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Are you concerned about food security on Mayne Island?
With supply chains becoming increasingly tight, we only have food on the island for about 2 days of supply. less than 3% of the food we consume here is actually produced or grown on Mayne Island. The tariff wars are threatening the source of over 50% of our food supply (California). If Trump does not do us in, the California wild fires and droughts will. We are not a big island, but according to the 2021 Census by Statistics Canada, Mayne Island has 1,035 private dwellings. Excluding permanently unsuitable land (steep terrain, rocky outcrops, wetlands, infrastructure, roads, parks, etc.) and forests, we have about 7 square kilometers of land that is suitable for food production, including about 4-5 square km in the Agricultural Land Reserve. Assuming about half of this (300 to 400 hectares) could be turned to vegetables and fruit production and further, assuming typical food production yields per hectare, this could yield 3 to 8 million kg of plant food per year. A person typically consumes 300 to 400 kg of plant-based food per year (fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes). So we could feed: 7,500 to 26,000 people from plant-based food alone. We could be exporting food! Just to feed 1200 persons with 100% on-island plant-based food would require about 42 hectares.
So here’s the question: while we might never achieve 300-400 hectares under food production, and perhaps not even 42, what could we actually achieve? After air and water, food is an essential. Where should we start?
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1 Reply
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Indeed, it would be great if we could get more food locally produced. Possibly if we have a bigger farm with a bigger production capacity? Whould that reduce the overall cost?
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