Freedom from hunger in a world of plenty

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

The CFA's Food Freedom Day is an inspiring concept, but is not a reality for poor and average-income Canadians

by BARRY WILSON

On Feb. 7, the Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA) called on Canadians to recognize Food Freedom Day, defined as "the calendar date when the average Canadian has earned enough income to pay for his/her annual grocery bill."

The implication is that Canadian consumers should stop harping about high food costs and supply management, and recognize how blessed they are by having the farmers they do.

Using statistics that show Canadians spend less of their income on food than any country other than the United States and Great Britain, the CFA uses this annual event to proclaim what a great deal Canadian consumers get.

Across the ocean, in early 2014, a collection of Rome-based international food agencies led by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) announced a modest Swiss-financed project to research ways to reduce pulse and grain harvest losses in three African countries – Uganda, Congo and Burkina Faso. "Around one-third of all food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted each year – enough food to feed two billion people."

The implication is that, if humans simply made use of all the food produced, there would be no hunger. The FAO world hunger count is constant malnutrition, hunger or starvation for almost 900 million people. Ergo, there is more than enough food if we just knew how to use it properly.

On one level, both these unconnected events inspire and are meant to inspire. Forget the gloom and doom, the negativity about food prices or that the hungry must always be with us. On another level, both declarations are public relations gestures, symbolically meant to show food issues in their most positive light.

They do not represent the reality for many people, for whom affordable or plentiful food is far from a realistic goal anytime soon. As always, it is an issue of poverty and affordability rather than supply.
Let's start with Food Freedom Day.

There is no such thing as an "average Canadian income," just a statistical calculation. For economic Big Shots, Food Freedom Day probably comes at noon Jan. 1, depending on the price of caviar and foie gras.

For families with "average" incomes and other bills to pay, or family mouths to feed, food bills don't always seem reasonable and food prices contribute to painful choices between school supplies, rent, better clothes and health care costs. Food Freedom Day is a dream.

For the more than 800,000 Canadians who use food banks every year, there is no Food Freedom Day – just the indignity of begging for protein.

Food Freedom Day is properly a celebration of the amazing food-producing system we have in Canada. It is not a celebration of adequate, affordable food for millions of Canadians.

The FAO food waste numbers are equally meant to inspire the idea that this is not a Malthusian world of too many people and too little food, and it is a worthy point to make. Properly managed and all things being equal, today's production levels could feed everyone adequately.

But all things never are equal. Curtailing food waste in North America or African country Y will never help the dispossessed or destitute in country Z – or in Canada's inner cities, for that matter.

Hunger in a world of plenty is a political decision that no amount of bragging about the great food bargain or curtailing food waste will solve. BF

Barry Wilson is a member of the Parliamentary Press Gallery specializing in agriculture.