Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development ISSN: 2152-0801 online www.AgDevJournal.com Farms or freeways? Citizen engagement and municipal governance in Edmonton’s food and agriculture strategy development Mary A. Beckie,a * University of Alberta Lorelei L. Hanson,b Athabasca University Deborah Schrader,c University of Alberta Submitted June 23, 2013 / Revised August 26 and October 4, 2013 / Accepted October 7, 2013 / Published online November 30, 2013 Citation: Beckie, M. A., Hanson, L. L., & Schrader, D. (2013). Farms or freeways? Citizen engagement and municipal governance in Edmonton’s food and agriculture strategy development. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development, 4(1), 15–31. http://dx.doi.org/10.5304/jafscd.2013.041.004 Copyright © 2013 by New Leaf Associates, Inc. Abstract authority for land use planning to local levels of In the mid- to late 1990s, most provincial government. In Alberta, this shifted responsibility governments in Canada downloaded or devolved for the protection of farmland to municipalities. However, a strong oil and gas economy and rapid a Faculty of Extension, University of Alberta, Edmonton, growth of Alberta’s urban centers in recent decades Alberta, Canada. has resulted in significant loss of prime farmland to b Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Athabasca urban and industrial development. In Edmonton, University, Athabasca, Alberta, Canada; Alberta’s capital city, citizens’ concerns over food
[email protected] security and the protection of farmland within city c Department of Educational Policy Studies, Faculty of boundaries shaped the 2010 municipal develop- Education, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; ment plan, which links land use planning with food
[email protected] and agriculture, and also paved the way for an Edmonton agri-food strategy.