“In response to a formal request from the Canadian Association of Vegetable Growers and Processors, the government has directed the Canadian International Trade Tribunal to conduct an inquiry,” federal finance minister François-Philippe Champagne said in a March 13 news release.

A statement via Ottawa government relations consulting firm Maple Leaf Strategies bills the association as “the voice of Canadian vegetable growers, harvesters, employees and processors from coast to coast to coast, working to protect and strengthen the sector from farm to consumer.”

The CITT will have 180 days to decide if imports of frozen and canned vegetables are harming or threatening to cause harm to domestic growers and processors. If so, it will propose remedies to the federal government.

It has also been asked to consider impacts to food affordability and security for Canadians, the news release said.

The CITT, in a separate release March 16, confirmed it has launched the inquiry as requested and will report back to Champagne by Sept. 9.

In its notice of inquiry, the CITT said anyone wanting to make submissions to the tribunal on this matter must file notice by April 2 of their intent to do so, and it will hold its hearing on the inquiry in Ottawa starting June 15.

In an order in council, the government said that it appears importation of increased quantities of vegetables is a result of obligations under the World Trade Organization Agreement and “unforeseen developments in global trade.”

These have led some WTO members to restrict imports of vegetables into their markets, which has led those goods to be diverted into Canada.

In 2024, 55 per cent of Canadian fruit and vegetable preserving and specialty food were imported, according to Farm Credit Canada’s 2025 food and beverage report. That category includes frozen and canned vegetables and fruit, pickling and drying.

The Canadian Association of Vegetable Growers and Processors, in its separate statement, described the government’s move as “an important first step,” saying the domestic frozen and canned vegetable sector “has been facing a sudden surge of low-priced imports that is disrupting the Canadian market. Temporary, rules-based safeguard measures will restore fair competition and allow Canadian growers and processors to compete on equal terms.”

Such measures, it said, “will help stabilize supply chains that retailers and consumers depend on.”

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Sales were down in three of the nine subsectors with the building materials category and furniture, electronics and appliances retailers category also reporting a drop in sales. Sales at fuel pumps helped offset some of the fall, StatsCan said.

In volume terms, retail sales were unchanged in December.

WHY IT MATTERS: Retail sales, which include domestic sales of cars, furniture, food and gasoline, are considered an early indicator of gross domestic product growth and contribute around 40 per cent to total consumer spending.

Core retail sales, which exclude gasoline stations and fuel vendors and the motor vehicle and parts dealers, were down 0.3 per cent in December.

The motor vehicles and parts dealers’ category, which accounts for over a fourth of total retail sales, fell by 1.6 per cent to $18.71 billion.

The second biggest contributor to retail sales is the food and beverage retailer category. Sales were unchanged in December in this subsector.

Building materials dropped by four per cent and the furniture and appliances category registered a 1.7 per cent month-on-month drop.

In January, sales were likely up 1.5 per cent but this number is likely to be updated next month, the agency said in a flash estimate.

— Reporting by Promit Mukherjee and Dale Smith

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Canada’s national standard for companies to voluntary label genetically modified foods is currently open for public review. Part of that involves comment on how gene editing should be defined within the standard and where they do, or do not, fit in the rules.

The federal consultation is accepting comments until Jan. 23.

WHY IT MATTERS: Canada has already ruled that gene-edited plants don’t need to meet the stricter threshold that genetically modified plants do to be approved for cultivation (as long as there’s no foreign DNA involved), and that gene-edited crops are safe for livestock feed. Now, the topic is entering the food labelling arena.

The standard in question is formally titled CAN/CGSB-32.315 Voluntary Labelling and Advertising of Foods That Are and Are Not Products of Genetic Engineering. It provides guidance on how food companies may decide to mark packaging as to whether products are or are not, products of genetic engineering. This standard is maintained by the Canadian General Standards Board (CGSB).

Canada does not require genetically engineered or gene-edited foods to be labelled differently from other foods, according to the federal government’s website. Claims are voluntary, although they must be truthful and not misleading under the Food and Drugs Act and related regulations.

According to the Standards Council of Canada, the purpose of the voluntary labelling standard is to provide a framework for truthful labelling, not to create mandatory requirements.

