An election is an optimal time to hear from constituents and advocacy groups, and I had the pleasure of meeting with the Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA) early in my campaign. Our conversation spanned various topics, but at the center of it was food security in Ontario.
Food security is when “all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.” With this, we can pick up various threads - What are the barriers to food security in Ontario? How can we ensure access to healthy, nutritious food for all Ontarians? What is the role of community gardens, urban agriculture, and community-supported agriculture? Answers to these questions can take up several other blog posts. For now, I've attached a fact sheet about Food Insecurity in Ontario, and instead direct the attention of this post to Ontario's agriculture sector.
Peggy, the president of OFA and also one of the people with whom I met, recently wrote a viewpoint where she iterates the statistic that “Ontario’s agriculture and food industry contributes more than $47 billion to the provincial economy every year”. A major concern brought forward was land disappearing from agricultural production, which at that time was 175 acres/day and has now increased to 319 acres/day according to the latest Canadian Census of Agriculture data.
A significant percent of soil organic matter has been depleted historically through conversion of natural landscapes to agricultural production (Lal 2010), which resulted in the release of atmospheric carbon. Now land area for agriculture is decreasing due to erosion, contamination, and conversion to non-agricultural uses (Lal 2013), including urban sprawl, further contributing to carbon emissions. Lack of agricultural land leads to intensification of agricultural production, which again exacerbates carbon emissions due to energy and input demand.
Food production has become mechanized and commodified in ways that are no longer sustainable. The impacts of animal agriculture due to the high demand for meat consumption are highlighted explicitly in the documentary Eating Our Way to Extinction, which was shared within the local Kitchener-Waterloo community by climate and health advocacy groups. One of the outcomes of this film is to encourage people to choose foods for their diet by understanding where their food comes from and connecting with the food production process, for sustainability and better health.
While food production contributes significantly to increasing greenhouse gas emissions, it can also be the key to curbing climate change. Even with trends for reducing meat consumption or transitioning toward plant-based foods, agricultural lands will still be at the forefront of the conversation. When I was doing my PhD, a statistic often cited was that about 34 - 40% of the soil organic carbon that has been lost historically can be restored with the adoption of recommended sustainable and conservation agricultural practices (Datta et. al., 2013). Many Ontario farmers are generational farmers who care about how food is grown, how to maintain healthy soils, reduce impact on the environment, and mitigate challenges.
The path forward, given what we know, needs to be re-evaluated and reimagined for a future of food production where we halt the negative impacts on our environment as well as the inhumane treatment of agriculture animals. To implement sustainable agricultural practices, we will need to recognize the importance of agriculture in our everyday lives and empower the agricultural sector by supporting our farmers. The actions the provincial government can take, and which the Green Party of Ontario is committed to, include:
Freeze urban boundaries now.
Permanently protect prime farmland from being lost to non-agricultural use, such as urban sprawl, highways, and gravel mining.
Support farm-to-table agriculture here in Ontario, making it easier for small farms to use the latest technology, access the internet and turn a profit, and support farmers to adopt more sustainable practices so that farming and climate action go hand-in-hand.
Establish a food processing infrastructure fund to support investments by Ontario-based companies in food processing facilities.
Enhance animal welfare standards for animal agriculture. Implement more robust regulations and inspections of the housing, sale, and transport of agricultural animals, and ensure enforcement.
Toward the end of my conversation with the OFA, I asked the members what actions Ontarians can take; the following were the three actions:
Shop local & choose Ontario-produced farm foods.
Connect with your farmers; knowing how and where our food was grown and processed can make a big difference in how we consume.
Encourage the municipal councils to take active decisions on farmland preservation policy.
Document courtesy of Ontario Basic Income Network
Image courtesy of County of Los Angeles Public Health