Food security is the number one issue for the security of our future. We have almost no food security, food bank usage is way up, and food inflation is hurting people across the nation. And, with every addition of density and every new mouth to feed, food security worsens, all while Doug Ford paves over prime farmland for new housing and highways. Toronto needs to ask itself how it is going to feed over 3 million people if, for whatever reason whether it be war, climate change, oil prices, or a natural disaster, Mexico, California, and South America can no longer send us their produce in the middle of winter.
Food Security
Food insecurity is about not having enough money to buy food, especially nutritious food. Food security is about having access to food supply. We cannot address the former unless we shore up the latter.
There is only one way to control food inflation, and that’s to control the production and supply of food. If Toronto cannot start producing its own food locally we will be left at the mercy of economic forces beyond our control. When climate change threatens crop yields around the world and corporate grocery chains are free to gouge customers, the only protection is the city creating its own food production and sales.
Food Waste
The first step however is reducing food waste, which is quite atrocious in Canada. We need to go the way of France and forbid the destruction of unsold food products. Not just in grocery stores, but in restaurants too. We must foster a culture in which food waste is seen as the most egregious of sins.
Outdoor Opportunities
Toronto needs to start using any available outdoor space to create more farms, community gardens, and allotment gardens. Riverdale Farm cannot be our only farm inside the city.
I run the Beach Community Edible Garden and it is unique in all of Toronto, growing food exclusively for our local food bank. The city donated the land inside Ashbridges Bay Park, and we need to consider carving out more parkland for local food production. We need far more outdoor opportunities for local food production, and use what little open land we have left instead of just allowing more development and worsening our food security.
Indoor Farming
The biggest opportunity for Toronto to increase its food security is indoor vertical farming and greenhouses. COVID has caused many businesses to realize they do not need office space or the overhead when workers can easily do their job from homes. These vacated office spaces should be converted to indoor vertical farms, to be able to provide fresh produce to residents year round, before building owners decide the easiest way to make money is to convert them all into condos and worsen our problems with even more density.
We also need more greenhouses, to provide the kind of produce that cannot be grown in a typical indoor space. A farmer in BC managed to grow his own banana trees in a greenhouse. Imagine how much more sustainably we could consume tropical fruits if we were able to produce them on our own?