About 20 years ago, P.E.I. farmer Rose Viaene watched her husband David take their tractor out into their farm fields and destroy their garlic crop — an act of defiance born out of frustration with Canada’s large grocery chains.

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The large retailers were still open to buying garlic from the farmers, but Viaene said the offer was too low — just 50 cents per pound when it cost the farm $7 per pound to produce.

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But rather than take the offer and eat the loss, the couple refused.

Uh… I feel like a feller called Steinbeck wrote about this type of thing a whole back. Not to pick solely on these people, the animal murder and torture industry in Canada is operated as a managed supply chain. So that’s just every day for a lot of “farmers”.

I would like to see more co-ops for bulk dried goods but I also want to mention CSAs as a really good option for people looking to support smaller farmer operations. They aren’t all the same but the general idea is that you are buying “shares” in the farms produce so the farmer has some certainty about a part of their revenue and there is more flexibility on what they have committed to deliver.

With respect to the food hubs I was so shocked when I found out the Ontario Food Terminal was like, the Ontario Food Terminal. I grew up in that part of the city and only found out when I looked the org up when I saw workers on strike. I’m happy to see this type of infrastructure receiving funding.