A survey conducted last year by the Canadian Centre for Food Integrity found that only three in 10 Canadians believe the food system is on the right track. Photo: File

Public trust in Canadian food system at a low

Research organization says more needs to be done by the agriculture industry to engage consumers and gain influence

Reading Time: 3 minutes The Canadian food system's reputation has taken a significant hit in the last couple years, said Ashely Bruner of the Canadian Centre for Food Integrity (CCFI) during a recent webinar.




Photo: SDI Productions/iStock/Getty Images Plus

National school food program announced

Federal government says program aims to start with 2024/25 school year

Reading Time: 2 minutes The federal government plans to spend over $1 billion over five years on a national school food program that will feed an additional 400,000 school-aged children a year.


Scenic autumn view of the rural landscape, orchards, vineyards, and wineries of Oliver located in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia, Canada. Photo: laughingmango/iStock/Getty Images Plus

Local food system would reap big economic benefits researcher says

B.C. researchers found that the Okanagan could produce two thirds of its own food while maintaining exports

Reading Time: 2 minutes Assuming an average Canadian diet, the Okanagan can currently produce 88 per cent of its dairy needs, Mullinix and colleagues wrote in a report on the study. It can produce 60 per cent of its poultry needs, 34 per cent of its fruit needs (due to fruits eaten that can’t be grown in the region, or are eaten out of season), and small amounts of other food groups like grains, red meat, eggs and oils.

(Stephen Ausmus photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

New report shows poultry sector burdened by expectations

Simpson Centre paper calls for increased research, financial sustainability for sector

Reading Time: 3 minutes Updated, May 17 — The Simpson Centre for Food and Agricultural Policy has released a report detailing its findings on challenges now facing Canada’s poultry sector. The report, co-authored by research assistant Shawn Wiskar and centre director Guillaume Lhermie and released Thursday, used a focus group of six stakeholders in the Canadian poultry industry. It […] Read more


University of Guelph professor Evan Fraser, shown here in cartoon form discussing food security initiative “Feeding 9 Billion,” has been named co-chair of the new Canadian Food Policy Advisory Council. (Feeding9Billion.com video screengrab via YouTube)

Advisory council named to steer national Food Policy

Reading Time: 2 minutes Development of Canada’s Food Policy is taking a major step forward with the naming Friday of a new advisory council featuring industry, academic and government members tasked with guiding the policy. Public consultations on a “Food Policy for Canada” started in 2017, leading to the release of a 2018 report from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada […] Read more

Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau and Parliamentary Ag Secretary Jean-Claude Poissant, at right, visited the Carrefour Alimentaire Centre-Sud in Montreal on June 17, 2019 to formally launch the federal Food Policy for Canada. (Photo courtesy Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada)

Federal food policy aims to lift local and Canadian-grown products

Reading Time: 2 minutes Federal programs to boost the profile of domestic and locally grown foods at home while reducing food waste, food insecurity and deceptive food marketing are all up for funding under the government’s new Food Policy for Canada. Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau and Parliamentary Ag Secretary Jean-Claude Poissant announced the new policy Monday in Montreal, following […] Read more


The grocery department at a Northern store in Waskaganish, on James Bay in northern Quebec. (Northmart.ca via YouTube)

Ag minister announces launch of Canadian food policy

Reading Time: < 1 minute Canada has its first food policy, an initiative to increase access to safe, nutritious and culturally diverse food, and to cut food waste. Marie-Claude Bibeau, minister of agriculture and agri-food and parliamentary secretary, Jean-Claude Poissant made the announcement Monday in Montreal. “The Food Policy for Canada is our road map for a healthier and more […] Read more

Alex Sawatzky is pursuing her doctorate in public health at the University of Guelph, but she’s also an artist, who agreed to perform “graphic note-taking” during the university’s inaugural Arrell Food Summit in late May. Here, she records in artistic form the words of Thursday morning keynote speaker Galen Weston.

On the agenda

If you wanted to bring together the most important food thinkers in the world, and you had the budget to do it, who would you invite?

Reading Time: 6 minutes A brand new University of Guelph thinktank had its three-day coming-out in May with an agenda that included speakers who question the direction of today’s conventional farm production, and the event culminated in the inaugural awarding of two $100,000 prizes — one going to a Harvard University professor who might seem no friend to Canada’s […] Read more