Like most industrialized countries, Canada faces an interesting challenge. Despite the fact that we have some of the most productive and fertile soils and relatively abundant agricultural land, the vast majority of our food is imported.

By growing our own, we can regain control of the food system and reduce the environmental impact created by the transportation of food.

That is the premise of Seed to Plate, a project of the Langley Environmental Partners Society.

To launch the project, LEPS will host the Sustainable Food Fair on Saturday, Aug. 29 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., at the Langley Events Centre.

It will feature vendors from the farming and food production community who will provide samples and market their products. Local chefs will offer demonstrations on locally grown, seasonal food items.

The Sustainable Food Fair will promote local farmers and processors who strive to produce food in an ecologically sensitive way and encourage Langley residents to shop locally.

The Seed to Plate project takes a multi-faceted approach to urban agriculture and food miles education in Langley, said Andrea Lawseth, agricultural stewardship co-ordinator for LEPS.

Using the Murrayville Community Garden as a community resource and learning tool, LEPS will demonstrate the importance of producing and consuming food that is grown locally.

Seventy-five percent of Langley Township is in the Agricultural Land Reserve, and yet the municipality is under increasing pressure to urbanize. The population of the Township is expected to doubling within the next 20 years to 200,000. The agricultural base in Langley is largely comprised of small lot farms generating produce mainly marketed to the City of Vancouver, thus creating a lack of local access to locally-produced food.

Lawseth said that transportation accounts for a quarter of Canada’s energy consumption and produces one quarter of our greenhouse gases, a large proportion of which are from the transportation of these foods into Canada accounts.

“Food self-reliance implies the growing of one’s own food to meet food security needs,” Lawseth explained.

“It refers to the reduced dependence on other places for the supply of food consumed locally and encouragement of the production, processing and consumption of locally produced food products.”

She added that according to a number of research studies, peak oil could be reached as early as 2010.

If that materializes “our global food chains will be rendered untenable.”

At the moment, there are approximately 500 families registered with the Langley Food Bank, showing that a large proportion of the population does not have stable access to food.

The Seed to Plate will facilitate the creation of a Food Bank Garden to establish relationships between local school groups and seniors, and produce food for those who do not have enough.

Furthermore, with groups such as the Harvest Program “we can encourage volunteer participation from programs to serve the needs of the Langley Food Bank.”

LEPS aims to educate the public on food growing and preserving, as well as supporting local food producers, to ensure food security for all Langley citizens into the future, she said.

“We are aware that not all of the food needs of Langley citizens can be accommodated through community gardens and backyard gardens, but a good proportion of fresh food needs can be served in this capacity,” Lawseth said.

LEPS, which helped to organize the Langley Community Farmers Market which was launched in July, will present a series of community workshops to focus on the path that food takes to get from seed to plate and from plate to soil. They have already offered five workshops on the issues surrounding food and how to become more self-reliant.

These events have been well attended and LEPS hopes to see that they continue.

In keeping with its philosophy, LEPS is asking workshop participants to pledge to grow their own food, compost kitchen scraps, shop locally and reduce their food miles.