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THE PUSH TO GROW MORE FOOD IN CANADA Introduction Canadians are not really used to food sold there comes from somewhere Focus worrying about their food. We walk into else. For Canadians who worry about our In 2008 rising food prices and food a supermarket and are surrounded by food security, this is a disturbing trend. shortages have been a variety of products from all over the A big reason why farming has declined international news, world. Name the food product, no matter in Canada is the inability of farmers to and Canadians have how exotic, and you can find it in almost earn a living on their land. The recent recently begun to any major Canadian city. census revealed some interesting feel their impact. Compared with many other countries, statistics. In 2006, 37 per cent of farmers As a result, many purchasing the food we eat takes a earned receipts of under $25 000; of Canadians have begun to pay more attention relatively small portion of our budgets. these, 76 per cent did not earn enough to to their food, Canadians pay only 12 per cent of their cover their expenses. especially its sources national income for food. In the 1950s it In Canada, as elsewhere, farming has and its quality. In this was close to 25 per cent. We have lots of become an activity largely done on an News and Review food—and the obesity levels to prove it. industrial scale. So-called factory farms module we look at Recently, however, food prices around produce the bulk of what we eat. Raising many different aspects the world have been soaring. Developing as much as possible as cheaply as of Canadian food and farming—past, nations are placing increasing pressure possible—an example of the economy of present, and future. on several commodities. Drought and scale—is the operational philosophy of natural disasters have played havoc corporate farming. Every year, more and with some staple crops. Price increases more farmland comes under corporate Did you know . of fossil fuels—especially oil—have ownership. The average Canadian forced up the cost of fertilizers and As world population increases, the meal travels over 4 000 kilometres from transportation. In some countries, competition for food will also increase. producer to table. particularly China, food products International investors are betting on have been adulterated with dangerous this by purchasing farmland everywhere substances to reduce production costs. they can—especially in the U.S., Britain, To a certain extent, thanks to a strong South America, and southern Africa. dollar, Canadian consumers have been Currently, foreign ownership rules spared the levels of price increases seen prevent investment funds from doing in other parts of the world. But with the the same in the western part of Canada. current financial crisis and the dollar’s But the same is not true in Ontario and decline, Canadians will soon be seeing elsewhere. The food system in Canada is significant increases in the cost of almost clearly under pressure—and this pressure everything they eat. The end of the era of is likely to increase. cheap food, expected to be world-wide, will not spare Canada. Signs of Change The problem for Canadians will likely It is heartening to report, however, that be compounded by the fact that we have, Canadians are showing a greater interest to a large extent, stopped growing our in the food they eat. Two movements in own food. Countrywide, no more than particular have raised awareness of both 40 per cent of the food we eat is grown the quality and availability of Canadian in Canada. Even in many areas with food. the best farmland in the country, like The first of these is the organic food Southern Ontario, the majority of the movement, which promotes foods that CBC News in Review • November 2008 • Page 44 are free of chemical additives: pesticides, possible from local sources. Not only do Did you know… chemical fertilizers and, in the case locavores believe that local food tastes Sales of organic foods have been growing of animals, antibiotics and growth better, they also feel they are benefiting at a significant hormones. Organic food fanciers seek the local economy. Equally important to rate over the last out products that are raised as naturally them is their ecological contribution— decade—about 20 per as possible. Until recently, organic fewer greenhouse gases are the result cent per year in both foods were found only in health-food of the decrease in fuel required to bring Canada and the U.S. stores and farmers’ markets. Today, local foods to market. But The New York supermarkets carry extensive selections Organics and local foods have combined Times (November 1, 2008) reports that, of organic fruits and vegetables, meats, to place a renewed emphasis on traditional at least in the U.S., and processed foods. While food may farming practices and the value of locally recent financial be grown organically anywhere, local produced foods. While usually more events are having organics come with an inspection expensive than products from mainstream an impact. Many guarantee that many consumers find farming, they represent an ever-increasing consumers report especially comforting. share of the Canadian food dollar. They that they are cutting The second movement is local food. also serve to raise awareness of the things back on organic purchases because Its adherents, locavores, try to purchase we lose when we leave our food supply in the prices of those as many of the foods they eat as the hands of strangers. products are higher than those grown on For Discussion conventional farms. In the U.S., the local and organic food movements have actually led to an increase in the number of small farms for the first time in over a century. Given the trend to ever-larger farm properties in Canada, do you think the same thing could happen here? Who are the people most likely to start (and continue) small-scale local farming? Can you cite examples of small farms in your community or the surrounding area? CBC News in Review • November 2008 • Page 45 THE PUSH TO GROW MORE FOOD IN CANADA Video Review Answer the questions in the spaces provided. Further Research To see how a local 1. When did some Canadians first become concerned about the loss of farmers’ market operates in the Canadian farmland to development? __________________________________ Waterloo, Ontario, 2. Why has it been possible for food from distant sources to be brought to region, visit the Canadian consumers? Web site of the St. Jacob’s Ontario farmers’ market 3. On average, how far does food travel to reach stores in Waterloo, Ontario? at www.stjacobs. com/html/shopping- farmersmarkets.html. 4. What percentage of food sold in Ontario markets was produced in that What farmers’ markets are open in your area? province during the 1970s and 1980s? ____________% What percentage is produced there now? ____________% 5. Why does Thomas Homer-Dixon say the era of cheap food is coming to an end? 6. What development has led to the loss of millions of hectares of Canadian farmland? 7. If Canada can grow excellent garlic, why does most of the garlic sold in Canada come from China? 8. Why do farmers believe they can now supply local food almost year-round? 9. What adjustments might consumers have to make if they want to buy local food? 10. What does Steve Martin believe might “level the playing field” for Canadian farm produce versus foreign produce? CBC News in Review • November 2008 • Page 46 For Discussion At one point in the video it is suggested that consumers need to relearn how to eat fresh—that we eat things like strawberries and asparagus when they are available locally, and freeze or preserve them to eat them when they are out of season. In other words, we should not be importing these fruits or vegetables from other parts of the world. How likely is it that consumers will adopt this attitude? What might it take to convince them to do so? How “local” and how “fresh” does your family eat? Notes: CBC News in Review • November 2008 • Page 47 THE PUSH TO GROW MORE FOOD IN CANADA The Rising Price of Food The first major warning came in April India. More than two billion people will 2008. soon be demanding—and will have the The price of a tonne of rice, reasonably ability to pay for—foods traditionally consistent at under $600 per tonne, part of the diet of wealthier countries. suddenly reached $760 and was poised China, in particular, has seen the to climb even higher. For about three consumption of meat increase one and billion people, the price of their staple one-half times since 1980. Pork prices food had increased dramatically. Many alone have risen by two-thirds in the last who already made do with little would year. have to make do with even less. The steep increase in the cost of But rice was not the only staple to rise fossil fuels has also contributed to in price. Corn prices were at a 12-year price increases. Cheap energy created high. Wheat prices were 90 per cent the international food market. Writes higher than they had been in 2007. Michael Polan: “More recently, cheap As Michael Polan wrote in The New energy has underwritten a globalized York Times Magazine (October 9, 2008): food economy in which it makes (or “With a suddenness that has taken us rather, made) economic sense to catch all by surprise, the era of cheap and salmon in Alaska, ship it to China to be abundant food appears to be drawing filleted and then ship the fillets back to to a close.” Describing “the health of California to be eaten; or one in which a nation’s food system” as “a critical California and Mexico can profitably issue of national security,” Polan calls swap tomatoes back and forth across for the next U.S.

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