The solution to Canadians taking in more calories than they burn shouldn’t rest on ag policy, says professor
Should agricultural policy have an obligation to be part of the solution to broad societal problems?
At a University of Guelph conference in Ottawa April 5, several speakers argued that too much is being expected of food policy.
“It is true that a portion of our population is not getting the proper nutrition,” said University of Saskatchewan professor Murray Fulton.
“But is that a failure of agriculture policy? That is not the way we have traditionally seen it.”
However, the food industry is often seen in current debates as the saviour or culprit on many issues.
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As various organizations work to create a national food strategy, the project is sold as a way to position food production as part of the solution to major Canadian problems, attempting to increase the focus on the importance of the industry:
- There is a growing health problem in a society whose citizens eat too much of the wrong food. A food strategy promoting healthy agricultural products is a natural fit with health strategies.
- Segments of the Canadian population go hungry in the midst of affluence. A food strategy could help address it.
“Canada does really have a food security problem,” Fulton said. “But the problem is not our agriculture policy.”
University of Guelph professor John Cranfield argued that on the health issue, there is evidence that increasing numbers of Canadians are obese and suffer from preventable diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular problems.
However, is food policy the problem or the answer?
“Can agri-food policy be a health policy?” he asked. “I’m skeptical about that.”
Agriculture and the food industry have an obligation to make certain that the products sent to market are safe, but he argued that genetics, the environment and personal behaviour are the main reasons behind the growing unhealthiness of Canadians.
Despite a range of healthy foods available, Canadians increasingly are taking in more calories through snacking. The basic issue is that Canadians are choosing to ingest more calories than they are burning.
For example, there is a debate about the damaging effect of food trans fats in the Canadian diet, Cranfield said.
“But should this be part of the debate about agri-food policy?” he added. “My off-the-cuff comment is that it is not.”
Fulton said in an interview the idea that Canadian hunger is a food problem takes the debate beyond traditional agriculture policy. There is more than sufficient food produced.
“It is a social welfare issue within some segments of our society, the poor and aboriginal populations,” he said.
“While agriculture policy can deal with some aspects of it, there is a greater sense that agricultural policy can be tasked with being a major solution, and I think that moves it beyond where it is or ever has been. To reconfigure agriculture policy to meet all the new demands would be a massive departure, and I don’t think it is likely to occur.”
