News
Whether it's the purchasing policies of chain stores, a lack of local resources like egg graders, or the rules set up by marketing boards and other regulatory agencies, farmers around Sudbury, Ontario have found that the food distribution system is not set up for small farms and local production.
[This is an EXCERPT: read the whole article here. The complete version of the article also describes a report, released during the 70s oil crisis, detailing Sudbury's agricultural potential, and the plans that came from that but were not realized. -Ed.]
by Lara Bradley
(Sudbury, Ont.) "[Farmer] Don Poulin has to truck a portion of his potatoes to Toronto to a central depot only to have them trucked back to Sudbury by the grocery stores;
"There are some 2,150 beef cattle in the district, but it's nearly impossible to find local beef; and
"In the height of the Sudbury blueberry season, only the mushiest, blandest berries possible from California are in the grocery stores. It goes on and on and on. Oh, and here's a whopper: For every calorie of food we produce in North America, it requires about 10 calories of fossil fuel energy to process it - and that's not even counting transportation.
"The food we eat must be processed using oil. Oil is running out and its cost is getting higher every day."
"... it's not just a matter of growing more. When it comes to barriers, a big one is getting the food to market."
"'Where the trouble comes in when rules are enforced on the small farms who are attempting to direct market to consumers locally,' [chicken farmer] Dave Lewington said."
Photo credit: Audrey 
