The federal government’s new National Food Security Strategy has recognized food as an issue of national security and of strategic importance. For that alone, it deserves credit. It is also a very good diagnosis of what has long held the Canadian food sector back, along with a strong strategy for fixing it.
But the strategy lacks foresight about the technologies that will shape the global food future. The strategy focuses largely on investing in the food systems of the past while other countries are building the food systems of the future. The goal should be to expand what Canadian agriculture can be.
For decades, food security was about affordability and trade. If our farmers were reaching foreign markets and our grocery shelves here at home were stocked, everything was well and good. After all, global markets would always provide what we needed. What could go wrong?
Over the past several years, supply chain disruptions, geopolitical tensions and war, extreme weather and trade disputes have reminded us that food security is ultimately about control and capacity. A country that cannot reliably feed itself is vulnerable in ways that are easy to ignore until a crisis arrives.
Our time of blissful ignorance has passed. That’s good news.
The federal government is proposing investments measured in billions rather than millions. It recognizes the importance of domestic manufacturing, supply chains and resilience. That’s a big deal for a sector that has often struggled to attract attention in Ottawa.
The strategy also carefully nudges food security into the frame of industrial policy. That’s a good thing, too. After all, the GDP impact of displacing food imports is about twice as large as for agricultural exports.
But we could be even more ambitious. Why should Canada aspire merely to be somewhat less dependent on foreign food systems? Are we being, dare I say, too Canadian about this? Why not set a goal of becoming the most food-sovereign nation on Earth?
Canada possesses many of the ingredients needed to do it. We have abundant land, water, technical talent and energy resources. With the right long-term strategy, we could become the global leader in food production, food manufacturing and, most importantly, food technology.
Doing so would require a slightly broader vision than the one currently on offer. A vision of both strengthening our food sovereignty while future-proofing our food economy.
The most notable omission from the strategy is the absence of a serious discussion about next-generation food technologies.
Within a decade, Canada will be able to produce foods and ingredients that today can only be done elsewhere, and in some cases, nowhere. Countries that currently depend on Canadian exports will be developing their own pathways to food sovereignty using these same technologies.
The opportunity is that Canada becomes one of the countries inventing, scaling and exporting these technologies to the world. If we don’t, others will. Over time, our food exports will be displaced by technologies that give others food sovereignty.
That transition will not be painless. New technologies inevitably reshape existing industries. But Canada should be a leader in that transition. Today’s food strategy should include support for farmers and agricultural communities to participate in the next food economy rather than be displaced by it.
The government should also more deeply consider the connection between its food strategy and its recently announced ambitious energy strategy. Historically, food production was constrained by land, but the food system of the future will be primarily constrained by electricity.
Controlled-environment agriculture, food manufacturing and future food technologies all rely on electricity. In the decades ahead, electrons will become the most important food input.
The government’s announcement is an important step. It acknowledges that food security matters, that Canada must strengthen its domestic capabilities, lays out a good plan to get there, and defines targets for knowing when we do.
But if we are going to think strategically about food, we should think bigger and further ahead. Let’s make sure we build the most advanced food system of the future, not just strengthen the one of the past.
