Before you hand me those matches so I can light my hair on fire, I should probably do some quick math.
There have been concerns expressed at city hall and elsewhere in the community over the amount of marijuana being grown on Delta farmland, an argument that inevitably leads to discussion, rational or otherwise, over food security and other such weighty topics. Although three large-scale greenhouses have shelved tomatoes and peppers in favour of the far more lucrative weed, I’m not convinced that means we’re going hungry anytime soon.
Greenhouses occupy about two per cent of the Agricultural Land Reserve in Delta, which equates to about 19 million square feet of growing space. Approximately five million square feet of that growing space has been, or will be, converted to marijuana production.
Five million square feet sounds like a lot because, well, it is, but if it represents slightly more than one-quarter of all greenhouse space, and greenhouses account for just two per cent of ALR land, then by my math pot is eating up about one-half of one per cent of farmland in Delta.
I recognize there are impacts when taking any amount of land out of food production, but if that’s the concern here, then shouldn’t there be greater worries over the fact only about 70 per cent of Delta’s ALR land is actively farmed?
I think it would be more worrisome that one-third of ALR land not being farmed in Delta is classified as “anthropogenic.” If you’re like me and had to look that one up, it essentially means the land suffers from environmental pollution that originates with human activity. More than 10 per cent of all ALR land in Delta falls under that classification, which, if my math is correct, means 20 times more acreage is spoiled by pollution than what’s being used to grow pot.
It would seem to me that if our food security was suddenly threatened by a scarcity of sweet bell peppers or mini cucumbers we could always build a greenhouse or two on top of some of that anthropogenic farmland to address the shortage.
In the meantime, I’m not going to get too worked up by the whole greenhouses going to pot issue. For those who might need some help mellowing out, I believe there’s a product that’s now legally available.