Edited versus modified

Industry groups such as the Canadian Health Food Association (CHFA) have noted that the federal government’s current proposal would draw a line between gene editing and genetic modification —similar to Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s take on the subject in recent years. Seed and feed guidance in recent years have put gene-edited plants on largely the same regulatory ground as conventionally bred crops, unless foreign genetic material is being incorporated, in which case they’re back to needing a pre-market safety assessment and authorization before they hit the farmer’s field.

Those decisions have drawn ire from the organic sector, worried about contamination with their crops, and praise from much of the rest of the seed sector as a gateway to faster innovation and variety development.

The CHFA, meanwhile, says the new label proposal could allow foods made with gene-editing techniques to be marketed as not genetically engineered, despite gene editing being a form of genetic modification in scientific terms.

In a CHFA report released in October, the association argued that a majority of Canadians surveyed by the study believed gene editing is a form of genetic engineering and that labelling should disclose its use.

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In response, more people are growing their own food. A 2022 national survey found that just over half of respondents were growing fruits or vegetables at home, and nearly one in five started during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Municipal governments have taken note, developing food and urban agriculture strategies that promise more green space, better access to fresh food, stronger communities and sometimes climate benefits. But do they actually change conditions on the ground?

That question sits at the centre of our new study published in the Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development.

London, Ont., adopted Canada’s first stand-alone Urban Agriculture Strategy in 2017. It was a hopeful signal that food and urban agriculture finally had a place on the municipal agenda. Yet, almost eight years later, many of the strategy’s goals remain unrealized.

Based on interviews and a workshop with 56 urban growers, community organizations and city staff in London, we found how a promising strategy can stall without clear leadership, resources and follow-through.

Why urban agriculture matters

Urban agriculture encompasses everything from backyard and balcony gardens to community gardens, small commercial operations, rooftop farms and community projects that process and distribute food.

Research links these activities to better mental health, stronger social connections and improved access to fresh food, especially for low-income communities, immigrants and seniors.

In London, demand for local food and garden space surged during the pandemic. The London Food Bank reported a 92 per cent increase in demand for food donations from 2021 to 2023. Community gardens across the city have long waiting lists. There is no shortage of interest or need for local food; the question is whether city policies support it.

What the strategy changed — and what it didn’t

We found that the city’s urban agriculture strategy helped advance urban agriculture in meaningful ways. Research participants told us it helped “put food on the agenda” at city hall, supporting updates to zoning and bylaws that make it easier to grow food in the city.

But when we asked urban growers and community organizations how much the strategy shaped their day-to-day work, the picture became more complicated. Roughly one-third of the people we spoke with had never heard of the strategy at all, despite actively participating in urban agriculture.

Others knew it existed but were unsure which actions had actually been implemented. Several described it as a “good starting point” that had not been backed by the staffing or funding needed for full implementation.

The strategy came with no dedicated position or budget. Responsibility was scattered across city departments, with no one tracking progress. Supportive staff helped where they could, but limited capacity meant they relied on the community to drive change.

Common challenges mentioned by urban growers and community organizations were unclear zoning and permitting processes, a lack of available land for long-term gardening and minimal financial support, leading to over-reliance on volunteers. The strategy helped normalize urban agriculture in London and opened some doors, but didn’t transform the system.

One of the strongest themes in our research was the strain on community capacity. Like many cities, London’s urban agriculture is powered by volunteers, small non-profit organizations and social enterprises. These groups are deeply committed but face rising demand, complex social needs and unstable funding. Asking them to carry a municipal strategy without matching support is unrealistic.

This echoes findings from other cities. Reviews of urban agriculture policies in Canada and the United States show that local enthusiasm often runs ahead of institutional support.

Strategies tend to celebrate urban agriculture’s potential but pay less attention to equitable land access, labour conditions and the economic realities of growing food in cities.

How cities can help urban agriculture

If other cities want to avoid London’s growing pains, our research points to several concrete steps they can take:

• Assign clear responsibility. Task a specific department, name a lead staff person and allocate ongoing funding. Without this, actions are likely to be delayed, forgotten or handled piecemeal.
• Simplify the rules and centralize information. Create accessible one-stop web pages and guidance documents that spell out what’s allowed, what permits are needed, how to access land and who to contact.
• Secure space for growing. Map under-utilized land, integrate food production into parks and use long-term leases or land trusts to provide more security for community-led projects.
• Treat community partners as co-planners. Develop strategies alongside practitioners, including those from under-represented and marginalized communities. Bring them into the process early and support their full participation, rather than seeking their feedback after decisions are set.

