The Toronto and Greater Golden Horseshoe City Region Food Systems
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DESCRIBING THE TORONTO AND GREATER GOLDEN HORSESHOE CITY REGION FOOD SYSTEM Author: S. Miller, 2016 Prepared for the RUAF Foundation In collaboration with: With the support from: Published by: RUAF Foundation – Global Partnership on Sustainable Urban Agriculture and Food Systems in collaboration with the Wilfrid Laurier Centre for Sustainable Food Systems. This present report was developed within the framework of the RUAF CITYFOODTOOLS project, in partnership with the FAO Food for the Cities Programme. The CITYFOODTOOLS project has been coordinated by the RUAF Foundation with the financial support from the Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation. The Food for the Cities Programme is coordinated by UN FAO with financial support from the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture. RUAF Foundation PO Box 357, 3830 AK, Leusden, The Netherlands E [email protected]; I www.ruaf.org Acknowledgements This report is elaborated by S. Miller with supporting work by A. Blay-Palmer at the Laurier Centre for Sustainable Food Systems as well as M. Dubbeling and H. Renting from the RUAF Foundation. Research support was provided by N. Godfrey. Input and support was also provided by the Toronto City Region Food System Task Force: L. Baker (Toronto Food Policy Council), B. Emanuel (Toronto Food Strategy), M. Flaherty (Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA)), H. Friedmann, J. Horner (Golden Horseshoe Food and Farming Alliance (GHFFA)), J. James (OMAFRA), R. MacRae (York University), R. Martin (University of Guelph), J. Reeve (Toronto Food Policy Council), M. Wolfson (City of Toronto, Food and Beverage Sector Specialist), F. Yeudall (Ryerson University) and A. Blay-Palmer (Centre for Sustainable Food Systems at Wilfrid Laurier University). Thanks to L. J. Roche (Toronto Public Health) for managing logistics and careful note-taking for Task Force meetings. Thanks to Toronto Public Health for hosting the Task Force meetings. The author and research team acknowledge with gratitude the generous time and thought that stakeholders have invested in this project. The authors acknowledges the project partner FAO for their overall technical support. The authors would like to thank the Carrasso Foundation and the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture for providing financial support for the implementation of the overall Programme and for supporting the implementation of the city region food system assessment in Toronto. 2 Content Overview ...................................................................................................................... 5 The Greater Golden Horseshoe: A Conjunction of Stakeholder Interests ........................ 7 Summary ......................................................................................................................................................................... 7 Sectoral Demands and Stakeholder Interests in the GGH ............................................. 10 Residential and related infrastructure ............................................................................................................ 10 Agriculture .................................................................................................................................................................. 10 Ecosystem .................................................................................................................................................................... 11 Industrial ..................................................................................................................................................................... 12 Case: Greenbelt Greenhouse ................................................................................................................................ 13 Aggregate extraction ............................................................................................................................................... 14 Protected land covenants ..................................................................................................................................... 15 Recreational and public lands ............................................................................................................................. 17 Food security .............................................................................................................................................................. 17 Labour market ........................................................................................................................................................... 19 Section summary ...................................................................................................................................................... 20 Framing by Food System Area ..................................................................................... 22 Table 1: The Greater Golden Horseshoe city region food system ........................................................... 23 Agriculture .................................................................................................................................................................. 23 Table 2: Farms with specific sustainable practices ...................................................................................... 25 Table 3: Carbon storage and sequestration in the Greenbelt .................................................................. 29 Processing ................................................................................................................................................................... 30 Case: Martin’s Family Fruit Farm ...................................................................................................................... 34 Distribution................................................................................................................................................................. 36 Case: 100 km Foods ................................................................................................................................................. 37 Table 4: Ontario food retail sales (dollars) ...................................................................................................... 38 Consumption .............................................................................................................................................................. 40 Table 5: Amount of key foods available in Canada ....................................................................................... 41 Table 6: Current and optimal intake of key foods ......................................................................................... 41 Table 7: Household expenditures on key foods in Ontario ........................................................................ 42 Charts 1, 2: Percentage and number of people in study area who consume at least five servings of fruits and vegetables daily ................................................................................................................ 43 Chart 3: Change between 2010 and 2014 of fruit and vegetable consumption as reported by study area public health units ................................................................................................................................ 44 Table 8: Incidence of some food-related health issues ................................................................................ 45 Case: Sheldon Creek Dairy .................................................................................................................................... 46 Waste ............................................................................................................................................................................. 47 Table 9: Waste by supply chain sub-sector ....................................................................................................... 48 Education ..................................................................................................................................................................... 49 Democratic engagement ........................................................................................................................................ 50 Case: Mapleton’s Organic Dairy .......................................................................................................................... 50 Critical Issues and the Current Situation ...................................................................... 52 Conclusion: a moving target ................................................................................................................................ 54 Bibliography ............................................................................................................... 56 3 Acronyms: GGH: Greater Golden Horseshoe GH: Golden Horseshoe GHFFA: Golden Horseshoe Food and Farming Alliance 4 Overview The city region of Toronto occupies a significant and unusual landscape in southern Canada that comprises the Greater Golden Horseshoe (GGH) in a half-loop around the western end of Lake Ontario. Radiating outwards from Canada’s largest city, 50% of Canada’s best farmland, some of the highest population growth in North America, along with almost unchecked urban sprawl, and magnificent natural areas like the Niagara escarpment vie with each other for protection, function and access. The conflicting pressures