The real food crisis

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   By Cow Man (Murray Harris, Guest Blogger)

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Farming in Ontario in the 1960’s was a form of indentured servitude. Below share cropping, financially, with pride of ownership being a farmer’s reward.

Farm foreclosures were manifesting Provincially. Two neighbours lost their farms to foreclosures. One, a first generation chicken producer, whose son was the pitcher on our baseball team, lost his farm to the feed mill. The second a fourth generation farmer who expanded his laying hen operation, lost his farm to the bank. My first date, was their youngest daughter. The losses were personal.

Agriculture was a bigger slice of the economy, back then. A Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics paper, entitled “The Challenge of Abundance” was referenced in the Legislature. In a nut shell, it said farmers were in a choke hold by big Ag, with no ability to be anything but price takers. Supply Management allows primary producers to be price makers. To make this feasible, import controls were put in place. Supply was regulated to meet demand through a quota system.

Agricultural is a sticking point in Global trade. Every country wants to get rid of their surplus production, while protecting their farmers.

But have we turned the corner? Has the “Challenge of Abundance” been met?

Escalating beef prices, with demand outstripping supply, has 50% of Canadian beef being exported. (Here) Canadian consumer’s dollars cannot compete with foreign demand. Households have chosen to switch to chicken. Canadian Supply Management cannot meet the demand, importing 215 million kilos of chicken. (Here)

Ozempic, and other protein demanding trends, have increased the price of milk protein concentrate globally, by 300%. Canadian Dairy Producers cannot currently supply the domestic protein demand.  (Here) and (Here)

In 1979-1980 we owned the highest producing mature cow in Canada. “Janine” averaged over 45 kilos per day.  Now entire herds are averaging 42 kilos, per lactation. The price of milk to the consumer from 2008 to 2026 has gone up 300 per cent, while milk production per cow has doubled. The size of the average dairy herd has tripled (Here) and the debt per cow has increased 20 fold to about $40,000. (Here)

Not to sound like Pierre Poilievre, “but something is broken.”

The screwworm is back in the US, with the program to propagate sterile male flies to counter the spread, discontinued under DOGE, screwworm may well further decimate the beef herds. Again it will be availability of beef not just price that will shock. (Here) (Is it all Biden’s fault?)

Chicken prices in Ontario are projected to be 40% higher by October. New born, male dairy calves have gone from $80 in 1984, to $300 in 2020 up to $2100 per head for the past 6 months at the Brussels stock yard. (Here)

The price of food is not going to be the crisis, it will be supply. Lower income families diets will change. The US is less than two decades away from a possible humanitarian water crisis from depletion of the aquifers. (Here) And they address the issue by politicizing it. (Here) Continuing to allocate far more water than is available. Tucson, Phoenix and Las Vegas are trying to ward off “disaster”. (Here)

Over my farming years, preservation of class one farmland, transitioned to land use planning based on “protecting the view”. The Greenbelt was formatted to “protect the view”, not farming.

Burlington’s market garden lands, once know as the “Garden of Canada”, (Here) were paved over to meet the self interests of bureaucrats, who base decisions on Development Levy Charges, not sustainability. Burlington Council voted to pave over Canada’s Garden, to build Mapleview Mall, retailing items made in China, that end up in the Halton Land Fill Site. (Here) Was this a sin against humanity?

In 1976 when the CN Tower was built approximately 37% of Canada’s class 1 farmland and 25% of all of Canadian class 2 farmland could be seen from the viewing platform. How much of those farmlands are left? (Here)

How many blog dogs, have been to countries, where the cost of food is not the issue, it is, can you get food? (Here)

Water supply, and mistakes in land use planning, will result in North American dietary changes. Without produce from Mexico, AZ and CA, our winter diets will return to cabbage, turnip, carrots and potatoes. Irrigation supports 52% of US crop sales. (Here) 20% of which are exported (Here). The US is exporting aquifer water, through produce sales, from a semi desert land base, and voters do not realize it. (Here)

Canadians have a standard of living that is not sustainable, partly because our food has been too inexpensively imported. Increased energy costs, and eminent US produce export reductions, due to water shortages, will force dietary changes in Canada.

The “Challenge of Abundance” will be met.

About the Blogger: Murray Harris (who posts as Cow man) is a 40-year dairy farmer having developed his Burnview Holstein herd to one of Canada’s highest production herds. Community activist and Charter Member of Burlington’s Sustainable Development Committee, he has held positions on several Agricultural Committees and Conservation Halton. Married to his Trophy wife of 52 years, he’s a father of two, grandfather of three and continues to serve the community as a school bus driver.

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About the picture: “I was so sorry to read about what happened to you, Garth,” writes Doug. “Reading your praise regarding those that came to your aid provided a crystal clear window into your exceptional character. Instead of dwelling on your attacker’s evilness, or your painful and debilitating injuries like most people would do – and understandably so! – you chose to highlight the kind and skilled actions of others that attended to you and looked after you. You are amazing. This is my neighbors dog, Lucy as an adorable puppy. She’s an adult dog now and I would charitably describe her as, um, “spirited” but she’s still as good looking as ever.”

To be in touch or send a picture of your beast, email to ‘garth@garth.ca’.

Source: https://www.greaterfool.ca/2026/06/21/the-real-food-crisis/