Food Security: From Excess to Enough

Canadians are failing to balance reasonable food consumption with sufficient and sustainable production.

The modern agricultural system is producing more and more food. Too much food. The cost is enormous: excess nutrients are contaminating the air and water; soil is being depleted; species loss is plunging us toward the sixth extinction; and farmers, racking up debt, are increasingly vulnerable to economic and climatic shifts.

At the same time, people are consuming too much food. Two-thirds of health-care costs in Canada can be attributed to chronic diseases associated with unhealthy eating. And then there is the waste -- householders, food processors, distributors, wholesalers, and retailers collectively waste 40 percent of the food produced.

A radical rethink is required. We need to move from excess to enough.