A Craving for Real Food
This item currently has 9 comments. Add your comment.
Canadians want a Better Food System: Nanos Poll
If you’re concerned about what’s wrong with our food, you’re not alone. A large majority of Canadians feel the same way. That’s according to a national opinion poll released by USC Canada and conducted by Nanos Research.
The poll, released for World Food Day (October 16), found that seven out of ten Canadians want farmers to have more influence on the food system. The same number of Canadians also said they trust the experience and knowledge of farmers who grow food over that of large agricultural corporations.
See full results (pdf)
According to Nik Nanos, President of Nanos Research, Canadians have real concerns related to food production and how it impacts the environment and local economies. “Canadians are aware that their food choices have far reaching impacts. They want to know where their food comes from, who grew it, and under what circumstances.”
[Article continues below]
Results of Statement Testing
|
1. Every person in the world has the right to sufficient, healthy food |
|
|
2. I would like the farmers who grow our food to have more influence on the food system |
|
|
3. I’m concerned about the loss of diversity in plants and animals on our planet |
|
|
4. I trust the experience & knowledge of farmers who grow food over the experience & knowledge of large agricultural corporations |
|
|
5. I’m willing to pay more for foods that don’t harm the environment |
|
|
6. When purchasing food, it is important to think about the person who grew the food |
|
|
7. I do not trust companies to have the best interests of consumers when it comes to food |
|
|
|
|
Many of today’s global challenges are connected to the way our food system operates, says Susan Walsh, Executive Director of USC Canada, who commissioned the Nanos poll. “More and more Canadians are calling for a better way of organizing the food system. People feel they’ve lost their vital connection to what they eat. There is a real sense of urgency. Canadians feel that this can’t continue, and we have to do something about it.”
“We need a food system that puts people, farmers, and the planet first. More than a billion small scale farmers around the world have sophisticated farming systems that are built on farmer knowledge and ecological diversity, and feed communities. We should be turning to them for solutions,” says Walsh.
“Canadians are demonstrating that they’re willing to make food choices that can change the food system,” says Walsh. “A system that’s fair, healthy, and produces real food – food they can trust.”
For further information, contact Faris Ahmed by email or by phone (1-800-565-6872 ext.223).
The survey of 1001 Canadians was conducted in April 2009. The margin of accuracy for a random survey of 1,001 individuals is 3.1 percentage points, plus or minus, 19 times out of 20. It is being released by USC Canada for their World Food Day events (October 16), and just prior to the November World Food Summit in Rome. View the full results here in pdf.
9 Responses to “A Craving for Real Food”
Leave a Comment
USC Canada
was founded by
Dr Lotta Hitschmanova in 1945. Our award-winning Seeds of Survival program promotes vibrant family farms, strong rural communities, and healthy ecosystems around the world.
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
There is nothing more I would like than to buy locally grown and healthy produce all the time. Do we need to create food co-op’s to support local farmers encouraging eco-food production and helping redistribute food to those economically disadvantaged? If that’s the alternative, I think Canadians also need greenhouse foods incorporated, into this food coop system; to support more variety in our foods. Greenhouse coops can also share farming knowledge and encourage urban food production and education people on local agricultural issues. There must be other options than just mass food production.
As an Agrologist I have watched as government’s lack of public policy respect for our farmers – something which began in mid 1980′s-has created a full blown farm crisis. Highly concentrated agribusiness sectors have stripped margins needed by farmers to plan for the future. Safety nets have been diamantled. Government has failed to defend -eg BSE – and actively attacked -CWB – the rights of farmers for equity in the marketplace. As a result farm debt is at record levels. This is not sustainable…. FINALLY The emergence of widespread public concern and engagement with our food sector is an important agent for change. communities must rally around this and say enough is enough. A country that does not respect it’s farmers is u unequipped for the future. Wendy Holm, P.Ag.
Ms. Holm, you are right. This is a timely opportunity for citizens to reclaim food policies to serve people first. We need to re-value those who produce our food, not only in Canada, but small holder farmers around the world.
Bruce, there is no shortage of community-based food production and distribution initiatives. One innovative urban model is the STOP, located in Toronto. In the global South, the city of Belo Horizonte, Brazil, is an award-winning example. Our Seeds of Survival program also supports many successful schemes by farmers to steward local food systems, build rural economies, and preserve ecosystems.
[...] such as USC Canada dedicating scarce resources to hackneyed anti-corporate promotions such as this latest poll? That’s what I’m pondering in this week’s Urban Cowboy column in the Guelph [...]
I don’t see this poll as a condemnation of government as much as I do agri-business. But regardless of the target, I wish the finger pointing would stop. With a billion people starving, spending resources on asking people loaded questions like do you trust farmers more than large agricultural corporations — which is going to produce predictable answers — is really not helping to feed the hungry. How about making an effort to work together? The entire food chain — farmers, business, government, NGOs, consumers — needs to nurture a culture of respect like the kind mentioned by Wendy Holm (above)in order for change to happen.
Nanos designed the poll to help us gage Canadian attitudes to food and food production. Part of our mandate is to inform Canadians about the global food issues that affect us and the wider world. The small scale farmers that we support in marginalized parts of the world are being affected by these global systems, in which Canada is an active participant. USC needs to know how Canadians feel about that so we can serve those small scale farmers in the best ways we can.
I encourage you to visit other areas of our website to see how practices that threaten biodiversity – the heart of sustainable food production – are undermining food security and people’s ability to feed themselves.
I conducted research on farmers’ markets in B.C. for a Master of Public Policy from SFU in 2008. The Nanos poll is certainly consistent with polls that were conducted over the past 10 years in Canada. My research also noted that in Canada there are about 6 corporations that control our food system. In B.C. we are increasingly worried about the loss of local food due to the removal of farmland from the Agricultural Land Reserve whether it is for residential / commercial / industrial development or “temporary” gravel mining. I believe that it was Henry Kissinger who once said that bombs are not the way to control people….food is.
[...] according to a national opinion poll released by USC Canada and conducted by Nanos Research. Story USC Canada website. Full results [...]