Editor, The News:
Not long ago, the typical house was on a 120-foot lot that allowed people to have their own garden.
While many of these older homes are now still available, people prefer to buy a new house with a lot of bells and whistles like extra bathrooms and fancy kitchens rather than have a yard.
The only interest for this new consumer group is to have enough parking space for there two or three cars, and boats.
Some of these new home owners are now looking for some public-provided space to do a little hobby farming. They see Albion flats as a good place for this and some dreamers support their efforts by absurd claims it will help with lowering food costs by having local produced food.
Any groups or individuals producing food there, if they are honest about costs, will be producing food by working for 10 cents an hour, like any hobby farmer – unless they ignore all the government subsidies to support such a project.
These hobby farmer wannabes will never compete with professional farming.
Two hundred years ago, more than half the population was out working the fields to produce food. Now, with effective farming, less than five per cent of the population produces the food we eat.
We spend an ever decreasing amount of our income on food.
Instead of unrealistic fantasy farms, stick to your kitchen sprout growers.
Dan Banov
Maple Ridge