Workers operate equipment to harvest cello, or jumbo carrots at the Visser Brothers Farm. The farm was started by the brothers' father in 1954.Peter Power/The Globe and Mail
Some of Canada's freshest carrots you'll never eat grow out of black earth in Ontario's Holland Marsh, one of North America's most fertile vegetable gardens. About half of its output is destined for dinner plates outside the country.
As our sweet Canadian carrots head south, their woody United States counterparts are making the journey here - in what farmers call "redundant trade." The provenance of most grocery-store produce should give one pause: garlic from China, apples from New Zealand, lettuce from Mexico.
Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff proposed a national food policy at Holland Marsh that deserves a look. In a campaign-style announcement yesterday, he outlined five areas where a Liberal government would focus on food policy with the goal of encouraging Canadians to eat better, while boosting the agricultural sector. Conspicuous aspects of the policy include $80-million to promote farmers' markets and $40-million to help 250,000 low-income children eat healthy foods. A further $50-million would improve food inspections and ensure imported foods meet tough domestic standards, improve food labelling and create more stringent standards on trans fats. The plan would be funded using some of the $6-billion saved annually by freezing corporate income taxes.
The benefits of eating local food, however, do not warrant a distorting subsidy for farmers' markets. On the other hand, support for a healthy diet for underprivileged children is a worthwhile goal. Similarly, improved inspection is of course desirable.
Betsy Donald, a Queen's University geography professor who researches local food systems, described it as a positive move, noting that the current system is "kind of broken."
"Historically, we've had some of the best apples and the most indigenous diverse apple products but very few [Canadians]have ever tasted them," she said in an interview. "A lot of the apple orchards are dying and we're importing apples from thousands of miles away."
Holland Marsh, where Mr. Ignatieff made his announcement, has enough produce to "feed the nation and never have a problem," said Jamie Reaume, executive director of the Holland Marsh Growers' Association, where 51 crops are in the ground.
Buying local isn't about being forced to eat rutabagas all winter long and refusing California strawberries out of season. It is about eating healthier food that grows in Canada's own backyard, supporting local farmers and knowing that the food that hits your supper plate is safe.
Mr. Ignatieff's proposals represent a distraction from the much more important goal of getting rid of protectionist subsidies for the dairy industry. As aspirations, however, his ideas are sound, but they should not be allowed to turn into new protectionist trade barriers, both interprovincially and internationally. Canadians, meanwhile, can pursue these worthwhile objectives simply by heading to their local farmers' market, grab a few carrots and see what the Americans have been raving about.