Taking the Pulse of Canada's Industrial Food System
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Taking the Pulse of Canada’s Industrial Food System by Jodi Koberinski A thesis presented to the University of Waterloo in fulfillment of the thesis requirement for the degree of Master of Environmental Studies in Environment, Resources and Sustainability Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, 2019 ©Jodi Koberinski 2019 AUTHOR'S DECLARATION I hereby declare that I am the sole author of this thesis. This is a true copy of the thesis, including any required final revisions, as accepted by my examiners. I understand that my thesis may be made electronically available to the public. ii Abstract In the context of catastrophic climate change, reducing climate implications of food systems is a central challenge. Shifting diets away from meat towards protein-rich pulses reduces climate change- related pressures while offering myriad agronomic benefits. Yet how we produce pulses and not just that we produce pulses matters if those benefits are to be realized. Despite rapid growth, little research on industrial pulse sustainability exists. This research explored connections between world views and food systems in order to assess sustainability claims made by Canada’s industrial pulse sector. First, I distinguished the underlying productivism rooted in mechanistic models and ecologism rooted in holistic models, distinguishing food science from food systems paradigms and how they affect evidence. After contextualizing Canada’s pulse sector, I conducted a discourse analysis revealing shortcomings of conventional narratives on the concepts of choice, efficiency and safety. Next, I analysed eight lock-ins driving Canada’s industrial food system. Finally, I tested two Pulse Canada sustainability claims -- low carbon foot print and soil health—finding these claims ignore the reliance of industrial food systems on 1) petrochemicals and other mined inputs, and 2) excessive fossil energy. Canada’s pulse sector is vulnerable to both ecological shocks associated with industrial production and to social shocks associated with climate unrest and with policy changes that could curtail access to certain pesticides. By forcing pulses to conform to the economics of industrial production, Canada’s farm community bypasses pulses as transition crops toward a truly regenerative agriculture. Given the reality of unavoidable catastrophic climate breakdown, scholars must confront the elephant in the room that is globalized corporate capitalism driving unsustainable approaches to food systems. This paper calls for a radical re- orientation of the economy in the direction of food commons. iii Acknowledgements I would like to acknowledge the essential contributions of Steffanie Scott and Andrea Collins in shaping this thesis from conception and Rob De Loe, Dan McCarthy, and Goretty Dias for their patient and thorough committee work; the support and teachings from Prateep Nayak, Stephen Quilley, Bob Gibson, and Derek Armitage whose guidance and reading lists contributed to the substance of this paper; Jennifer Clapp, Caitlin Scott, Emily Mann, Sarah Rotz, Katie Kish, the ERS Salon, and the Waterloo Food Interest Group for providing an active community of scholars within which to test and stretch ideas; Steffanie Scott’s Scholarship Circle participants for their feedback and critique during the research process; Trace Machado for her companionship and support during this project; The Architexts; Steven Wolff at Cornel University for his support in developing my ideas further; Walter Hatch and the Oak Institute for setting me on this course of inquiry that could not be satiated with a four month fellowship; mentors Cathleen Kneen and Shiv Chopra who are no more yet whose wisdom and challenges continue to mentor me; Brewster Kneen, Av Singh, and Wayne Roberts to whom I owe a debt of gratitude for forming my analytical approach and for their supportive debates; Francis Moore Lappe whose work developed my critical thinking on food systems and whose encouragement of me to publish; Dr. Vandana Shiva for directing my interest in researching this topic and for her ongoing mentorship; Dan Longboat and Diane Longboat, Ray Owl, Willie Pine, Sue Chiblow, and Winona LaDuke for engaging me in the struggle of Truth before Reconciliation and for the foundational teachings I’ve received from each that help inform the normative position of this research; my children Rowan and Caedon for their support while I developed this work and who are both quite through hearing about climate change and pulses, yet nonetheless maintain their lifelong love of red lentil dal; and my parents Jo-Anne and Don Haycock, without whose material, spiritual, and emotional support such a journey would have been an impossibility. iv Dedication This research is dedicated