IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v7y2010i6p2653-2665d8705.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Health and Nutritional Evaluation of Changes in Agriculture in the Past Quarter Century in British Columbia: Implications for Food Security

Author

Listed:
  • Aleck Ostry

    (Social Sciences, Department of Geography, University of Victoria, Victoria, V8W 3R4, Canada)

  • Kathryn Morrison

    (Population Health Lab, Spatial Pattern & Analysis Research Lab, Graduate Studies, Department of Geography, University of Victoria, Victoria, V8W 3R4, Canada)

Abstract

This paper describes change in local food production in British Columbia with a focus on changes in the production of foods recommended for increased consumption by nutritionists. We determine, in one of the most productive agricultural provinces in Canada, whether secular trends in agricultural land use and food production, over the past quarter century, have resulted in increased production of foods recommended by nutritionists as more healthy and nutritious. In particular we are concerned with estimating the extent to which changes in agriculture and food production are congruent with official nutrition advice to avoid less healthy foods and to consume more vegetables, fruit, and whole grains. We demonstrate, using regularly collected agricultural census data, in spite of nutritionists’ advocacy for improved access to locally produced fruits, vegetables, and grains, since 1986, that BC agriculture is moving firmly in the opposite direction with greater production of animal fats, and hay and grain for animal feed and much reduced production of traditional fruits, vegetables, and grains designed mainly for human consumption. While nutritionists advise us to increase consumption especially of whole grains, vegetables and fruit, local production capacity of these foods in BC has decreased markedly between 1986 and 2006. In conclusion, there is a structural disconnect between the kinds of foods produced in BC and the nutritional needs of the population.

Suggested Citation

  • Aleck Ostry & Kathryn Morrison, 2010. "A Health and Nutritional Evaluation of Changes in Agriculture in the Past Quarter Century in British Columbia: Implications for Food Security," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 7(6), pages 1-13, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:7:y:2010:i:6:p:2653-2665:d:8705
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/7/6/2653/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/7/6/2653/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Zick, Cathleen D. & Smith, Ken R. & Fan, Jessie X. & Brown, Barbara B. & Yamada, Ikuho & Kowaleski-Jones, Lori, 2009. "Running to the Store? The relationship between neighborhood environments and the risk of obesity," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 69(10), pages 1493-1500, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Austin Boyle & Charles Barrilleaux & Daniel Scheller, 2014. "Does Walkability Influence Housing Prices?," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 95(3), pages 852-867, September.
    2. Sangeetha Madhavan & Shelley Clark & Sara Schmidt, 2021. "Single mothers coping with food insecurity in a Nairobi slum," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 58(13), pages 2703-2720, October.
    3. Calvin P Tribby & Harvey J Miller & Barbara B Brown & Carol M Werner & Ken R Smith, 2017. "Analyzing walking route choice through built environments using random forests and discrete choice techniques," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 44(6), pages 1145-1167, November.
    4. Gerlinde Grasser & Delfien Dyck & Sylvia Titze & Willibald Stronegger, 2013. "Objectively measured walkability and active transport and weight-related outcomes in adults: a systematic review," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 58(4), pages 615-625, August.
    5. Pengxiang Zhao & Mei-Po Kwan & Suhong Zhou, 2018. "The Uncertain Geographic Context Problem in the Analysis of the Relationships between Obesity and the Built Environment in Guangzhou," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-20, February.
    6. Kolodinsky, Jane M. & Battista, Geoffrey & Roche, Erin & Lee, Brian H.Y. & Johnson, Rachel K., 2017. "Estimating the effect of mobility and food choice on obesity in a rural, northern environment," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 30-39.
    7. Jae Eun Lee & Jung Hye Sung & Mohamad Malouhi, 2015. "Statistical Validation of a Web-Based GIS Application and Its Applicability to Cardiovascular-Related Studies," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-11, December.
    8. Jue Wang & Mei-Po Kwan, 2018. "An Analytical Framework for Integrating the Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Environmental Context and Individual Mobility in Exposure Assessment: A Study on the Relationship between Food Environment Exposu," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-24, September.
    9. Browning, Christopher R. & Cagney, Kathleen A. & Iveniuk, James, 2012. "Neighborhood stressors and cardiovascular health: Crime and C-reactive protein in Dallas, USA," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(7), pages 1271-1279.
    10. Danna Ethan & Corey H. Basch & Sonali Rajan & Lalitha Samuel & Rodney N. Hammond, 2013. "A Comparison of the Nutritional Quality of Food Products Advertised in Grocery Store Circulars of High- versus Low-Income New York City Zip Codes," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-11, December.
    11. Johnston, David W. & Lordan, Grace, 2014. "Weight perceptions, weight control and income: An analysis using British data," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 12(C), pages 132-139.
    12. Grzyb, Tomasz & Kulczyk, Sylwia & Derek, Marta & Woźniak, Edyta, 2021. "Using social media to assess recreation across urban green spaces in times of abrupt change," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 49(C).
    13. Andrews, Gavin J. & Hall, Edward & Evans, Bethan & Colls, Rachel, 2012. "Moving beyond walkability: On the potential of health geography," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(11), pages 1925-1932.
    14. Johnston, D.W. & Lordan, G., 2012. "My body is fat and my wallet is thin: The link between weight perceptions, weight control and income," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 12/27, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.
    15. Adriana Dornelles, 2019. "Impact of multiple food environments on body mass index," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(8), pages 1-14, August.
    16. Daniel S. Morris & Eric C. Main & Jenine K. Harris & Abraham Moland & Curtis Cude, 2015. "State-Issued Identification Cards Reveal Patterns in Adult Weight Status," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-15, June.
    17. Cecilia Anza-Ramirez & Mariana Lazo & Jessica Hanae Zafra-Tanaka & Ione Avila-Palencia & Usama Bilal & Akram Hernández-Vásquez & Carolyn Knoll & Nancy Lopez-Olmedo & Mónica Mazariegos & Kari Moore & D, 2022. "The urban built environment and adult BMI, obesity, and diabetes in Latin American cities," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-9, December.
    18. Lee, Helen, 2012. "The role of local food availability in explaining obesity risk among young school-aged children," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(8), pages 1193-1203.
    19. Zeng, Di & Thomsen, Michael R. & Nayga, Rodolfo M. & Bennett, Judy L., 2019. "Supermarket access and childhood bodyweight: Evidence from store openings and closings," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 78-88.
    20. Kathryn Freeman Anderson, 2018. "Racial/Ethnic Residential Segregation, the Distribution of Physician’s Offices and Access to Health Care: The Case of Houston, Texas," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 7(8), pages 1-18, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:7:y:2010:i:6:p:2653-2665:d:8705. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.