The global economy's effects on food security and food bank usage in Canada

¶ … global economy relate to food security and food bank use in Canada. There has been some exploration in the academic literature of the links between the changes in the global economy and food security. There have also been a couple of attempts to examine the linkages between the global issue of food security and the individual issue of food bank usage. This paper will examine this literature to examine whether or not there are linkages between the two.

There are a number of potential approaches that can be used to examine an issue such as this. Food security is a macro-level issue normally addressed on a societal or governmental level. As a net food exporter, Canada has no inherent food security issues. However, the urban environment does not produce much food, if any, and therefore the question of food security can be applied to cities. Cities inherently exist by producing wealth that can be used to acquire, among other things, food. Food security in the urban context therefore relates to the ability of the urban center to sustainably generate and distribute wealth. At the national level, the ability of the nation to produce food for the city to buy is a concern. Two premises are self-evident. Canada produces enough food to feed its people, and Toronto has sufficient wealth to buy the food it needs. Toronto ranks high in surveys among the wealthiest and most powerful cities in the world -- wealth generation is not an issue. This leaves wealth distribution as a critical issue at the city level that would affect food security. From a societal perspective, this is an important issue because of the nature of society's moral obligations to its members and the well-documented adverse outcomes of a lack of food security (Vozoris & Tarasuk, 2003)

One element of economic globalization is essential to understanding wealth distribution, and that is human migration. While globalization has encouraged free movement of goods and capital, restrictions on human migration have not been lifted to the same degree. People cannot migrate as quickly as goods and capital. There are specific reasons for this difference, and in Canada these relate to immigration policy. Immigration policy, in turn, is governed by the provision of social services. As long as there has been immigration to Canada, new immigrants face barriers to entry to society, and consequently have economic outcomes that are inferior to those of established citizens. Migration at the global level is therefore related to the ability of nations to distribute their wealth. While Canada has immense wealth, and food security, there are clearly issues with respect to the ability of the country to distribute that wealth in a manner that allows for food security for all. Those without food security are the users of food banks, a last, charitable resort for the provision of food security within a society. It is this linkage between global level economic change and micro-level outcomes (food bank usage) that this paper will explore.

Changes in the Global Economy

The idea of globalization reflects processes by which the world's people and nations become more closely integrated. These processes are driven by improvements in transportation, increased ease of communication and through direct action on the part of governments and corporations to build links around the world. There are hundreds of outcomes as the result of these changes, but a handful are critical to the issue of food security. The first is the change in agricultural usage patterns. Increased world trade has led to changes -- in some parts of the world quite dramatic -- in the way agricultural land is being used. Rosengrant and Cline (2003) note that crop yields have fallen in many areas and in other areas cash crops have forced out food crops. With less land under cultivation for human food crops and more people to feed, agriculture has become increasingly reliant on the use of fertilizers (Cordell, et al., 2009). There are already significant food security issues in many parts of the world, and many more are likely to have such issues in the future (Rosengrant, et al., 2001).

Climate change is another major issue caused by globalization that affects food security. Consumption of fossil fuels has resulted in climate change, and this process has been accelerated as globalization increases the wealth of hundreds of millions of people around the world. Increased wealth is correlated with increased carbon emissions. The problem with this from a food security perspective is that climate change is likely to reduce the amount of agricultural land. Large portions of the planet will see reduced habitability. Population increases and increased consumption are also creating water shortages in some places, another issue that is related to increased wealth and affects food security (Godfray, et al., 2010).

All of these outcomes of globalization affect food security globally. Food security -- or lack thereof -- has contributed to human migrations since humans first evolved. In a world with decreasing food security, it is expected that immigration from regions lacking food security to those areas that have it will increase. This is going to have significant outcomes for Canada, and for Toronto. Canada has always been a net receiver of immigrants, and it is well-established that the country's three major cities are the destination of choice for most immigrants. There are jobs in the cities, and support networks from those who have already immigrated. Cities are the drivers of wealth in modern human society, and the world has long been on a trend towards urbanization, even before modern globalization began. The new immigrant experience has always been challenging, even for those in the so-called majority (Toronto and Vancouver are both minority-majority cities). However, the high cost of living in cities drives new immigrants and the labourer classes to areas that are becoming increasingly ghettoized.

Spaces of Inequality

Unable to afford rents and housing prices in the central areas of Toronto, immigrants are usually forced to live in areas on the periphery of the city centre. Such areas include Scarborough, areas of North York away from Yonge St. And areas of York and Etobicoke. These areas also attract immigrants because immigrant communities are pre-existing, providing a better support network for new arrivals. In addition, social policy sometimes drives immigrants to these areas. There is more social housing in these districts, for example. In another example, Somali refugees were relocated to an area of Etobicoke that had a surplus of schools -- there was sufficient physical infrastructure in this part of the city to accommodate their needs.

However, such areas run the risk of becoming spaces of inequality. If a cluster emerges that has significantly lower income levels than other areas of the city, that area risks becoming what is known as a 'food desert' (Paez et al., 2010). Urban areas rely on the exchange of money for food as their means of establishing food security, but that system only works where there are viable food options. A food desert is an area where such viable food options do not exist, or where people do not have the means to make such exchanges. In some cases, there appears to be a mismatch between social assistance rates or wages and the cost of living. As a result, there is increasing reliance on charitable assistance in the form of food banks as a last resort source of food security (Tarasuk & Beaton, 1999). Tarasuk & Eakin (2009) note that structural issues of the food bank system render it adequate for the provision of such last resort food security services, relative to the demand for those services. Further, reliance on food banks is a significant barrier to good health (Tarasuk & MacLean, 1990).