Urban agriculture won’t fix food insecurity — the biggest determinants remain income, housing, social supports and broader food-system policy. But our findings from London indicate that it can still deliver public value.

By committing to implementation and treating food growing as a key piece of urban infrastructure, municipalities can build healthier, better connected and more sustainable cities.

—Richard Bloomfield is an assistant professor in management and organizational studies at Huron University College at Western University. Kassie Miedema is a researcher in management and organizational studies at Huron University College at Western University. Rebecca Ellis is a sessional instructor in geography, geology and land stewardship at Algoma University.

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I still love Korean food. This powerhouse cuisine, like K-pop’s girl- and boy-bands in the music world, is part of the global Korean cultural tidal wave called Hallyu. The flavours of Korean have become the darling child of competitive and restaurant chefs alike, and it’s easy to understand why. Nutty, salty, acidic, sweet and fermented, Korean food is streamlined and spicy, loaded with umami, the near-mystical savoury fifth flavour sense.

To introduce your palate to Korean tastes, here’s a little scouting trip through its basic flavours and ingredients. Three jang, or base sauces, made from meju (fermented soy blocks), underpin Korean flavours in marinades, sauces, dipping sauces, stews and soups:

• Doenjang (fermented cooked soybean paste), very salty and usually wheat-free, is used to season vegetables and add zap to soups and sauces.

• Ganjang (soy sauce) is traditionally wheat-free and mild in a version called Joseon ganjang, used for seasoning soups and vegetables, but a version called yanyo ganjang that contains wheat is funkier, often used in braising meats.

• Gochujang is a thick, spicy-salty-sweet reddish-brown paste made from powdered red chili powder, ground glutinous rice, cooked and fermented soybeans, and salt. This paste serves as a Korean mother sauce, becoming ssamjang, with the simple additions of vinegar, sesame oil, chopped green onions and doenjang. Ssamjang (“wrapped thick sauce”) is traditionally used to literally wrap around grilled meats served with flatbread, red lettuce leaves and perilla, anise-flavoured leaves similar to Japanese shiso.

Gajeun yangnyeom (“everything seasonings”) are the other essentials. They include toasted sesame seeds and roasted sesame seed oil, crushed garlic, green onions, gochugaru (crushed chili powder), shoju (distilled rice alcohol), dried seaweed, and sweet/acid ingredients such as plum syrup and rice vinegar.

Jeot refers to the array of salted, fermented and dried seafoods that act as side dishes, condiments, and seasonings in this coastal cuisine. They include salted shrimp, dried anchovies, sand lance fish sauce and liquid anchovy sauce (both similar to Thai and Vietnamese fish sauce), salted squid and octopus, and liquids and pastes made from oysters, clams and fish roe.

Plug in your earbuds, find some K-pop, then dance, or run, or groove to the move. When you’re done, hit the kitchen. First we eat, then we work our way around the Asian flavour world.

Yangnyeom chicken wings

This spicy dish contains the elementals of Korean seasoning. It is quick and delicious, ideal for Sunday supper, Tuesday lunch or a shareable snack for the hockey game. Traditionalists dredge the wings in flour or a thin batter and deep-fry them, but I prefer to use my air fryer or oven to roast them. This sauce is equally great on grilled beef, pork, salmon or grilled vegetables. Add a bowl of rice and some roasted cabbage to level up to supper.

Serves 2-4.

• 2 lb. chicken wings, separated at the joints
• 2 Tbsp. sunflower oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/3 cup gochujang
• the juice of ½ lemon or rice vinegar to taste
• 6 cloves garlic, finely minced
• 1 Tbsp. minced ginger root
• ¼ cup light soy sauce
• ¼ cup roasted sesame seed oil
• toasted sesame seeds for garnish
• minced green onions or cilantro for garnish

Preheat oven or air fryer to 400 F. Line a baking sheet or air fryer basket with parchment paper. Toss the wings with oil, salt and pepper, then arrange in a single layer on the tray or in the basket. Cook until tender and crisp, turning once, about 20 minutes.

While the chicken roasts, combine all remaining ingredients except the garnishes. Stir the resulting sauce, thin with a bit of water if it’s too thick, and transfer to a medium heat-proof bowl.

