From farm to fork, the average Canadian meal travels about 3,000 kilometres. Because of our cold climate and short growing season, much of the country's fresh produce is imported — a dependency that compromises the country's food security and carries a hefty environmental toll.
And as the cost of living continues to increase, many people are struggling to access the nutrients they need: according to the Daily Bread food bank, visits to food banks in Toronto have increased 340 per cent since 2019.
Those vulnerabilities were shown when peak pandemic shortages caused chaos at grocery stores, and the past year of trade friction with the United States has made it even more apparent that Canada cannot — and should not — rely on others to feed its own. Shifting that dynamic will require strategic thinking and new approaches.
Canada imports as much as 90 per cent of its lettuce, a fact that seems woefully out of step with a Buy Canadian ethos. It's not just a greens issue — according to tracking from UBC, roughly 60 per cent of the vegetables and 80 per cent of the fruit consumed in the country comes from elsewhere. Most of us are hoping to change this reality: a survey by KPMG in February found that 93 per cent of Canadians prefer locally grown produce.
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