My parents called me up from the farm the other day to ask me how many bushels of organic apples I wanted–for free. They had been visiting their neighbours’ organic apple farm and had witnessed a sad sight. The now-ageing farmers can’t sell their beautiful organic apples and so the fruit are falling to the ground and rotting. They’ve picked all they can for the local food bank, but there is only so much an older couple can do.
This is the state of apple farming in Canada. I wrote about the impact of cheap Chinese imports in Report on Business Magazine . Two years later, it’s disheartening to hear that things are getting worse. Farmers are still pulling out their trees–my dad saw heaps of uprooted apple trees by the side of the road. What will it take to reverse this?
Also: I was interviewed by Hannah Sung of the CBC Book club and talked with her about what it means to be a locavore. A hint: You don’t have to embrace the 100-mile diet.