Transfer the cooked chicken to the bowl, toss well, and arrange on a platter. Drizzle with remaining sauce, and top with sesame seeds and minced green onions or cilantro. Serve hot.

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The FAO Food Price Index, which tracks a basket of globally traded food commodities, averaged 125.1 points in November, down from a revised 126.6 in October and the lowest since January.

The November average was also 2.1 per cent below the year-earlier level and 21.9 per cent down from a peak in March 2022 following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the FAO said.

The agency’s sugar price reference fell 5.9 per cent from October to its lowest since December 2020, pressured by ample global supply expectations, while the dairy price index dropped 3.1 per cent in a fifth consecutive monthly decline, reflecting increased milk production and export supplies.

Vegetable oil prices fell 2.6 per cent to a five-month low, as declines for most products including palm oil outweighed strength in soyoil.

Meat prices declined 0.8 per cent, with pork and poultry leading the decrease, while beef quotations stabilised as the removal of U.S. tariffs on beef imports tempered recent strength, the FAO said.

In contrast, the FAO’s cereal price benchmark rose 1.8 per cent month-on-month. Wheat prices increased due to potential demand from China and geopolitical tensions in the Black Sea region, while maize prices were supported by demand for Brazilian exports and reports of weather disruption to field work in South America.

Record cereal production/stocks forecast

In a separate cereal supply and demand report, the FAO raised its global cereal production forecast for 2025 to a record 3.003 billion tonnes, compared with 2.990 billion tonnes projected last month, mainly due to increased wheat output estimates.

Forecast world cereal stocks at the end of the 2025/26 season were also revised up to a record 925.5 million tonnes, reflecting expectations of expanded wheat stocks in China and India as well as higher coarse grain stocks in exporting countries, the FAO said.

— Reporting by Gus Trompiz

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The report was full of predictions that came true, as well as a few surprises. This year’s report was the 16th annual.

Food prices were driven higher in 2025 by meat, said Sylvain Charlebois, the lead of Canada’s Food Price Report. Charlebois is the Director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University. He leads Canada’s Food Price Report, but the report was developed by a collective of scholars.

“In fact, we claimed last year that meat would be driving food inflation, and we underestimated how significantly meat prices would go up. That was really the big story in 2025,” he said.

Meat prices to stay high

Unfortunately, the group expects meat prices will remain a huge factor for 2026.

“Beef is an issue, of course, it’s been an issue for a while now, and we don’t see how the situation will normalize itself before at least mid-year 2027,” he said. “Ranchers are leaving the industry. It’s difficult for ranchers across North America.”

The high prices of beef are encouraging people to change to other types of meat, like chicken.

“We’re short on chicken because of higher beef prices. The situation with beef is really a major issue for meat counter economics in general,” he said.

Chicken raised in Canada is under supply management.

“Supply shouldn’t be a problem, but it is a problem right now, because we’re importing more chicken from abroad. But I don’t think that is going to last. I do think the chicken industry will recover eventually. It’s kind of awkward to have supply management and import more chicken from the United States right now,” he said.

Fruit and vegetable inflation down

Vegetables and fruits had their inflation rates go down in 2025 compared to 2024.

“We were expecting increases to be in the positive, but the increases didn’t accelerate as much as we expected,” he said.

The group thought the “Buy Canadian” movement and the entire American boycott would put a lot of pressure on grocers to source products that are cheaper or the same price in America.

“But we were spared, and I think that’s due to the Canadian dollar. I think the Canadian dollar remained a non-issue. That came as a surprise, I would say,” said Charlebois.

Food affordability is a top concern for consumers. A quarter of Canadian households are considered food insecure, and nearly 2.2 million people visited food banks in Canada monthly this year.

Charlebois said there are numerous factors that affect food prices including geopolitics, global weather events, policy enactment, consumer behaviour and changes in retail models. Energy costs, climate change, interest rates, labour costs, the level of consolidation in a sector, and consumer demand, including whether consumers have more money or less money to spend on food.

“These are the things that impact food prices over time. But the bottom line is that not one node of the growth of the food supply chain totally controls food prices,” he said.

Trade wars affect food prices

In 2025, food prices were affected by the trade dispute between Canada and the United States and subsequent policy changes. Consumer-led movements also altered the economic retail landscape, impacting food price inflation.

Charlebois said farmers would say there’s a weak correlation between protein prices, and retail prices, and they’re correct to say so.

