Food security and self-sufficiency

April 19, 2026

Key points from this story:

• Improving food security is essential
• Food security means different things
• Yorkton Council allows backyard hens
• Backyard hens support personal food security
• Need to grow more food locally
• Relearning old food preparation skills

For those with good careers and a healthy bank account, it comes down to a desire to have a system in place which ensures food bought at the store is safe once it hits the table. This is where concepts such as traceability are pushed and with some merit.

For those whose income is stretched to the point they are deciding which bill gets paid and which they can put off for another couple of weeks, food security is much more basic: how can I afford groceries? At its most fundamental level, a viable solution would seem to be to produce more of our food. In Yorkton, council recently took a baby step in helping with that, allowing five people to have up to five hens each in their back yards. Backyard hens are not a new idea; many cities allow them as a family food source and an educational opportunity.

Locally, are five licenses in a city Yorkton's size enough? Probably not. And the fees may be detrimental in terms of saving on the food bill. But as noted, baby steps. The real tip of the hat goes to the five people who grab those licenses, as they are working on their personal food security, something most of us have also totally surrendered to a store.

Backyard gardens were once just a matter of course for many, but a drive around the local city, at least, and you see they are now about as scarce as hen's teeth. It might not be logical to complain about the cost of food after planting lawn and pouring concrete over the backyard where you could grow lettuce, cucumbers, and potatoes.

Of course, the idea of food security goes beyond growing a garden. How many homes today have a cold storage space to winter potatoes, or a deep freeze for veggies? And how many people still know how to can pickles or raspberries, at least without extensive time on YouTube? Increasingly, one also has to wonder how many people know how to cook something that isn't popped in the microwave. If someone were given a whole chicken, could they create a meal with it?

That may seem a ridiculously simple thing if you are like me: a farm boy, albeit decades removed from the farm. Mom was not a great cook; spices were salt and pepper, but she made pickles, butchered chickens, froze veggies, made bread, canned fruit. And while I am aware Dad struggled with bills at times, we never went hungry. Somehow, we need to get back to growing more food – boulevard gardens would be a step – and then ensuring people know how to store and prepare that food. Old skills regarding food simply must be relearned.