Where has all the lettuce gone?
Where has all the lettuce gone?
If you've been shopping for lettuce lately, you will have noticed that prices are through the roof. And that's assuming your local grocery store has it in stock.
It's affecting restaurants too as both Swiss Chalet and Subway have recently advised on the impact of the lettuce shortage affecting their abilities to offer salads from the menu.
The root cause is climate change. Severe drought and higher average temperatures in California have reduced yields and have also increased the susceptibility of the lettuce to disease so a virus has killed off a lot of the crop.
Most of our lettuce comes from huge industrial farming operations such as Taylor Farms in the US. They've got over 120,000 acres in lettuce production. When we put all of our eggs in one mono-culture basket, it's not surprising that we're more susceptible to climate, pest and disease risks.
It doesn't have to be this way.
What if we had one small-scale farm for every 100 families? Taylor Farms alone has the acreage and staffing to support 5,000 small-scale farms. Their $2B annual revenue would support over 13,000 farms!
If you're like the average family in Ontario, then you're spending more than $1,000/month on groceries. Even if you divert 20% of this to small, local farms, you can see the following benefits:
- Feeding your family the freshest, most health-boosting and delicious food available.
- Providing some insurance through diversity of your food sources.
- Helping to protect the planet for future generations. Small-scale farming improves bio-diversity and reduces greenhouse gases through more sustainable farming practices as well as lowering carbon-footprint due to food transportation.
- Improving food security and food sovereignty.
- Boosting the local economy. Most of your money spent with small farms ends up right back in the local economy.
Whether it's with our 2023 Veggie Subscriptions or with another local farmer, we encourage you to consider supporting small-scale agriculture.
If you are interested in learning more about our Veggie Subscriptions, you can find all the answers to your questions on our website here.
Cheers,
Glen
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