Buying local food is not a mandate of the City of Richmond, is not tracked by the Richmond School District and is only a recommendation at Richmond Hospital.
The BC NDP wants to change all that with a private member's bill - known as the B.C. Local Food Act - introduced this month to the B.C. Legislature. In the unlikely event it passed, a set of guidelines to procure local food purchases at government institutions would be established.
Metro Vancouver has adopted a similar, more symbolic, policy.
The bill aims to increase the economic and environmental value of agricultural land by giving farmers a greater share of the local market. The NDP says other jurisdictions, such as Ontario and Washington State, are ahead of B.C. in terms of local food procurement.
Exactly how much local food procurement should be mandated as well as the definition of local was not specified in the bill, which also called for the re-introduction of the Buy BC program.
The City of Richmond has a number of catering contracts to provide food and services to city hall, but does not directly mandate any amount of local food be purchased.
"In general, we are committed to ensuring that cost/value for the taxpayer are primary considerations in our purchasing decisions, which a policy providing local preference would conflict with," said spokesperson Ted Townsend in an email.
Townsend added that while the city encourages local purchases, it is not always practical. Instead, promoting agriculture as a whole, through events and programs, is how the city supports local farms.
At the Richmond School District, individual schools are given a budget and are free to do what they want vis-a-vis food procurement, according to spokesperson David Sadler.
At Richmond Hospital the multinational catering company Sodexo has a contract with Vancouver Coastal Health Authority to provide standardized food throughout the region. According to spokesperson Anna Marie D'Angelo, Sodexo uses about 25 per cent B.C. products and VCHA "favours" local procurement as it's more nutritional and has a greater financial benefit than imports.
Colin Dring, director of the Richmond Food Security Society, said local food purchases have many positive spinoffs, particularly for the City of Richmond.
"Price point is one thing, but if the city is spending money on local procurement, the policies of cheap, inexpensive food must be balanced against social development, food security and agriculture policies," said Dring.
He said a bill like this (which echoes one passed in Ontario last November) likely wouldn't fix "the broken food system" but rather serve to raise awareness as well as provide a model to work with in the future. He likened it to a springboard effect.
Coun. Harold Steves said the city's purchases are relatively small, but if the bill passed the impact could be great overall.
"Most B.C. farms are exporting and you get much less money as opposed to retailing to a local processor or facilitator. You effectively cut out a middle man," said Steves.
Dring said about 85 per cent of Richmond's crops are berries for export. The bill would also aim to diversify local crops.
Richmond farmer Bill Zylmans said he is not enamoured with the idea of more legislation related to farming. He said working directly with local residents and institutions is all that is required. He noted the Spuds in Tubs program that connects farmers like himself to young students to teach and learn about vegetables.
Zylmans said there are also limitations to local food procurement, particularly if the definition of local is a smaller radius.
"In Richmond our soil and irrigation tells us what we can and can't grow," said Zylmans, noting berries are the best crop while space for root crops is maxed out.
Dring said Richmond was initially a local market without mass exports, with the exception of fish.
The NDP is hoping the bill works in much of the same way a local food procurement policy does in the District of Saanich.
According to the policy, the municipality defined local food as that which is grown in B.C. and claimed it would "ensure that when practical, both operationally and economically, 40 per cent of purchases shall be local."