“So even though there is a weak correlation between the two, production does have an impact on how food is sourced to supply grocery stores in general,” he said.

When people spend more money at the grocery store, the farmer gets a bigger proportion of the farm bill. With retail, 13 to 15 per cent of the money spent at the grocery store goes back to the farmer compared to food service, where about four per cent to five percent goes back to the farmer from food service.

“Right now, there is a strong movement towards staying retail for consumers, because they’re trying to save as much money as possible, and they’re avoiding restaurants, so that could actually be a positive for farmers in general,” said Charlebois.

Temporary foreign workers

Temporary foreign workers are widely used along the food supply chain. In 2024, Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program brought in over 78,000 workers into the agricultural industry. The Canadian government is revisiting its immigration policy and has announced plans to reduce the share of temporary residents in Canada to less than five per cent of the population by 2027, to encourage more domestic labour and improve youth employment rates. Agriculture is exempt from this cap.

The current population of temporary foreign workers is at seven per cent.

There are concerns that shifts with temporary workers could lead to a major labour shortage in agriculture, disrupting the supply chain and costing businesses already operate on tight margins. The costs would be passed down to the consumer.

Charlebois said the research team is concerned about the temporary foreign worker problem.

“It’s a very important program to support our farmers,” he said. The information about temporary foreign workers was added to Canada’s Food Price Report, to send a clear signal to government that the temporary foreign worker program in agriculture should not be compromised, he said.

Food bill to rise “a lot”

The report also contains predictions for 2026.

“We’re expecting the average family (of four) to see their food bill increased by $1,000, so we’re expecting an increase of four to six per cent, so that’s a lot. I believe it’s the highest we’ve ever seen in 16 years. That’s going to be pushed by two categories; meat and the centre of the store. That’s pantry goods and dry goods. This is not going to help consumers,” he said.

“We think it’s going to push inflation higher,” he said.

The ongoing trade dispute with the United States will continue to affect prices next year. The inflationary aspects of the tariffs and counter-tariffs will continue in 2026 as trade tensions reshape the economic landscape. Canada is strengthening its relationships with other international trading partners to build resilience and competitiveness.

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The potato’s arrival in Europe was the result of war and oppression. Spanish conquistadores had claimed numerous plants and animals as part of the Columbian Exchange, the unequal exchange of goods, disease, slavery, land theft and genocide between New World and Old that began in 1492 and culminated in 1650. The colonizers brought with them the devastation of fatal illnesses — among them smallpox, measles, tuberculosis, and cholera, and diphtheria — that ran rampant among North America’s First Nations; sugar, rice, cotton and tobacco imported into and from the Americas became the economic basis of North and South American societies built on enslavement. Half a world away, European cooks and diners benefitted without any pangs of conscience, gaining tomatoes, potatoes, corn, vanilla, cacao, turkey and the Muscovy duck, among other edibles.

The potato was introduced to Ireland in the late 1500s, possibly by Sir Walter Raleigh, but more likely by Basque fishermen. The Irish people adopted the potato more quickly and more widely than any other European country. By the 1830s, it was a staple for the country’s rapidly growing population, and public records show that young men of the era would live on five kilograms of spuds a day.

But Irish farmers didn’t diversify potato breeds for genetic (and culinary) variation; they monocropped, depending on only one species, a waxy, coarse potato variety known as “lumper.” In late fall 1845, Phytophthora infestans, or potato blight, arrived from England and Europe, turning fields sown with lumpers into beds of inedible slime as the potatoes rotted. During the ensuing national famine in 1845-1852, over a million, or one in eight, Irish residents died of hunger. Another million emigrated, mostly to North America, bringing with them their enduring fondness for the spud.

Several branches of my paternal family, the Smiths, Cooks and Cleavers, were Scots who had settled in Ulster in Northern Ireland. They arrived in Upper Canada (now Ontario) in the 1800s, possibly before or during the Irish famine. My father’s undying love of daily potatoes surely had its roots in the Irish potato beds. After his passing six years ago, my mother, who cooked most of the family’s meals for decades, announced that if she never ate another spud it would be too soon. However, she never turns down my potato-leek soup, double-stuffed bakers, cheesy scalloped spuds, lemony oregano-dusted Greek potatoes, latkes with apple sauce, pommes Anna, spud and turnip mash or the favourite shown here. So first we eat, gratefully, and share, then we can trade our family histories and potato recipes.

