Lenore Newman wants to expand the study of farmland.
Newman, the Canada Research Chair in Food Security and the Environment at the University of the Fraser Valley, wants to explore the value of British Columbia’s agricultural land reserve.
“I think the important background there is that I really see the agricultural land reserve as like an investment. It’s like B.C. went and bought a GIC that pays off in vegetables,” Newman said.
“We decided to put all this land aside and it’s going to farm for us. My research goal is how do we make the most of that investment? How do we make this industry as strong as it can be, the best crops, the best returns and the best value added, agritourism, all of the spinoffs.”
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She realized after starting a research centre at the Fraser Valley university that there is considerable interest in how to get the most out of farmland and what people were doing around the world.
In her research, Newman has found that a lot of agritourism and farm-to-market activities exist.
“A good example, the farm stores in and around Abbotsford, they’re a big part of the food system here and they’re big economic drivers and people come from the city for them,” she said.
Several factors are necessary for that model to work, including being near a city with a large enough population base while also having a stable farm base.
“So, you need something like the agricultural land reserve and they’re actually quite unusual. Not many regions have that strong agritourism base,” Newman said.
