Schools Mobility Review
June 2, 2022Whitehorse 2040 – Official Community Plan Review
June 3, 2022
The City’s 2020 Local Food and Urban Agriculture Study (LFUAS) provides a 10-year work plan that identifies 8 goals and 67 potential actions that the City can lead, or support other organizations and residents to implement. The study is structured around the 7 local food system components of: production, wild harvesting, processing and preservation, distribution and retailing, nutrition support, consumption, and resource recovery. View the LFUAS documents through the links below:
Developing the LFUAS involved an extensive 4-year research and engagement process. The ideas identified in the Potential Actions document range in size and complexity, from exploring tweaks to existing City policies and regulations to assessing new locations for agricultural land uses.
The LFUAS is one of several studies helping to inform the Whitehorse 2040 review process for updating the 2010 Official Community Plan, and is an implementation item of the 2015 Whitehorse Sustainability Plan and 2015 Community Economic Development Strategy.
Financial support for the study was provided by the Canada-Yukon Growing Forward 2 Fund and the Canadian Agriculture Partnership.
Engagement for the LFUAS has included interviews with staff at governments, associations, businesses, and individuals working on food and agriculture topics. The public was invited to participate in 2 public online surveys and 3 focus group sessions:
- Public Survey #1 closed on September 2, 2016. The survey asked residents about how they participate in the local food system, challenges they have encountered with policies and regulations, and interests for future food pursuits. A total of 159 people responded.
- Public Survey #2 closed on May 15, 2017. Questions covered a mix of topics including local food access and consumption, definitions for ‘local food’, community gardens, and City compost. A total of 296 people responded.
- Focus Group Sessions 1 and 2: two sessions were held in the fall of 2017. The first was to meet with hen owners to review and discuss current hen and coop regulations, and explore potential bylaw revisions. The second session was to meet with beekeepers to review existing regulations and discuss potential new allowances.
- Focus Group Session 3: a third session was held in the fall of 2019 in collaboration with the Commercial & Industrial Land Study to discuss the specific industry needs of the indoor agriculture and processing sectors.
The benefits of supporting local food and urban agriculture are numerous, and extend beyond just increasing food supply, for the ways they can:
- Be good for the economy by creating employment in the ‘green’ sector, providing job diversity, and keeping food revenues within our city.
- Be good for the environment by reducing the distance that food travels from source to table.
- Connect residents to their food system by providing visible and accessible opportunities for demonstration, learning, and employment.
- Encourage accountability by connecting consumers to nearby producers, allowing residents to ask questions and learn about the inputs and methods used to produce food.
- Provide opportunities for social cohesion and inclusion by bringing people together in gardens, markets, and kitchens to grow and enjoy food, while building skills and relationships.
- Provide connection to land, nature, and culture by promoting outdoor activity that involves growing food and harvesting wild foods and medicines in wilderness areas.
- Increase self-sufficiency by building local capacity for production and reducing reliance on imported foods.
