Buying local isn’t just the flavour of the week.
Supporting local businesses is essential in both crises and stable times. Building robust local economies ensures we have the necessary infrastructure to meet community needs when challenges arise—because they inevitably do.
Our food system’s fragility is currently being exposed by the threat of tariffs, but this isn’t the first time alarm bells have rung. From 2016 to 2021, our province lost over 20% of its farms. 80% of the grocery industry in Canada is dominated by just five companies, the largest of which has a history of price gouging, betraying consumers and exploiting producers. Climate events continue to disrupt food transportation, and in a crisis, grocery stores could run out of stock in two days.
The pandemic brought a surge of customers to farmers’ markets, and we’re grateful for anyone who chooses to shop locally. However, small businesses need sustained commitment to thrive, not just temporary business. If more investment and food sovereignty policies were established in previous years, imagine the more resilient foundation we could have, especially for our province’s food deserts and food insecure households.
What if our food system was localized and our communities were food secure? This is why we’re working with the Province to help build this vision and why we’re calling for a massive investment in local food infrastructure to support our farmers and producers.
Individuals will also play an integral role in supporting our local food system. If you have the resources to choose where you spend your money, let’s start now.
