FOOD FOR TALK – What Canadians can do about the global food crisis

40% of food made in North America is wasted each year! Food prices are rising! Our food is processed with cancer causing chemicals! Millions of trees are being cut down to make room for agricultural fields!

These are some of the statements that began the “Food for Talk” dialogue in which I participated on Tuesday about Canada’s role in the international food crisis sponsored by Canada’s World (www.igloo.org/canadasworld.foodfortal).

As the Environmental Animator at the Ralph Thornton Centre, I have worked to share information about the environment with community members who use this space. So far, I have focused largely on environmental issues that have become increasingly common like the “reduce, reuse, recycle” model, waste reduction, and easy ways to save energy.

I have not yet addressed the relationship of food to our environment but it is, without a doubt, a key element of health, and the way food is managed has major implications for the environment in which we all live.

This week, two hundred Ontario residents from various backgrounds met to discuss areas for potential change within the local and global food systems. Inspired by speakers like Debbie Field, the Executive Director of FoodShare, Dr. Gerald Caplan, author of the “Betrayal of Africa”, Dr. David Sparling, an internationally recognized authority on issues related to food-policy and agricultural food supply chains, John Knechtel, Director of Alphabet City, and Phillip Haid, the Chair of Canada’s World Communications Committee, we covered lots of big topics in a day!

My table of 8 included
1) a representative from the South African consulate,
2) & 3) two American ex-pats from Engineers Without Borders,
4) myself as Environmental Animator at the RTC and a student of Naturopathic Medicine,
5) a Masters student writing a thesis on the feminization of Jamaican agricultural workers in North America,
6) a teacher from Toronto working in rural Nova Scotia,
7) a full-time mom and volunteer with Certified Organic Growers (www.cog.ca), and
8) our table facilitator who works for Campus Co-op providing housing for university students.

We identified major problems in the food system on all levels from the agricultural system, to the distribution, right up to the consumer. Monocultures are unsustainable, deplete the earth of nutrients making the soil less productive, put enormous financial and emotional stress on farmers, and fill the pockets of large multinational corporations. Dr. Gerald Caplan shared the following statistics to illustrate one of the problems with the distribution system: 5 companies in the world control 90% of the global grain supply, and 4 companies control 80% of US beef. That means less than 10 companies in the world, essentially regulate quality for, set prices for, benefit financially from, and ultimately determine most of what we have available to eat.

After discussing the endless issues surrounding local food supply, global food supply, and how to bridge the two, we came together to propose a list of things we could walk-away with to make sure the discussion continued: The following is the list of actions resulting from our day of talking. I invite you to choose a couple to try for yourself.

All two hundred of us said we will. . .

1) Integrate the issue of food security and continue the discussion around food into what I am already going.
2) Connect with a farmer, shop at a local market and learn the name of who farmed my food, or get a CSA share. (www.csafarms.ca)
3) Stop eating genetically modified foods and revitalize the market for natural produce. Unless otherwise indicated, Canadian crops of corn, soy, canola, and cotton, are most likely genetically modified.
4) Share good food with the people I love because it feels good.
5) Continue to research existing changes in food systems on the global level and learn from other countries.
6) Write to my MP and local elected officials and ask them “What are you doing about what Canadians are eating?” and demand a National Comprehensive Food Policy that guarantees every Canadian has access to affordable and nutritious food grown with sustainable methods.
7) Read “The Betrayal of Africa” written by Dr. Gerald Caplan to better understand the global effects of our current food distribution system
8) Research “permaculture” – a potential alternative to our current food management system
9) Demand my right to know what is in food and how it produced by understanding labels and certifications like “fair-trade”, “organic” (http://www.cog.ca/stds_regs.htm#labels), and “Local Food Plus” (www.localfoodplus.ca)
10) I will send ripples of change around myself and I will celebrate my successes, no matter how small.

If you like to eat, and want to make sure good food remains available in Canada for your children, grandchildren, and generations to come, please think about trying one of the things on the list above. Then tell us about it and join the dialogue, we’d love to hear from you!