Where is your food coming from?

One question haunted me when writing the first draft of my feature on organic farming: do people in cities get it? When entering a grocery store in downtown Toronto, do urbanites ever consider where this food is coming from? No, Dominion doesn't have a field out back where they're growing your celery and corn.

You may or may not remember the various demonstrations the agricultural industry has held in recent years. In 2006, Ontario farmers drove their tractors to Queen's Park in an attempt to influence agricultural spending in the budget. Also last year, farmers took to highway 401 with farm equipment to protest a lack of aid from the Ontario government.

“Different commodity sectors have different issues. In general, Canadian farmers are going through a farm income crisis,” says Kieran Green, director of communications for the Canadian Federation of Agriculture. “Input costs, like fertilizer and gas, have risen extremely sharply.”

Green says the Canadian government’s subsidiary levels are low for agriculture, especially compared to the United States and Europe who pour billions into their agriculture industries.

“This distorts the industry,” Green says. “It drags prices down on a global level, which hurts our guys since they aren’t getting those billions in subsidies.”

The Farmers Feed Cities campaign, launched by Ontario Grains and Oilseeds, was set up to educate the public about where their foods are coming from and about the crisis in agriculture.

"Every year, 1,250 growers are leaving their family farms, unable to cope with the poor prospects of declining world prices," Farmers Feed Cities' website reads. "Try to imagine how Toronto’s construction industry or Ottawa’s high-tech industry would react to over 1,200 workers just dropping out of the workforce … every year."

The comparison is startling. If this downward trend in Canadian agriculture continues, where will we get our food? From imports? Say goodbye to fresh, local fruits and vegetables from the Farmers' Market. Not only that, but think how this would impact the Canadian economy. Our exportable foods would decline, while those we import would climb.

Plus, if you think a farm income crisis impacts just rural Canada, think again. Clean air and safe food are what everyone wants, right?

You may never have the chance to meet a farmer, sit on a tractor or eat an apple right off the tree. What you can do, though, is educate yourself and your family. Without Canadian farms, the dinner plate you converse over would be pretty empty.