In an article that’s unlikely to be popular in the farm community, the Toronto Star newspaper says Canada’s commodity food production system is the result of having an informal cheap food policy.
Writer Margaret Webb, author of Apples to Oysters: A Food Lover’s Tour of Canadian Farms, says most of Ontario’s farms produce “raw materials for junk food” which are driving obesity and diabetes epidemics while forcing farmers into unsustainable production practices.
Among others issues, she explores the environmental impact of farms on water quality and the difficulty farmers face when meeting environmental demands that nobody is willing to pay for.
Webb spends a lot of time exploring the problems, but admits solutions will be difficult, expensive and time consuming and provides few answers short of claiming that Canada needs to pay more attention to food issues and to have a real food policy, rather than one of utter neglect.