to Bija Didi, Navdanya Institute’s Seed Guardian, and the innovators whose thousands of years of collective work she and other Seed Guardians regenerate for the benefit of future farmers and future food. “Food is medicine, and only nutrient dense food from healthy ecological systems can create healthy animals and healthy human beings.” – Dr. Elaine Ingham Montreal 2015. v Land Acknowledgement This research was conducted at the University of Waterloo, located within the boundaries of the Six Nations Confederacy and the Haldimand Tract – a six mile stretch along what we call the Grand River and a fraction of the original and rightful territories of the Anishnaabeg, Haudenosaunee, and Attawanderon (Neutral) Peoples. I recognize the governments that have afforded me the rights and freedoms I enjoy have failed to honour the Treaties and respect the agreements made orally with the generous First Peoples of these territories. I endeavour to undo the colonialism, patriarchy and racism that continues to harm our hosts and neighbours. vi Table of Contents AUTHOR'S DECLARATION……………………………………………………………. ii Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………. iii Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………………… iii Dedication………………………………………………………………………………….. v Land Acknowledgement…………………………………………………………………… vi Table of Contents………………………………………………………………………….. vii List of Figures……………………………………………………………………………… x List of Tables……………………………………………………………………………… xi List of Acronyms …………………………………………………………………………..xii Chapter 1 Introduction…………………………………………………………………….. 1 1.1 Problem Statement………………………………………………………………….. 1 1.2 Goals and Objectives……………………………………………………………….. 2 1.3 Assumptions………………………………………………………………………… 2 1.4 Contributions………………………………………………………………………... 3 1.5 Thesis Organization…………………………………………………………………. 4 Chapter 2 . Theory and Methods…………………………………………………………… 6 2.1 Theoretical Context: Political Economy of Food Systems………………………….. 6 2.2 Sustainability Frameworks critiquing Industrial Food Systems…………………….. 7 2.2.1 IPES-Food 8 Lock-Ins Framework (Frison et al. 2016)…………………………8 2.2.2 Doughnut Economics (Raworth 2014)………………………………………….11 2.2.3 Food Dimensions (Vivero Pol 2015)…………………………………………… 12 2.3 Methods…………………………………………………………………………........14 2.3.1 Causal Layered Analysis…………………………………………………………18 2.4 Limitations of Methods……………………………………………………………… 20 Chapter 3 A Conceptual Divide: Food Science and Food Systems………………………... 21 3.1 Introduction………………………………………………………………………….. 21 3.2 Productivist Extractivist Paradigm: Food Science………………………………….. 22 3.3 Ecological Paradigm: Food Systems………………………………………………... 24 3.4 Food Science and Food Systems: A Discussion of Two Research Approaches……. 27 Chapter 4 Agriculture at a Crossroads: Pulses as a Case Study…………………………… 33 4.1 Pulse Sector Overview………………………………………………………………. 34 vii 4.1.1 What Pulses Need………………………………………………………………. 35 4.1.2 What Pulses Offer………………………………………………………………. 36 4.2 Canada’s Pulse Sector……………………………………………………………….. 38 4.2.1 Improvements in Profitability…………………………………………………... 39 4.2.2 Breeding Programs……………………………………………………………… 40 4.2.3 Processing………………………………………………………………………. 41 4.2.4 An emerging market matures…………………………………………………… 42 Chapter 5 Choice, Efficiency and Safety: Examining the Narratives……………………… 44 5.1 Introduction…………………………………..……………………………………… 44 5.1.1 Choice…………………………………..………………………………………. 46 5.1.2 Efficiency…………………………………..…………………………………… 49 5.1.3 Safety…………………………………..……………………………………….. 53 Chapter 6 Choice, Efficiency and Safety in Canada’s Pulse Sector: The 8 Lock-Ins…… 58 6.1 Lock In 1: Path Dependency……………………………………….………………. 59 6.2 Lock In 2: Export Orientation……………………………………………………… 60 6.3 Lock In 3: Expectation of Cheap Food……………………………………………... 61 6.4 Lock In 4: Compartmentalized Thinking…………………………………………… 63 6.5 Lock In 5: Short Term Thinking……………………………………………………. 65 6.6 Lock In 6: ’Feed the World’ Narrative…………………………………………….. 67 6.7 Lock In 7: Measures of Success…………………………………………………….. 68 6.8 Lock In 8: Concentration of Power…………………………………………………. 69 6.9 Vertical and Horizontal Integration: Protein Industries Supercluster……….……… 70 6.10 Commodification and the Value of Food………………………….…….……… 72 Chapter 7 Taking the pulse of Canada’s industrial food system…………………………... 76 7.1 Introduction…………………………………..……………………………………… 766 7.2 Sustainability Concepts……………………………………………………………… 76 7.2.1 Weak and Strong Sustainability…………………………………………………77 7.3 Sustainability Claims and Canada’s Pulses Sector………………………………….. 79 7.3.1 Low Carbon Footprint Claim…………………………………………………… 80 7.3.2 Improved Soil Health Claim……………………………………………………. 83 7.4 Sustainability Challenges for Canada’s Industrial Pulse Sector: The War on Weeds. 86 7.4.1 Glyphosate……………………………………………………………………… 85 7.4.2 Imidazolinone: Clearfield Herbicides………………………………………….. 91 viii 7.5 Discussion…………………………………..……………………………………….