Young Progressives Food Security Suggestion
Local activist group Young Progressives have proposed a Food Security Program saying they believe it is important for Bermuda to have a “minimal sustainable agriculture and food provision policy to feed its people during time of crisis.”
Their proposal includes hydroponic gardens, a special purpose herb garden, the development of a parish community garden and orchard, aquaculture and more.
The Young Progressive Group, which is not affilated with the Progressive Labour Party, said they hope their recommendations will encourage Government to kick start the movement towards food sustainability in the island.
Their recommendations follow below:
The Bermuda Young Progressives believes it is important and urgent for Bermuda to have a minimal sustainable agriculture and food provision policy to feed its people during time of crisis. We believe there should be an immediate acceleration in cooperation with the Department of Agriculture a fruit and vegetable vine Parish planting program.
The highlights of our proposals are:
- a. Community vine Gardens in each Parish under the direction of the Parish Council.
- b. Development of a community Hydroponics program in each Parish or at Southside.
- c. A special medical herb and seed garden at the Botanical Gardens.
- d. An aquaculture program at available foreshore locations.
- e. A Government program to provide free distribution of fruit trees to residents.
Our program recommendations are primarily focused around our proposal for a renewed establishment of Parish Council Community Centers in each Parish and use of volunteers such as the Rainbow Scouts and other Youth organizations. A Parish Agriculture officer would be assigned to each Parish Community Centre to assist in the development of a parish community garden and orchard (a minimum of ½ acre attached to the Centre).
Our program proposed to use vertical farming. Historically Bermudians have used modification of the shoreline to store and catch fish in carved and natural ponds. We would like to see Parish fish farms. We also wish to see a fish farm pond or foreshore fish trap which will offer free food to needy Parish residents as well as selling the excess crop production. (Paid for by Agriculture and Fishery)
Hydroponics
We would like to see the Department of Agriculture and the Environment become proactive and support Community educational groups who are trying to establish hydroponic gardens.Hydroponics allows food to be grown without soil or horizontal land use it can be developed vertically with vines. We are requesting the Agriculture Department be instructed to operate in a proactive manner to facilitate hydroponics in Bermuda.
We believe the country should be committed to hydroponics and aquaculture for a strategic element in Bermuda food security. We call on Government to exempt imports of all hydroponic equipment free of duty.Herbal Farm
We are pursuing an initiative for a special allotted herbal plot of land at the Botanical Gardens. We feel a few thousand square feet of terrace type space will be sufficient. Each species of herbs will be identified, documented and photographed through the growing seasons with an educational CD and DVD produced at the end of the first year.The special garden will be used educate the youth to grow, and harvest tropical, medicinal and medical herb type plants. From that special purpose herb garden we would provide a herbal seed bank to be established at the Botanical Gardens as well as providing free seeds and forms of tea to each of the Parish Councils for seed distribution to residents of those Parishes.
Foreign Farm Program
We are proposing the establishment of farms in Canada and Africa where people on work release programs can be rehabilitated through farming and learning farming techniques. We would propose to start with some sort of orchard type farm like apples which can be exported back to Bermuda without much processing.Food farmed from those overseas farms can be sent back to Bermuda to feed the homeless and programs at the Salvation Army. We have an additional charitable component which had been developed in the past by the Christian Food Foundation. The foreign currency needed to purchase the farms should be available without foreign currency tax.
Summary
These preliminary recommendations will allow the Government to kick start the movement towards food sustainability in our island and should begin a practical discussion on how we can provide a minimal food security for our people.
Any idea who the Young Progressives actually are and what their goals are?
Any websites to check out?
What about using some of the Islands as farms, Government run farms? There is plenty of space if they clear the land, for animals and vegatables. At the moment, Islands like Ports Island don’t really serve much purpose.
very well done. something that’s been on my mind for some time. and there are very many options today for when space is scarce.
Great ideas….but we cannot afford another Government department running another cost centre. Unfortunately this is the time for retrenching not for expanding. On the other hand, however, I do have concerns that when we have no more foreign currency income from tourism and insurance, i.e. no US dollars with which to make purchases overseas, we may have to look at the Young Progressive’s suggestion seriously.
Even though I don’t know who this group is, they have some of the most intelligent suggestions I have heard to date. VERY common sense solutions, too bad they not running the government
The Irony is the government is using them………
No they aren’t as there ideas are opposite to the current ways of thinking of our government you know out of the box thinking something not currently being done. I
I was having a discussion a few weeks ago with a fellow student on her dissertation. She is planning on going back home to Trinidad and look at food security there and suggested that maybe I should look into doing the same. Her reaction when I told her that we didn’t have any sort of program in place – surprise and shock. You would think that in a world where there are wars being fought over possession of oil, where China is buying up land in Africa for future food production and natural disasters are being increasingly frequent, that our government would have the common sense to maybe at least look into the feasibility of creating said program and publishing a report as to why or why not they would go ahead with this. It would also create a few jobs – something that is more than welcome at this time.
with all these golf courses just sitting around and all….
