A GREEN FOOD & AGRICULTURE AGENDA FOR ONTARIO

2009

Agriculture in Canada was substantively transformed in the past century. In absolute terms, agricultural production increased considerably. For example, production of wheat, a major Canadian crop, based initially on the improved variety Marquis, trebled from 1908 to 2008. New crops, such as canola-improved varieties of rapeseed-on the Prairies and soybeans in Ontario, are now widely grown. Similarly, the numbers of livestock on farms have greatly increased since World War I, the number of cattle and calves nearly doubling, the number of pigs growing about four-fold, and the number of chickens trebling (Statistics Canada, 2009). In relative terms, however, primary agriculture's share of the Canadian economy has shrunk to account for 1% to 2% of GDP and some 2% of national employment. Such structural change has been common in developed nations. Associated with economy-wide changes in the structure of agriculture, agricultural productivity has increased considerably over time, whether measured in terms of increases in crop yields, livestock gains, or growth in overall-total factor-productivity. An Overview of Canadian Agriculture Agriculture uses only 7% of Canada's land mass and is concentrated in the southern portion of the country, chiefly in the Canadian prairies and the southerly reaches of Ontario and Quebec. The current Canadian farmland area of 67.8 million hectares (mha) has remained relatively constant since World War II, although the area in crops has crept upwards to some 36 mha (Statistics Canada, 2007). In western Canada, since the 1980s, while individual farms have become more specialized, aggregate agriculture has diversified away from cereal and coarse grains, mainly wheat and barley, to higher-valued crops such as oilseeds, chiefly canola, and pulses such as field peas and lentils. In terms of cropped area in Canada, despite having lost ground spring wheat still leads, followed by hay and other fodder crops, with canola now ahead of barley, in third place. The 2006 Census of Agriculture counted 229,000 farms in Canada reflecting a steady decline in farm numbers that began in 1941 (Statistics Canada, 2007; Mitura, 2007). Average farm size recorded in 2006 was 295 ha, ranging from more-intensive 100 ha farms in Ontario and Quebec to more-extensive farms in Saskatchewan, averaging nearly 600 ha. Farm size has also increased in terms of livestock numbers, most notably in hog farming where the number of pigs per farm rose by more than twentyfold from approximately 70 in 1971 to 1450 in 2008 (Statistics Canada, CANSIM 2009). Agricultural production is increasingly concentrated on specialized larger farms. In 2005, some 5,900 farms had gross receipts exceeding one million dollars. These "million dollar" farms represented only 2.6% of all farms in Canada but earned nearly 40% of total receipts. In contrast, farms with less than $100,000 (Canadian, currently $94,000 U.S.) in farm receipts comprised 65.6% of all farms and generated only 9.9% of all farm receipts (Mitura, 2007). Nearly 40% of Canadian farms are designated as crop farms, followed by beef farms at 26.6% of all farms. The mix of agricultural commodities varies among the provinces (AAFC, 2005). Production of red meats, along with dairy, is most important in Ontario and Quebec. Red meats, grains and oilseeds typically account for over 80% of market receipts in the prairie provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. In British Columbia, fruits and vegetables are important, while in Atlantic Canada, potatoes and dairy predominate. In 2006, nearly 7% of Canadian farms reported growing organic products for sale but only one-quarter of these were actually certified. Farm operators in Canada are getting older, now averaging 52 years of age (Statistics Canada, 2007). The economic well-being of farm households is increasingly linked to the nonfarm economy with nearly half of all farms reporting off-farm income. In 2006, 57% of Canadian farms were sole proprietorships, 27% were partnerships, and 16% were incorporated-a rising share but still largely family incorporations. Trade, particularly with the United States, is very important to Canadian agriculture. The red meat sectors, in particular, became increasingly integrated within the North American market in the past 15 years. Crops and Livestock in Canada: Shifting Patterns over Time Canada is ranked eighth in world cereal production and tenth in world meat production (Statistics Canada, 2009). From 1999 to 2008, an average of 48% of total farm cash receipts in Canada came from livestock receipts, 41.3% from crop receipts, and the remaining 10.7% from government program payments (Statistics Canada, CANSIM 2009). Livestock receipts generally exceeded crop receipts during this decade, although 2007 and 2008 were notable exceptions reflecting stronger grain prices and adverse red meat fortunes. Government payments increased, often on an ad hoc basis, in years of drought, animal disease, border problems, and financial stress.

