Agriculture has always been an important activity for settlers and Gitxsan in the Upper Skeena, where deriving sustenance from local soils and waters is central to the existence and identity of the people living here.

Although agriculture is not as prominent an economic sector as it once was in the Upper Skeena, recently there is a new desire from residents to reevaluate the potential for agricultural activities, and to move once again from sustenance-based to income-generating endeavors.

A group of locals recently completed work on a process that has helped focus the resurgence in agriculture we are witnessing. Gaining Ground, The Upper Skeena Sustainable Agriculture Plan, was completed in September, 2002. The work in the plan, and the idea for placing emphasis on agricultural endeavors, came from the residents of the Upper Skeena as described in two community economic development (CED) planning documents, Action 2000 (1998) and Beyond 2000 (1999).

Those CED documents clearly laid out the values and vision that people in the Upper Skeena hold dear: kinship, a love of the land, learning by doing, working on the land, a rural lifestyle, youth as future decision-makers, and creating the circumstances so our children can continue the way of life we have created locally. It is in the context of these values and vision that work under Gaining Ground took place.

The approximately 6,500 people living in the Upper Skeena have a number of unique population attributes that are relevant when discussing CED plans such as sustainable agriculture:
the population is younger than the Canadian and BC average, with more than 70% of residents under the age of 30,
the population numbers do not demonstrate the wild swings typical of resource-based communities dependent on "boom or bust" economies - people tend to stay here through good times and bad,
the level of formal education is low amongst young people, with less than half those who begin secondary school graduating with an academic certificate.

Unemployment in the Upper Skeena is characterized as "extreme" by Human Resources Development Canada. Overall rates are in the 60% range. Some reserves experiencing rates of more than 90%.

The key in Gaining Ground was to match the values and vision of the residents with the demographic and economic indicators so that progress in our agriculture sector fits the local conditions.

A great advantage is that agriculture has had a storied past in the Upper Skeena. The Kispiox Valley Farmer’s Institute was one of the first of its kind established in the province (1929) and a lively export market to urban areas such as Prince Rupert took place in the first half of the century. The fertile soil remains but the export and local markets have diminished. Only three farms in the area are full-time, financially self-supporting, commercial operations for their owners.

There still remain, however, many who derive a portion of their income from their land through agriculture, and many use what they produce to barter for other goods or services. It is the collective local knowledge that is being kept alive by these operations that will form the basis for a renewed sustainable agriculture sector in the Upper Skeena.

World, Canadian and BC agriculture trends point towards markets that suit our local situation. Many issues revolve around food security, and a concern about food safety, that have created momentum in the area of community-supported agriculture: the establishment of marketing cooperatives and the burgeoning organic agriculture sector.

Work conducted on a local consumer questionnaire also points to the fact that there is a local market, as well as an export market, for the types of farm products that can be successfully, sustainably grown and raised on the lands of the Upper Skeena.

It is clear from the work done under Gaining Ground that there are current producers and potential producers who want to do more in the local agriculture scene. There are also consumers in the Upper Skeena who would buy local farm produce, there is a market segment outside of the Upper Skeena who buy the type of products that can be grown and raised here, and there is a considerable segment of our large youth population who are interested in agriculture.

All of these findings bode well for a revitalized role for sustainable agriculture in our local economy. A key next step to the revitalization will be successfully implementing the recommendations in Gaining Ground that came from the people living in the Upper Skeena. It is up to us.

(Doug Donaldson is a council member of the Village of Hazelton, a community development activist, and small business owner.)

Gaining Ground, The Upper Skeena Sustainable Agriculture Plan is available in CD-ROM format from the Upper Skeena Development Centre in Hazelton, 842-6110.