Contributions of Fruits and Vegetables for Sustainable Food Systems in Canada
5 November 2021, Washington, DC/ Ottawa, ON - To mark the International Year of Fruits and Vegetables, FAO North America convened an expert discussion, moderated by Jocelyn Brown Hall, Director of FAO North America, to highlight how fruits and vegetables contribute to sustainable food systems in Canada.
“The International Year of Fruits and Vegetables raises awareness on the important role of fruits and vegetables for human nutrition, food security and health,” said Donald Boucher, Director General of the Sector Development and Analysis Directorate at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), in his keynote address. He emphasized how fruits and vegetables are key to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which Canada is committed to achieving through the Food Policy for Canada, which aims to advance the SDGs to end hunger, reduce food waste, and transition to better production. The Canadian Government has invested over CAD 100 million to tackle food waste.
In Canada, fruits and vegetables are a key component of the horticultural sector as a whole, shared Rachid El Hafid, Director, Research, Development and Technology Transfer, AAFC. “On one hand, we have this tremendous growth opportunity and on the other, we have this vulnerability we have to deal with.” He explained that the horticultural sector needs to rebalance its priorities to make resilience as important as efficiency, productivity, and sustainability. “Fostering scientific research and innovation will be key to achieving sustainability, efficiency and resilience goals,’’ he added.
Guy Milette, Chair of the Board of Canadian Produce Marketing Association (CPMA), shared that the Association, through its consumer-facing work, is encouraging Canadians to make healthy food choices and is participating in discussions to promote fruits and vegetables for a healthy lifestyle, as part of the IYFV 2021.
Jan VanderHout, President of the Canadian Horticultural Council, shared the council’s nearing 100th year anniversary. With the council’s members growing over 120 crops, he emphasized the importance of adopting sustainability and innovations by “continually investing over time into the land, equipment, staff and whole operation to maintain its competitiveness to ensure its productivity economically, environmentally, and socially.” On pesticide use, he noted that fruit and vegetable growers are very cognisant of crop materials which are extremely regulated by the government of Canada. “We have also invested in our own composting site to deal with all of our organic waste to create fertilizer for our field crops in the process,” he added.
Paul Thomassin, Professor of Agricultural Economics at McGill University, highlighted the growing demand for fruits and vegetables and how this can contribute to not only the environmental goal of making the agriculture and food sector more sustainable but also economically as well. He noted the importance of temporary foreign workers in the production of fruits and vegetables, particularly during planting and harvesting. “The one thing I think we have to do is to develop a holistic strategy for agriculture and food systems in Canada and move away from the sector by sector approaches, but have a more holistic approach to see trade-offs, adopt technology, and to improve the economic and environmental sustainability,” said Thomassin. He added that redesigning packaging at the onset using a circular economy approach is another area that Canada can be a leader in.
The hour-long session provided an overview of the opportunities and challenges facing the fruits and vegetable sector in Canada, and how they provide a critical opportunity to promote multiple social, environmental and economic benefits. The discussion also highlighted the importance of continually investing in sustainability and innovation to help the sector compete in light of various challenges, and to value temporary foreign workers who play an important role in the production of fruits and vegetables.
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Learn more about the International Year of Fruits and Vegetables (IYFV)