I was just curious, so I decided to count. Almost half of the top 30 stories on my main food news wire feed this morning were focused on Food Security. Proof positive that Food Security is our most urgent problem!
A Food Bank hamper-stuffing ‘bee’: In more plentiful times…
I suspected the count would be high but, going into the exercsie, I never dreamed that 14 out of the 30 top food news stories on my menu this morning would be focused on food security. Or, more to the point, food insecurity. The majority of those were Food Bank-related. And the Food Bank stories were uniformly bad news: Food banks running out of supplies. Food banks having to expand to meet the demand. Food banks relying on community fund raisers to keep their doors open…
Dark implications
The overall implication of this alarming trend is that more and more folks are becoming food insecure. We know that the lowest-income families among us are already struggling to feed themselves. They’re skipping meals, down-grading the quality of the foods they can afford, and cutting out all non-essentials. Parents are going hungry so their kids can eat. Some are even faced with the decision whether to pay the electric bill or buy food.
What’s being done?
Government
The Canadian Government is working on what it calls a Grocer’s Code of Conduct. It’s a plan under which supermarket operators will voluntarily agreed to follow a set of rules to control food prices. Look for a first draught later this year. But I’m not expecting anything revolutionary – or effective – in the new Code.
The feds and provinces have also increased grants to Food Banks and other community relief organizations across the land.
But these are stop-gap measures at best.
Community involvement
We hear of more and more community-based food drives and fundraising projects to support Food Banks. Still, these efforts aren’t coming close to filling the the gap between supply and demand.
Corporate donations
We occasionally hear about a corporate donation to a local Food Bank. But these are an exception rather than a rule. They make only a small dent in the supply shortfall. But they do set a shining example for other companies to follow. Oddly, we rarely hear of a major supermarket chain trumpet any significant donation to local Food banks. Although, most stores do maintain a post-checkout bin to collect items shoppers have bought for donation.
Individual efforts
One area in which Food Banks are not hurting so much is volunteer help. But they can always use more…
Grassroots Protests
Apart from the efforts mentioned above, there are two significant campaigns underway at the grassroots level, designed to force food prices down.
The first is a call by an online community to boycott Loblaw’s, Canada’s largest supermarket owner. The Reddit group r/loblawsisoutofcontrol wants folks to take their grocery business elsewhere – for at least the month of May. The group holds Loblaw’s – as by far the largest supermarket chain in the country – as primarily responsible for continuing high food prices. In spite of a recent halt in price increases in other western countries and even some modest price rollbacks.
Another online group peppered Toronto streets last weekend with posters exhorting folks to ‘Steal From Loblaw’s’. This outfit is anonymous. A predictable stance gi9ven that what they’re advocating is both illegal and possibly dangerous.
My take
None of the developments covered above is positive in any way. Some are, in fact, very negative. And that’s very, very bad news for the hungry.
When we see street protesters calling on average folks to become lawbreakers, we’ve got one foot on the doorstep of anarchy. It will truly be telling to see how many otherwise ordinary folks step through the door.
Obviously, something has to be done, without further delay, to bring down food prices. And only the Supermarket Cartel and/or the Government have the power to make that happen.
~ Maggie J.