Outcomes of Change

Several outcomes for these processes are predicted. Tackling the issue of wealth distribution directly by increasing social assistance rates will help somewhat, in that with more money these communities can better provide for themselves, and might even attract more vendors to increase aggregate food supply. However, this tactic has a few weaknesses that would render it an incomplete solution. The first weakness is that this tactic does not fully address the issue of inadequate household finances. Where food bank users pay market prices for housing, those market prices are likely to increase with an increase in social assistance payouts, negating some of the gains before food is taken into consideration. Another weakness with this tactic is that is only addresses the outward symptoms of food bank dependence; it does not address the underlying causes of this dependence. While some of the underlying causes stem from globalization and are difficult to address, other causes can be addressed at the national, provincial and municipal levels, but this solution does not deal with underlying causes.

Moves to lower the barriers to entry for food businesses into these neighbourhoods can have a positive impact on the supply of food in areas currently considered to be food deserts. A direct approach such a providing subsidies for major food chains like Loblaws might provide some incentive to build new stores in these neighbourhoods, but government subsidy of private enterprise brings with it criticism from taxpayer groups and even groups that would prefer money spend directly on the poor. Lowering barriers to entry by reducing regulations could also increase supply. Many new immigrants and even longer-standing immigrants come from countries where they are accustomed to informal economies, so would have the entrepreneurial skills needed to successfully operate businesses. However, there are risks to compromising some regulations, especially where food is concerned. Many such regulations are designed to maintain healthy traffic flow, strong food safety, and other outcomes that could be compromised if the regulations are lifted to encourage more businesses to open. Also, there is no guarantee that this tactic would result in new businesses. Further, if the problem in food deserts ultimately stems from a lack of aggregate demand, there is nothing to be gained from taking steps to increase aggregate supply of food.

Steps taken to improve the economic outcomes of those living in food deserts are the most likely to be successful. The most evident of these lies with getting new immigrants into their professions more quickly. A new immigrant with advanced education who is forced to work a menial, low-paying job is not going to be nearly the asset to his or her community as one with the high-paying job for which they were granted an immigration permit in the first place. In particular neighbourhoods in Toronto, such as Scarborough, such a policy could engage hundreds or even thousands of people in the economy. There would even be long-run spinoff effects, such as better ability to put children through school, giving successive generations' positive economic outcomes as well. The major drawback to this solution is that it does not address the needs of groups who might exist without untapped skills. The mentally ill constitute one such group, but there are poor people who were born and raised in Canada, and simply lack the education, good health or motivation to increase their earning power. This solution addresses none of those people. There is also no guarantee that people with higher earning power will stay in these neighbourhoods for long, although if these are the neighbourhoods with the best support networks they may well do so.

In addition, increased government support for food security issues is something that can have a significant impact on the poorer neighbourhoods of our cities. There is a case to be made that food banks should not be so critical a part of the plan for food security, but if they are to be important, then they should be better funded. The issues identified by Tarasuk and Eagin (2009) such as unsteady supply of foods, and foods that do not meet the nutritional or cultural needs of the recipients, are ones that can be addressed through greater governmental support of food bank programs. The existing food bank programs in disadvantaged neighbourhoods in Scarborough and North York are already effective at what they do, have the infrastructure and have the trust of the community. With more funding, they can expand their services so that they are an adequate response to the challenge of food security.

There also needs to be recognition at the highest level that the forces of globalization contribute to the problems of food security in certain parts of our cities. The forces of globalization have lifted countless millions out of poverty, but they also create the need for people to migrate from areas where food security is decreasing to those areas with adequate food security. This raises the issue of how to ensure that as Canada takes on increasing amounts of new immigrants the country is equipped to integrate them economically so that they contribute to our food security, rather than reducing it. Some policies could include encouraging farmers to immigrate to Canada, so that they can boost our agricultural capacity, or even just to increase the geographic spread of new immigrants, which at this point is concentrated at the three major cities. Even policies that encourage other Canadians to move to smaller centres could alleviate the pressure that our cities feel to feed and clothe thousands of new people every day.

The current problem arises from not only factors beyond the control of our governments, but also from governmental response to these factors. By changing the government response to the increased globalization of our world, the increased urbanization of our country and the increased ghettoization of our major cities, we can see our ability to provide food security for our citizens improve dramatically. Supply-side solutions include changes to agricultural policy, changes to immigration policy to boost agricultural output, lower barriers to entry for food businesses in underserved areas, and increasing funding of food banks. Demand side solutions include making it easier for new immigrants to use the skills for which they were selected to come to Canada in the first place and increasing social assistance payouts.

Conclusions

The forces of globalization are going to continue for the foreseeable future. These forces will continue to exacerbate the already chronic issue of food security in Canada's most underprivileged neighbourhoods. While government is limited to what it can do about the forces of globalization, it is important to understand how those forces contribute to the food security issue in this country. From this knowledge, a set of solutions can be developed to increase food security in Canada. Most of the solutions focus on the core problem contributing to food insecurity and food bank usage -- wealth distribution.

By taking steps to improve the distribution of wealth, a demand side solution, governments at all levels can inject wealth into some underprivileged neighbourhoods, particularly those characterized by high rates of recent immigrants. This solution will be especially effective if combined with supply side initiatives that decrease the strain on these neighbourhoods, or allow for a greater number of market-based solutions to the food desert problem. At present, food security is not a major issue in Canada, but the trends of globalization are going to make it an issue if we do not take steps today to address food security in a serious way. A comprehensive effort to address the problem, using a variety of solutions at different governmental levels, can have the desired effect of giving all Canadians food security not just today but well into the 21st century.

Works Cited:

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