Growing Green is interested in developing some of the themes in its premise into discussion papers.

An analysis of "alternative" farms in British Columbia

Some farmers have responded to social and environmental concerns by changing management practices to capitalize on consumer interest for food that is raised according to specific environmental or ethical standards.  These farms are supposed to reflect values that go beyond the financial return from selling commodities to the market to include public goods like wildlife habitat, soil conservation, land stewardship, clean water, or rural culture.  These "alternative" farms sell products differentiated by their method of production.  For the free range-egg producer or the organic vegetable grower, one egg or vegetable is simply not substitutable for any other product. 

Growing Green has found little research that systematically describes such alternative farms.  At present it is difficult to assess whether such farms are simply fringe anomalies or whether these producers represent the beginnings of a parallel food production system that is driven by a different set of forces and thus has different policy, research and other requirements than the mainstream system.  

Link to PDF documents

• Mar 2004 Alternative Farming in BC (to come)