As we enter a period of ever deepening climate crisis it becomes increasingly important to understand the ways in which our current food system is susceptible to breakdown, and to act in ways that strengthen it.
Our existing food distribution system is dominated by very large for profit actors. More than 80% of the grocery market is controlled by only five firms. These large companies exert downward price pressure on consumers, which encourages consolidation in the food production. In search of efficiency, food production tends towards large scale mechanization and monoculture.
Additionally, historically low transportation costs, driven by cheap energy and subsidized infrastructure, mean that a large portion of the food we eat travels hundreds or thousands of miles before reaching our plate.
Climate crisis challenges the assumption that the way capitalism is arranging our food system can continue to serve our alimentary needs far into the 21st century. As climates change, many of the areas from where north Americans source year round fresh food may be subject to desertification. Changes in climate will mean changes in the capacity of different bio regions to produce food. Due to the extent of long distance integration, the shocks will be felt at distances.
There are alternatives. The current consolidation of the distribution system is less than a century old. One concrete remainder of an earlier time is Toronto’s Ontario Food Terminal (OFC). While many Canadian metropolitan centres lack an independent wholesale produce market, in Toronto small wholesalers can sell to small retailers without needing to interact with the big chains. This means farmers can achieve higher prices for their goods, which increases the viability of smaller scale farms. On the distribution side, OFC makes it possible for food co-ops (such as Karma and Berry Road), and non profits like Foodshare to operate. Co-ops and nonprofits show us how conscious intention is already beginning the transformation of our food system. Rather than pursuing profit, these organizations pursue values, especially ecological sustainability (Karma) and health/food accessibility (foodshare).
On the production side, urban agriculture is an exciting and growing sector which has the potential to create transformative change with its integration of theory and practice. The opportunity to participate in a hands on way in food production is inspiring to people, and helps them understand the materiality of their food, and making manifest the absurdity of a system that creates such distance between production and consumption. While urban agriculture will never be a complete solution for producing the food cities need, perhaps the most important change it can herald is encouraging people to eat seasonally, which is a necessity to overcome dependence on long distance food trade.
Ultimately the transformative projects that currently exist are not substantial enough to protect us from the shocks climate change will create across our food system. Increased prices and reduced availability is how we will experience this. However, as food prices increase, so will the viability of local and smaller scale food distribution and production.
Applied Plant Ecology Winter 2020 