."

The Terrace market was scheduled to start early May. For the time being, its board of directors has decided to cancel all physical markets. It will re-evaluate in late May, Peill says.

In the meantime, it is among the many markets taking advantage of a new online platform offered by BC Association of Farmers' Markets to connect with customers.

The Ministry of Agriculture announced two weeks ago it would provide $55,000 to fund the initiative through its Buy BC program. It uses Local Line, an online platform designed to support food suppliers in selling directly to consumers. Markets with an online option can be found by using the "online market" feature on the BCAFM website. Orders are placed through the platform; how goods are distributed is up to individual markets.

In Terrace, producers will make their own arrangements with customers.

"It's going to be a big adjustment for vendors because a lot of them really enjoy that face-to-face interaction. It's definitely going to be a shift, but vendors are really excited that something is happening and they still have a way to connect to their customers," Peill says.

"I'm a pretty big advocate for always supporting local. I think supporting small business, supporting local producers, really trying to shrink our food system to be more regional and really reducing the distance our food travels [is] always important. Now more than ever, if that's something that people can do, I think that's great."

O'Hara says most markets are working on some form of online venue, which also allows non-food vendors - which are not included in the "essential" designation - to reach customers. Whether the online platform complements or replaces in-person markets is up to individual markets.

Two hours down the highway in Smithers, the Bulkley Valley Farmers Market is continuing its outdoor markets as what it describes as a "grab-and-go food re-supply station." It suggests pre-ordering with vendors to speed up shopping and is also working to move some vendors online.

Joe Hug is a Smithers-based farmer who plans to sell through the market, as well as local retail outlets and weekly garden boxes, which he begins distributing in July. He's figuring out how Healthy Hugs Organics can upscale production to meet increased demand.

"Our vegetable boxes are almost full already and usually that doesn't happen until maybe June," says Hug, who has been busy planting seeds in his greenhouse. He's increased seedlings by nearly 4,000 plants, up 10 to 15 per cent from previous years and is currently calculating how many additional garden boxes he could distribute.

"Now we're in a situation where we find out how dependent we really are on important sources from far away. Not just food, but our medical supplies," he says. "We've got to realize, things that we really need to sustain us, like medical supplies and food, we need to be able to produce here."
Growing your own food
In addition to buying local, many B.C. residents are looking to grow their own veggies. In a video posted to its website, Vancouver-based West Coast Seeds describes "a huge surge in demand for seeds and gardening products" in response to COVID-19.

"Suddenly, it seems like gardening, preparation and food security are more urgent than ever," the video says. The company says it's working overtime to keep up with orders, but increased demand combined with reduced staffing to accommodate physical distancing is creating shipping delays of up to 45 days.

While seasoned gardeners plant seeds or anxiously await supplies, some communities are encouraging residents to pick up gardening tools for what may be the first time. In Bella Bella, Heiltsuk non-profit Qqs Projects Society is providing seeds and soil to residents in what has been dubbed "Granny Gardens" - a modern take on the Victory Gardens of the first and second world wars.

"There's a ton of anxiety and uncertainty in the air. We all feel it. Bella Bella is remote and our supply chains and connectivity to the outside world feel tenuous as we see the commercial services that bring our freight, groceries, and so much more being scaled back," executive director Jess Housty said in a Twitter post.

"The #GrannyGarden movement is an act of love in a time when many of the things we rely on have become unstable. We're growing love and growing food and carrying on our ancestors' work while we do it."

A community sawmill is producing planter boxes and will be providing online gardening tutorials.

The City of Victoria is also equipping novice gardeners with the tools to begin growing. Councillors in the "City of Gardens" voted to repurpose some of its greenhouse space to growing food rather than flowers. The seedlings will be distributed to residents along with soil and educational resources.

"We are transitioning 20 percent of the capacity so that we can grow 50,000 to 75,000 food plants from seedlings that we'll distribute to the public along with growing materials and education materials," Coun. Jeremy Loveday says. The focus has been on crops that do well in B.C.'s coastal climate and can be grown in containers.

"Living on an island, I think there's already an awareness of food security issues. This crisis has brought that more acutely into focus. I've heard from and seen many residents who want to get their hands dirty and be a part of the solution."

Steves applauds Victoria's efforts in producing the seedlings. The next step, he says, will be finding more land.

In Richmond, 400 people are currently on a waiting list for community garden plots. The city is working to address the shortfall with 50 to 60 new plots expected to become available this year. Council is currently discussing an additional 200 plots for Richmond's Garden City Lands, 55 hectares of green space located within the Agricultural Land Reserve. They are unlikely to be ready before next year.

At Steveston Stock and Seed Farm, Steves has adapted to sell eggs and seeds through a farm-gate honour system. "And we're just about out," he says. "We sold double what we normally sell in the first month. We weren't anticipating anything like this."

His grass-fed beef is sold out until June, he adds.

"The number of people wanting locally adapted vegetable varieties was already growing. Now it is increasing more rapidly."

*Story updated on April 15 at 3:36 p.m. to adjust the number of foreign workers that have tested positive for the virus to 26 from 20.

