From the Editor: May 2011

With barely six weeks to campaign for a national election, the federal parties in Canada had a lot of ground to cover in a very short period of time. Although it wasn’t key to all parties’ platforms, food, rather than just the broader topic of agriculture, was included in the debate for the first time.

This isn’t surprising given that food costs are at their highest since 2008 and projected to increase throughout 2011 and beyond. According to many analysts, the end of the decades-long era of cheap food is drawing near. This should be of concern to potential leaders because, as the cost of basic necessities increases, consumer spending on other goods decreases. This is already happening and, despite the assertion by the Conservatives that Canada has made it through the recession (they assume the recession is over; I beg to differ), the economy is still on shaky ground due to increasing costs not only for food, but for fuel and other energy sources as well.

I give all parties credit for addressing the issues of food security and production in Canada, but I think they still fall short. The New Democratic Party (NDP), the Green Party and the Bloc Quebecois have addressed most of the food-related subjects important to voters: local production, sustainable farms, good incomes for farmers and increased funding for home-grown agriculture. All parties, including the Conservatives, are proponents of food sovereignty via some type of national food policy.

All parties have addressed the need for greater food inspection capacity and pledged support for supply-managed industries. The Liberals and the NDP have made the greatest effort to link health-care costs to food, focusing on educating consumers about eating healthy. How this is to be achieved co-operatively between health and agriculture departments is not clear.

As I write this in early April, polls indicate Canada will have either a majority or minority Conservative government on May 2. The Conservatives plan to continue with a more traditional agricultural policy, with a strong focus on export rather than local markets, and express no desire to tackle a national food strategy of any kind.

So, we will likely continue with the status quo. How will farmers and consumers feel about this? It’s hard to say at this point, but I am concerned that consumer backlash over rising food costs will be directly felt by agricultural producers.

Opponents of supply management say that the high prices for dairy and poultry products are due to regulated marketing. Cheap imports threaten other sectors. Although many consumers want to eat Canadian-made food, in tough economic times the wallet often rules over principle, particularly if consumers don’t understand what is going on behind the scenes.

As discussed in this month’s cover story (page 14), the agriculture industry needs to build trust with consumers. We need to communicate values such as safe food, humane animal care, environmental responsibility, and show how we are producing more food with fewer resources, to help them understand the effect each has on society and the prosperity of agriculture.

This is something that a national food strategy, which is currently lacking, will do for us.