A SUSTAINABLE FOOD & AGRICULTURE AGENDA FOR ONTARIO

1999

Vermont Journal Of Environmental Law , 2016

Concerns about the way in which we grow, distribute and consume food around the world have grown in recent years. From the environmental impacts of farming practices (exacerbated by the industrialization of agriculture) and GHG emissions from agriculture, to the viability of farming communities and health concerns about concentrated livestock operations, the issues are numerous, often overlapping, and sometimes underpinned by different values and/or preoccupations. These concerns are intensified when set against the backdrop of expanding global population, with its growing need for food and increasing demand for diets high in both caloric and meat consumption, and climate change. Public policy in support of sustainable farming is essential to safeguard the ecosystems upon which farms are dependant, while providing sustainable rural livelihoods, promoting food security and contributing to a vibrant agricultural economy. This paper evaluates the extent to which Canada's federal agricultural policy framework enables sustainable farming and agricultural food production. We find that, although there have been many ad-hoc initiatives within Canadian federal and provincial/ territorial governments relating to sustainability, Canada has not made any national policy commitments to pursuing sustainable farming. The government's central agricultural policy framework fails to establish the enabling vision and incentive structure needed to influence a systemic change in the sector towards sustainable farming. The policy framework is primarily geared towards helping the sector become more competitive and gain and maintain market share, through innovation for instance. A shift in agricultural policy is required in order to safeguard the future of food security and rural livelihoods in Canada.

Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development, 2013

Rising healthcare costs, intensive energy use, economic instability, and climate change are a few of the many pressing issues that cannot be successfully addressed without recognizing problems within the existing industrialized food system. Such industrial food systems are defined by monoculture and consolidation of the seed industry; genetically engineered crops and the repeated use and application of synthetic pesticides and fertilizers. This articles assesses the proliferation of industrialized food systems in Canada and focuses on its consequent environmental impacts surrounding biodiversity loss with respect to crop varieties, soil structure and seed sovereignty. Simultaneously, this research summarizes the existing narrow set of regulations and policy in Canada and turns to both successful and unsuccessful international examples of federal policy regarding food corporations to best develop a strategy for Canada. Inevitably, with the structure of agriculture in Canada is shifting to fewer but larger incorporated farms, we therefore argue that standards must be set in place to prevent the plethora of environmental and greater social injustices caused by the monopolization and consolidated control of food. This research explores the potential for Canada’s national food strategy to focus on biodiversity preservation and promotion as a main determinant of a sustainable and viable agricultural system for present and future generations.

Land Degradation and Development, 1989

A sustainable food production system may be defined as an agri-food sector which over the long term can simultaneously maintain enivironmental quality, produce a suficient food supply and provide adequate rewards to primary producers. This paper investigates the implications of two forms of environmental change for sustainable food production in Southwest Ontario, a major agricultural region in Canada. A modified version of the Universal Soil Loss Equation was employed to estimate long-term erosion, whereas an altered climate was derived from a general circulation model. Crop productivity models were used to estimate the impacts of modified environmental conditions on yields. Mathematical programming models were used to estimate economic viability and food production capacity given these changed conditions. Soil erosion combined with a climatic warming induced by a doubling of atmospheric concentrations of CO, or its equivalent would contribute to severe declines in resource quality, and result in declines of 18 per cent to 35 per cent in average yields for major grains and oilseeds. On lands with a relatively high natural risk to erosion, the yield-reducing impacts of erosion and a climatic warming would reduce profits from cash grain farming by 26 per cent, and increase concern about the economic viability of these enterprises. Environmental change would reduce the region's food production potential to 86 per cent of current production levels, and possibly endanger the security of its food supplies. These findings suggest the need to explore strategies which would either prevent future environmental change or mitigate its adverse impacts.

2010

2012

Introduction / Rod MacRae, Elisabeth Abergel, and Mustafa Koc Part 1 -- Paradigms, Scales, and Jurisdictions 1 Effecting Paradigm Change in the Canadian Agriculture and Food Sector: Toward a Multifunctionality Paradigm / Grace Skogstad 2 Alternative Land Use Services and the Case for Multifunctional Policy in Canada / Alison Blay-Palmer 3 The Experience of Canadian Environmental CSOs: Thoughts from the Green Side / Mark Winfield Part 2 -- Lessons from the Canadian Food System 4 The Canadian Biotechnology Advisory Committee: Legitimacy, Participation, and Attempts to Improve GE Regulation in Canada / Elisabeth Abergel 5 Lessons from Twenty Years of CSO Advocacy to Advance Sustainable Pest Management in Canada / Rod MacRae, Julia Langer, and Vijay Cuddeford 6 Breastfeeding Promotion and Social Change in Canada: A Review of Ninety Years of Breastfeeding Policy and Practices / Aleck Ostry and Tasnim Nathoo 7 Canada's Action Plan on Food Security: The Interactions between Civil Socie...