The Land of Milk and Honey - The National Report of the People's Food Commission

Publisher:  The People's Food Commission/Between the Lines Publishing, Ottawa, Canada
Year Published:  1980
Pages:  124pp   Resource Type:  Article
Cx Number:  CX2065

Abstract: 
The People's Food Commission (PFC) launched a grass-root inquiry to find out how ordinary Canadians feel about the crisis in the Canadian food system in 1978. (see CX 799). The crisis has been described in the following words; "In the past four years food prices have more than doubled. Since 1945 about 80 percent of the country's farmers have left their land. The farmers and fishermen remaining are forced to produce more and more each year just to stand still on the economic ladder, while consumers end up eating food rich in chemical content but poor in taste and nutrition. Increasingly, power in Canadian agriculture and food distribution rests in the hands of a few large corporations".

The PFC report, The Land of Milk and Honey, is the result of the inquiry among Canadians, which heard over 1,000 submissions from more than 70 public hearings and consultations conducted across Canada. The report outlines the destructive trends that make our food less healthy and more expensive, focusing on case studies of the tomato industry, the Thunder Bay agricultural region and the wheat trade.

"The testimony to the Commission revealed that what is really happening in the Canadian food system is the direct opposite of what people might have cause to expect. There is a growing feeling of disappointment that needs are not being met." "The report offers ideas that could point to a way out of the present crisis in Canadian agriculture and our food system."
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