Passion radiates from Nathalie Chambers as she describes her plan to save the world — one piece of farmland at a time.
Chambers, who works Madrona Farm in the Blenkinsop Valley with her husband, David Chambers, wants to save Canada’s agricultural land. Once Canada is on the way to becoming food secure, she wants to help other countries with organic farming plans.
The first step is to persuade all provinces and territories to hold a Chef Survival Challenge. Madrona Farm’s annual event, which sees chefs negotiate a farm obstacle course, forage for vegetables and then create culinary masterpieces, is about raising awareness, said Chambers, who has founded the non-profit Big Dream Farm Fund, and the Chef Survival Challenge Inc. corporation to support her work.
“People don’t know we are in a food crisis. As long as the shelves are stocked at Thrifty’s, they think we are OK. We are not OK,” she said.
“The biggest obstacle is the price of farmland. Farmers are being denied access to land. If we can protect farmland now, on a priority basis, we can have a farmland bank.”
On Thursday, Chambers will showcase her national vision at Chateau Victoria. The event will be attended largely by “visionaries” who can help spread the idea of community fundraising to buy farmland, she said.
Chambers, who helped push the fundraising campaign that saw The Land Conservancy raise more than $2.7 million to buy Madrona Farm three years ago, wants to see similar deals across the country, possibly through an organization similar to Britain’s National Trust, which oversees 200,000 hectares of farmland.
“That’s food security,” she said.
Madrona, an 11-hectare organic farm, was owned by David Chambers’s family. When family members decided to put it up for sale, farming was not sufficiently profitable to allow David and Nathalie to buy the property, which they had farmed since 1999.
The community fundraising allowed the property to continue being farmed, rather than two homes being built on the parcels of land.
Funds raised by the Chef Survival Challenges would go toward farmland acquisition and sustainable farming education, Chambers said.
Vancouver is the first city to follow Victoria’s lead and the Chef Survival Challenge Extreme will be held Sept. 15 at Westham Island Herb Farm in Ladner.
The Victoria event will take place Sept. 8 at Madrona Farm.
“Calgary and Toronto will be next,” Chambers said.
In some Canadian cities, there are no community organizations working to preserve farmland, she said. “So, we are naked. Our farmland is up for grabs.”
For more information, go to chefsurvivalchallenge.com.
