Derrick Rabethge
City/Township Council · Kitchener Ward 2
Back to candidatesFood Systems & Security
In the context of growing pressure for economic development and the connected loss of farmland, what role do municipalities and the Region hold in promoting local food livelihoods, production, and processing?ranked from highest to lowest importance
- Promote and support low-barrier spaces for local producers to distribute and sell food
- Encourage and support local landowners to rent to newcomer farmers
- Develop a local food strategy, including research on how land-use change affects the food system
- Partner with other levels of government to develop local food hubs that reduce costs and barriers for small businesses
- Leave local food livelihoods to the private market
How should municipalities and the Region approach food insecurity and affordability?select up to 3 per part
A. Access to food
- Public access to food is primarily a provincial/federal and charitable-sector responsibility
- Partner with local charities, non-profits, and other organizations to strengthen access to food and redistribution of surplus food and produce for low-income residents, Incentives for residents to Acquire Backyard chickens by reducing the cost of permiting, as well as developing a program for backyard gardens that could maybe offset property tax, or other incentives. These are easy measures that can be undertaken to help bring down the affordability crisis. Affordability heavily lands at the feet of the Provincial and Federal government.
B. Access to land for growing food
- Make public lands (Regional and municipal) available for sustenance food provisioning, including in urban and peri-urban spaces as cities expand
- Enable access to land and resources for local people who want to grow their own food (e.g. the community-garden model)
- Encourage and support private landowners to make lots available for food provisioning