Props for some excellent and progressive ideas! However, I’m told there are just 640 acres left as designated farmland in Bda… yet only 300 acres are being farmed at present. Why aren’t all 640 acres farmed? That’s where I would start….
We may not need all that acreage…The YP group mentioned Hydrophonics…Search Vertical Hydrophinics …with limited land availability why not build up rather than out.
Sorry…Repeat after me….Hydroponics.
Here’s an interesting article on LED greenhouses. Pretty darn cool!!
“PlantLab claim the growth rate of their “high value and low volume” greenhouse plants are three times faster than under natural conditions, using 90 percent less water, and with zero need for pesticides, not mention exempt from extreme climate change. Perfect for doomsday bunkers, also with practical use for right now. A small, 1,075 square ft. building set up for sunless farming could feed their entire town of 140,000, says Plantlab spokesman Gertjan Meeuws, imagining stores with their own dedicated sunless farms, eliminating the energy expenditure of transporting food from rural farms to cities.”
http://www.psfk.com/2011/04/farming-goes-sunless-with-led-greenhouses.html
Most of these recommendations have already been made in one form or another in the report Agriculture’s Role in Bermuda’s Future released last November (http://bernews.com/2010/11/full-report-bermudas-agricultural-crisis/) and some of them are being implemented by Greenrock’s Healthy Harvest campaign which is currently in its 2nd Phase of implementation.
The Island would benefit greatly from these recommendations but it must be said that once again there appears to be a lot of overlap in research/campaigns of Not-for Profit groups. The Island would benefit more from greater collaboration of these groups and their campaigns especially in these difficult economic times. I would encourage relevant members of Young Progressives to contact Greenrock info@greenrock.org to find out more about their campaign which is already in full swing.
Great to see some…..some discusion going on here. I have been say this for 40 years but as the stuff hits the fan people start to slow the speed.
I use the word “Irony’ often……………………………………
I am a hydroponic enthusiast eager to start my farm in Smiths. The only problem is… Capital! I have the land, the business plan, the enthusiasm, I just need the capital! I have an American Hydoponic company willing to help consult on my project as well…. Again, just need captial (lol)! The start up needed is $120k; $100k to purchase the greenhouse, ship it, and build it. The $20k is for operational costs as plants take 6/8 weeks fully mature and obviously you need a cushion while waiting. Who’s in??
Post a website or email/contact info. Let’s have a look at your business plan. Finding capital is the easy part. Building a profitable business (in Bermuda) … not so easy.
Sure! If you post your email, I’d be happy to share, but only if you can help. I do not want to post my email on this public forum as I am trying to keep low key about my plans in full.
@ need help!!! – wah ya growin bra? lmao…
All legit!! Fruits/veg!!!
Hope you will be carefull with the use of chemicals and or steriods to excellerate growth as this could be a health issue in the future.
LOL
I suspect this is a reboot of the old PLP youth group which faded away a few years ago. If the past is anything to go by then this is probably written by older party members pretending to be young people as was the case with their old blog.
Wow. This is refreshing…both the Young Progressive’s suggestions and the comments thereafter. For years I too have been encouraging my colleagues to “grown their own” and it largely falls on deaf ears. With wars soon to be fought over food and fresh water, millions of acres being purchased by corporations with the expressed intent of securing food for their home country (thousands of miles away), weather disruptions in the US (excess winter snow), Russia (fire), Australia (floods, cyclones), China (drought), India (drought), Pakistan (drought)…the writing is on the wall folks.
I am cultivating more than a half acre in my spare time and encourage everyone who eats to either do so or support someone who does so. Four times in the last 12 years food could not be delivered to Bermuda (9/11, boat failures, hurricanes). With only 4 weeks supply on island, what will happen if (when) there is a lengthy disruption – manmade or natural?
We take food for granted yet most can’t fathom skipping a meal let alone going a day or, dare I say a week without eating.
Culture quickly degraded savage in the face of no food. The skill required to grow it can’t be turned on like the tap either. Find out where the lifeboats are BEFORE the Titanic hits the iceberg folks…
GREAT idea!!! I’ve been thinking about starting a vegetable garden myself. The way things are going, we should all consider personal veggie gardens. I suspect in a VERY short while, we’ll be needing them.
About Time. Good Stuff Young Progressives!