The Conference Board of Canada gives Ontario a relatively
poor report card for agriculture in the first analysis of its kind.
Saskatchewan came out on top and the Maritimes are at the
bottom.
The report deals with five categories: industry
prosperity, healthy food and diets, food safety, household food security, and
environmental sustainability.
The real shocker is that Saskatchewan ranks at the top for industry prosperity, even though it has few supply-managed dairy and poultry farms. Ontario, which has plenty of supply-managed farms which the leaders of marketing boards claim yields steady prosperity, ranks only a C.
Maybe that's a reflection of how much Ontario poultry farmers are crazy enough to bid for quota.
Saskatchewan got grade As for food safety, industry
prosperity, household food security, and environmental sustainability.
Its only B grade is for the healthy food and diets
category. British Columbia is also among the top performers. It leads all
provinces on healthy food and diets, and environmental sustainability.
The Conference Board report categorizes Quebec,
Alberta, Manitoba and Ontario as middle of the pack performers.
The report card shows that households in Ontario and
British Columbia are more vulnerable to food emergencies.
Ontario got a B for food
safety, behind Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
Ontario gets a D for
environmental sustainability, down with Newfoundland and Labrador. British
Columbia and Saskatchewan earned As.
The Canadian food system wastes approximately 40 per
cent of all food, equivalent to $31 billion annually.
Ontario, British Columbia, and Quebec are the top
performers in household organic waste diversion, while Alberta and New
Brunswick lag the other provinces.
In all, 63 food performance metrics were used to
evaluate the overall food performance of the provinces.
“As a developed nation, most Canadians enjoy access to
foods that are safe, nutritious, affordable, and available to everyone,
produced in ways that are environmentally sustainable,” said Jean-Charles Le
Vallée, associate director of the Conference Board’s Centre for Food.
“The food report card highlights areas where the
provinces are doing well, but more importantly points out areas where
improvements are needed.”