1999

Three main concerns drive interest in a more environmentally and economically sustainable food and agriculture system: that our present agricultural, processing and distribution practices are having a negative impact on environmental quality, and on resource availability and use; that these practices are contributing to a deterioration in human health; and that the economic situation for farmers and rural communities continues to decline, making it more difficult for them to practice environmental stewardship. The negative environmental impacts of current food system practices include soil degradation, water depletion and contamination, inefficient energy use, loss of plant and animal genetic diversity, negative impacts on non-target organisms, and destruction of non-agricultural habitat. Certain products and practices are implicated in human health problems, including animal antibiotic use leading to antibiotic resistance, growth hormones for livestock, nitrates in groundwater, pesticide exposure in occupational settings, pesticide residues in foods, many food additives, and certain food processing techniques. Causes of Problems Economic power is increasingly concentrated in the hands of fewer and fewer economic players. Canada has the most oligopolistic economy in the Western World. Such economic power is antithetical to environmental stewardship on the part of both farmers and agribusiness. In addition, it is linked with reduced farm payments, higher farm input costs, and higher retail prices for consumers. As a result, many farmers are caught in a cost/price squeeze, and the numbers of farms and farm operators declines. In this economic climate, it is difficult to invest in the environment. Given their oligopolistic position, most agribusiness firms have little competitive motivation to be environmental stewards or to provide environmental products to the market place. The problem is compounded by the absence of readily accessible information for consumers about the environmental qualities of the products available. In general, the provincial government's actions in the agriculture and food sector are accelerating the pace of environmental degradation and financial instability for farmers. Their agenda is characterized by cuts, deregulation, privatization, pro-development initiatives, supports to export at the expense of the local food economy, support for traditional models of competitiveness, biotechnology promotion rather than sustainable agriculture, limiting of public input, and helping to make conventional agriculture more efficient. Very little of this is supportive of an environmental agenda in the food and agriculture system.

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.

Following a series of bilateral and multilateral agreements, the past two decades have seen increased trade and investment liberalization between Canada and the United States in the agri-food sector. Changes in trade policy are one of several paths by which farm structure can change. This increased liberalization, together with the largest drop in Canadian farm numbers recorded by the Census of Agriculture in thirty years, has provided the impetus to review some aspects of farm structure. In particular, this article presents the latest Canadian and U.S. data on the number of farms by sales class, the concentration of sales and other production-related variables, and the distribution of income and receipts. We explore whether significant changes in the latter two elements of farm structure have occurred during this period of trade and investment liberalization.

Sociologia Ruralis, 2001

2019

Agriculture, like other economic sectors in the developed world, has experienced significant structural change over recent decades as farm size, intensity, capitalisation and specialisation have dramatically moved from traditional to industrial configurations. From an historical perspective, the rate of change occurring in agriculture has varied from the imperceptible to the dramatic with many writers recognising three periods of great change or "agricultural revolutions" (Troughton 1986; Bowler 1 992). T he develo pments of re cent deca des make up the latest of these revolutions. The first agricultural revolution, the prehistoric domestication of crops and animals and the development of the plough, resulted in farming replacing hunting and gathering as the basis of subsistence. With the second agricultural revolution, many centuries later, farming ch anged from subsistence to commercial modes of production in response to the growing urban markets arising out of the industrial revolution. This new comme rcial agriculture diffused rap idly to the areas of overseas colonisation including Canada where most agricultural settlement by Europeans was market-oriented from the start. The third period of dramatic change has occurred since about the Second World War and is referred to as "agricultural industrialisation" or "agricultural restructuring" . Theory relating to agricultural restructuring suggests that changes in the spatial patterns of agricultural activity have resulted from the restructuring process. While these spatial changes can be exa mined at many scales, the purpose of this research note is to analyse broad, Canada-wide, adjustments using provincial-level data for the post-war restructuring period from 1951 to 1991.

Farmers and their organizations generally have argued that their livelihoods are not merely ignored but actually threatened by farmland preservation policies. because it is within these that the decisions affecting the "viability of agriculture" are taken.

1995

C A conjectural variations model provided measures of the degree of oligopoly power in the Canadian dairy, fruit and vegetable, poultry and red meat processing industries. Results indicate that significant oligopoly power has existed in these industries. In decreasing order of oligopoly power, these industries rank as: red meat, !dairy, fruit and vegetable and poultry processors. Overtime, oligopoly power increased in the dairy, poultry and red meat processing industries, but declined in the fruit and vegetable processing industry. Factors contributing to change include increased industry concentration, technological chan e and the introduction of supply management in the Canadian dairy and poultry production industries. Oligopoly Power in the Canadian Food Processing Industry-Further Results' 1 This paper began as a class project for 02-657, Advanced Agricultural Market Analysis, at the University of Guelph in the summer of 1994. Cran Cousineau, Swidinsk-y and Lai were students in this class and Goddard was the instructor.