What is agriculture and how important is it to the Boundary region?
If this question were asked in 1912-1913 the answer might be, “If we didn’t have agriculture we couldn’t live in this area.” Most everything was shipped by rail out of the region and between 1912 and 1913 the Boundary area shipped 350 rail cars full of agricultural products worth 35 million dollars. Yet, the people who lived here had enough local food to sustain themselves. Now that’s important!
What is the answer to the same question in 2010 – almost 100 years later?
In 2010, most people are only slightly concerned with where their food comes from and expect food to be at the store every time they go shopping; most people are happy with the quality and selection of food. However, documentaries such as Food Inc. and The Meatrix reveal questionable practices used in industrial farms and processing plants and the lower-grade quality of our food is a growing concern. People now acknowledge increasing incidents of health problems is directly related to the quality of the food we consume.
On August 6, 2010 Russia announced no grain would be exported after fires and droughts ravaged its arable land. At the same time floods prevented grain crops from being planted in our grain belts. Without delay the price of grain doubled and even more people were concerned?
If we fast-forward to 2025 what changes are we likely to see?
Perhaps peak oil, polluted or dried up water aquifers, loss of topsoil, and GMO’s in agriculture. How will this affect our food supply? Will our answer to the question, “What is agriculture and how important is it to the Boundary region” be the same as in 1912-13 — “If we didn’t have agriculture we couldn’t live here.” Think about this!