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susana caxaj university of western ontario

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COVID-19 Sparks Push to Improve BC's Food Security | The Tyee

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It's mid-afternoon and Harold Steves has taken a break from planting seeds to take my call. He picks up while washing his hands. Announcements, Events & more from Tyee and select partners "I'm washing off dirt," he reassures me, "not COVID-19."

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What do you think? Will you join in the gardening hype during your isolation?

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As national lockdowns sowed economic chaos, several seed banks, garden centres and urban farming organizations reported spikes in website traffic and overwhelming digital orders

Diane Archer wanted to grow her own food long before her husband's restaurant closed, her six-year-old son's school shut down and she was forced to nix the lease on her downtown Pilates studio. The COVID-19 pandemic merely accelerated her garden's timeline. After a mid-March snowmelt, the 40-year-old mother of two gazed outside at her backyard, a shady but workable plot in St. Catharines, Ont., and made the decision. "Having some extra food coming in this summer sounds like a pretty good idea, rather than having to worry about paying for our next meal," she figured. So on a chilly Sunday morning, she drove to the local Canadian Tire, bought up seeds for lettuce, arugula, tomatoes, beets and kale, and began planting that week with her son.

Archer is one of many worried Canadians turning to their yards for comfort food. As national lockdowns sowed economic chaos, Canada's garden industry boomed, as several seed banks, garden centres and urban farming organizations reported spikes in website traffic and overwhelming digital orders. West Coast Seeds, an organic seed farm in British Columbia, sent a letter to customers warning of delays due to "a remarkable surge in demand for seeds and gardening equipment." In the Maritimes, the family running Halifax Seed noticed a similar trend. "Gardening is a natural self-distancing activity," says Ali Tregunno, who runs the company's branch in Saint John, N.B. "We're getting people who have never grown their own food asking, 'What's the simplest way to start?' We're getting that question now more than ever."

READ: 'Am I at risk if I pass someone on a crowded sidewalk?' (and 11 other coronavirus questions)

It's a trend Arlene Hazzan Green has seen coming for a decade. Eleven years ago, after learning about the threat of peak oil, she and her husband quit the film industry to become edible-garden landscapers and created the Backyard Urban Farm Company. Since then, she's seen homegrown farms sprout from obscurity into the mainstream. Since the coronavirus outbreak, she says, their website traffic has doubled, with new and existing clients voicing concern over quality control at supermarkets.

Hazzan Green divides the surge into two groups: haves and have-nots. While the latter group comprises marginalized communities whose food stability was precarious even before the pandemic, the "haves" are those whose jobs are not necessarily threatened, and who farm their yards as a hobby, to educate (and spend time with) their children, or simply because they can. Miranda Black, who works at a downtown Toronto magazine and lives on the second floor of a rental house, falls into this category. With her landlord's blessing, and the co-operation of her downstairs neighbours, she and her partner spent several days in March pulling up a cinder-block patio on the property and digging a 100-sq.-foot garden in its stead. "There's definitely more of a need for food security at this time," Black says, noting that marginalized groups will be hit hardest by food shortages and rising costs. "By removing ourselves from having to go to the grocery store so often, it will remove some stress from the system."

But most Canadians probably won't need to worry about food shortages. On March 20, the federal government announced its travel restrictions would not apply to essential businesses such as food transportation, nor to seasonal agricultural workers, which eased fears among Canadian farmers who rely on migrant workers. (All temporary foreign workers will still have to self-isolate for 14 days upon entering the country, but it's not yet clear whether that will cause significant delays.)

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"We're going to have access to food, no problem, but it's not going to be perfect," says Sylvain Charlebois, the director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University in Halifax, who studies food supply and management. At an average grocery store, he says, Canadians may sometimes notice shortages of certain items such as flour and eggs, which have already been hastily scooped up by anxious shoppers. Fresh produce, which can't be hoarded, may rise in price, he says, but that's due to a Canadian dollar hammered by plummeting oil prices and the coincidentally timed petroleum price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia: "That's why the Canadian dollar is so weak. It has nothing to do with COVID-19."

Still, Charlebois understands why people would find comfort in their backyards. He grew up on a farm, harvesting corn and beets every year. "Growing a garden will make you feel good and make you feel in control, and that's worth a lot," he says.

It's certainly true for Archer. Spending an hour each day in her garden has proven a relaxing break from the stress of raising two young boys with no stable income. She's even started keeping her eyes open for weeds she can forage. "Knowing I'll be able to grow more and be more experienced-it's building toward a more food-secure future for my family," she says, "and that feels good."

This article appears in print in the May 2020 issue of Maclean's magazine with the headline, "A place to grow." Subscribe to the monthly print magazine here.

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Some Canadians are turning to their yards to grow their food during the COVID-19 pandemic - Macleans.ca

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As national lockdowns sowed economic chaos, several seed banks, garden centres and urban farming organizations reported spikes in website traffic and overwhelming digital orders Diane Archer wanted to grow her own food long before her husband's restaurant closed, her six-year-old son's school shut down and she was forced to nix the lease on her downtown Pilates studio.