Butter-basted baby potatoes with rosemary

Choose baby-sized spuds and an ovenproof casserole.

Serves 2-4.

• 2 Tbsp. butter
• 1 ½ lb. small potatoes
• 2-3 sprigs rosemary
• salt and pepper to taste
• chives or green onions, minced, for garnish
• sour cream, Greek yogurt or crème fraiche for garnish

Preheat oven to 375 F. Melt the butter in the casserole and add the potatoes. Roll them to coat thoroughly, then top with rosemary sprigs and salt. Cover snugly and roast until tender, about 40 minutes, tossing several times.

Raise the oven temperature to 425 F and uncover the potatoes, then roast for another 20 minutes, tossing again, until lightly browned. Season with pepper and serve with garnishes if desired.

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Now when I talk about sheep, I will explain the perspectives with particular regard to Canada. The 8,000 square miles of Wales would fit into each of the three Prairie provinces about 32 times — Alberta is 255,000 square miles, and each of the other provinces is just a little less than that in size.

Wales has essentially a mild, wet climate modified by the Gulf Stream of the Atlantic, allowing farm animals to graze from March until December. The rainfall varies from 30 to 40 inches annually on the coastal areas with up to 150 inches just a few miles inland.

Wales today has a peak sheep population of around 10 million, counting both mature sheep and lambs. This conveniently works out to 2,000 sheep from March to October on each acre of the Welsh landscape. Let’s not forget the other livestock, particularly cattle, numbering more than one million, and horses, at 60,000 or more. That means 2,500 sheep per section or an average of eight sheep per useable acre. That number per acre could vary from four to 12 or more. Remember, over winter the sheep herd, primarily older ewes, from November to March drops down to just more than four million animals. Each early spring from March onward, each ewe averages 1.5 lambs per adult animal.

In the rest of the U.K. — England, Scotland and Northern Ireland — there are about another 12 million sheep. Canada, on the other hand has only around 830,000 sheep, primarily in Ontario, Quebec and Alberta. Some 550,000 lambs and some sheep are processed for meat in provincially inspected establishments annually. Canada exports and imports sheep and lambs, but imports are by far the most, at around 28,000 tons of lamb and mutton valued at $347 million. Farm cash receipts in Canada for lamb and sheep total $224 million or 0.2 per cent of total farm cash receipts.

Most lamb imports into Canada come from Australia and New Zealand, which have some 75 million and 25 million sheep respectively. These numbers, though, are dwarfed by China’s 175 million sheep, giving that country 14 per cent of the world’s sheep population.

Demand for lamb in Canada is high, but it’s often unavailable in the big box stores. On the other hand, the potential for increasing Canada’s sheep herds is high, but I suspect some prejudice exists for nonspecific reasons. Canadian winters may be cold, but most sheep breeds are ideally suited for our cold weather. And if coyotes are cited as problems, how come Australia can manage its sheep-killing dingoes?

There are more than 200 recognized breeds of sheep, with perhaps some 10,000 distinct types, all the way from dual-purpose wool type to wool-free sheep to milk-producing sheep.

Milk sheep, very common in Europe, are unusual in that some lines can produce three to six lambs at one time. Milk production runs from 170 to 240 U.S. gallons (600-900 litres) in a milking interval (year). Much of this milk is made into up to 70 or more cheeses, perhaps the most familiar in Canada being the sharp-tasting blue French Roquefort.

Lamb as a prime-time meal centrepiece worldwide competes very well with quality beef, particularly on European tables. As with the meat from specialized beef-producing animals such as Kobe from Wagyu cattle, prime lamb roast has its own unique types. Where I grew up in Wales, we farmed on the edge of a huge estuary, second only to the Bay of Fundy in Canada. This estuary had some 5,000 acres of grass-covered salt marsh, traditionally grazed by sheep, horses and cattle. These grass salt marshes are periodically flooded many times a year by the incoming tides which in spring can rise as much as 32 feet. Sheep eating these very saline-tolerant grasses develop a distinctive meat, which, up until not so many years ago, was poorly regarded as off-flavoured. In today’s world, this lamb meat is now very highly regarded by the best of British restaurants as salt marsh lamb. The lamb meat from the salt marsh’s 5,000 acres is sold for up to three times the price of regular farm lamb — a prime example of a niche market.

Affluent consumers seem to be always ready for an unusual food experience. Remember, the world’s best coffee is made from coffee beans that have been previously eaten by wild jungle catlike creatures (civets) in Indonesia. Look it up if it sounds unbelievable.

A secure perimeter

I believe there’s a lot of room for sheep farming in Canada, particularly on the Prairies. Until recently I kept around eight Shetland sheep for 15 years at my acreage. I fenced the outer part of the acreage with four-foot sheep fencing on top of four-foot sheep fencing so it was eight feet tall and essentially coyote-, deer- and moose-proof. The sheep were kept on an acre of land that was a mass of poplar roots, suckers and weeds. After five years all the poplars and weeds were killed off and replaced with a lawn grass mixture that I periodically seeded over this area. Within a few years this was an acre of good grazing land. I have always had a couple of energetic border collies within the acreage, and coyotes or foxes have never been a problem, despite having a few free-ranging chickens.

Back in 2010 on my five acres, next to my sheep pen, I came across the fully eaten remains of a large male white-tail deer. This happened in March, in deep snow that year. It appeared a cougar had chased a deer that jumped the eight-foot fence at the bottom end of my property, consuming the deer over many days and totally ignoring the sheep in the nearby pen enclosed only by four-foot fencing. Perhaps the cougar had an aversion to mutton or was discouraged by my border collie patrol.

So, if Wales can raise 10 million sheep on 8,000 sections, why can the Prairies, 100 times larger in area, only raise around 300,000 sheep? The demand for lamb is there, either for domestic or export purposes. As we say, I am not pulling the “wool” over your eyes.

Do not be hung up, so to speak, by so-called feuds between cattle ranchers and sheep herders. I have many times heard the word “pasture maggots” together with contemptuous descriptions about the taste of lamb. Old mutton may not be the best of meats, but there are many in this country who relish moose, deer, bear, ducks and geese, regardless of age or quality. Try Canadian prime lamb chops, Indian lamb curry or Italian/Greek prepared lamb. You just might like it.

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Fifty-eight per cent of Canadians have a positive view of the food system, up from 45 per cent in 2024 according to the Canadian Centre for Food Integrity’s annual public trust research report.

The report also showed that 45 per cent of Canadians feel the system is headed in the right direction, the highest level since a surge brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. It attributed this, in large part, to Canadians rallying around domestic goods in the face of trade tensions.

Scientists more trusted than farmers

While trust and transparency in stakeholders strengthened overall, scientists overtook farmers for the first time as the most trusted among all food system stakeholders with 44 per cent of people rating them as trustworthy. The report suggests this “highlights the growing importance of science and research in shaping public perceptions.”

Farmers remained a close second, at 42 per cent.

Results also demonstrated confidence in farmers as environmental stewards has bounced back slightly from 2024. Twenty-three per cent of respondents strongly agreed that farmers are good stewards versus 19 per cent last year.

The three least trusted stakeholders were AI tools, social media personalities and politicians, though AI tools such as ChatGPT were listed as one of the top five most used information sources Canadians use to make informed food choices, suggesting a “difference between credibility and exposure.”

Canadians’ trust in the country’s food inspection system reached a new high with 27 per cent strongly agreeing that they trust in the safety of Canadian food compared to 14 per cent in 2024.

Trade tensions shift trust

Geopolitical tensions appear to have also influenced Canadians’ impressions of food beyond their borders.

In 2023, 22 per cent of respondents trusted food imports from America more than other international exporters. Only 12 per cent said they trusted other sources more. In 2025 that number almost completely reversed, with 15 per cent trusting the U.S. and 23 per cent trusting other sources.

The report compares Canada’s ongoing trade tensions with the U.S. to 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic as both years saw the “food system thrust into the spotlight, both nationally and locally.”

“Positive impressions are rising, but they remain fragile,” the report said. “To sustain and strengthen this momentum, Canada’s food system will need more than temporary visibility.”

It also recognizes the 2025 results as a moment of optimism, one on which the country and the food sectors must capitalize.

“To hold onto this trust, the sector must turn temporary attention into lasting connection,” the report said. “Canadians respond to what feels close, human, and relevant. Trusted messengers such as farmers, scientists, and food experts need to stay visible, not only in moments of crisis or national pride but in the everyday stories that remind people why Canada’s food system matters.”

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