Canada’s Food Strategy Misses a Golden Opportunity to Lead the World in Veganic Farming
Canada’s first National Food Security Strategy is a major investment in the future of food. But while it aims to build a more resilient food system, it overlooks one of the country’s greatest strengths—and one of its greatest opportunities: becoming a global leader in plant-based and veganic agriculture.
The Canadian Government has announced its first-ever 10-year National Food Security Strategy, backed by an investment of approximately CAD $3 billion (USD $2.1 billion). The strategy aims to reduce grocery prices, strengthen domestic food production, improve food security and make Canada less dependent on imports.
According to the Government of Canada’s announcement of the National Food Security Strategy, its goal is to “lower costs, create jobs, and build a food system that is more resilient, more competitive, and more our own.”
These ambitions are welcome. Climate change, biodiversity loss, soil degradation and increasingly frequent disruptions to global supply chains are exposing the vulnerabilities of food systems around the world. Building resilient local food production has never been more important.
However, a review of the published National Food Security Strategy reveals a significant gap. While the strategy supports grocery competition, food processing, controlled-environment horticulture, livestock and seafood production, it contains no references to “plant-based”, “plant protein”, “alternative protein”, “protein crops”, or Canada’s internationally important pulse crops—such as lentils, peas and beans—as part of its long-term vision for food security.
For a country already recognised as one of the world’s leading producers of pulse crops, this is a remarkable omission.
Canada Already Has the Foundations
Canada is a global powerhouse in the production and export of lentils, dry peas and beans. It has also invested in innovation through Protein Industries Canada, helping to develop new plant-based ingredients and foods for domestic and international markets.
These are major strengths.
Yet the National Food Security Strategy largely overlooks the role that plant proteins could play in creating a food system that is healthier, more resilient and better equipped to meet the environmental challenges of the twenty-first century.
Food Security Is About More Than Producing More Food
Food security is often discussed in terms of increasing production.
But resilience also depends on how food is produced.
Growing crops directly for people is generally far more resource-efficient than growing crops to feed livestock. Plant proteins typically require less land, less water and less energy, while generating fewer greenhouse gas emissions and causing less pollution.
Investing in plant-based agriculture is therefore not simply a dietary issue—it is an opportunity to improve national resilience while reducing pressure on land, water and biodiversity.
The Next Step: Veganic Agriculture
While expanding plant protein production would be an important step forward, Canada has the opportunity to go even further.
At the Vegan Organic Network, we believe the future lies in veganic farming—a system of agriculture that combines organic principles with entirely plant-based fertility.
Instead of relying on synthetic fertilisers or animal-derived inputs, veganic growers build fertile soils using:
- Green manures
- Compost made from plant materials
- Mulches
- Diverse crop rotations
- Nitrogen-fixing plants
- Living ground covers
- Agroforestry and biodiversity
Healthy soils become the engine of productive farming.
This approach regenerates ecosystems while producing healthy food, reducing pollution, protecting wildlife and eliminating the need for livestock-derived fertilisers.
Regenerating Nature While Feeding People
Food security and environmental security cannot be separated.
Around the world, agricultural soils are losing organic matter, pollinators are declining and freshwater systems are under increasing pressure.
Veganic farming addresses these challenges by working with natural ecological processes rather than depending on chemical inputs or intensive livestock systems.
By increasing soil organic matter, supporting biodiversity and reducing pollution, farms become more resilient to drought, flooding and climate change while continuing to produce abundant crops.
This is precisely the kind of resilience that national food strategies should encourage.
The Evidence for Plant-Rich Food Systems
An increasing body of scientific evidence supports a transition towards more plant-rich diets.
The EAT-Lancet Commission on Healthy Diets from Sustainable Food Systems concluded that diets centred on plant foods could substantially improve human health while reducing greenhouse gas emissions, freshwater use, land use and biodiversity loss.
Its research suggests that shifting towards predominantly plant-based diets could prevent millions of premature deaths annually while helping nations meet climate and environmental goals.
Food policy should therefore encourage not only greater fruit and vegetable production, but also wider cultivation of pulses, grains, nuts and seeds that can nourish more people using fewer natural resources.
Imagine a Different National Food Strategy
Canada’s strategy rightly invests in:
- Local food hubs
- Independent food retailers
- Domestic food processing
- Controlled-environment agriculture
- Year-round fruit and vegetable production
These are all positive measures.
But imagine if the strategy also invested in:
- Veganic farming research
- Plant-based fertility systems
- Farmer training in veganic methods
- Soil regeneration
- Agroforestry
- Community food growing
- Urban agriculture
- Plant protein innovation
- Biodiversity restoration
Such investments would not simply improve food security.
They would help restore ecosystems, reduce pollution, support rural economies and position Canada as a global leader in truly sustainable agriculture.
A Global Opportunity
Canada possesses many of the ingredients needed to lead the next agricultural revolution.
It has world-class researchers.
It produces some of the world’s most important pulse crops.
It has abundant agricultural land and a growing plant-protein sector.
By embracing veganic farming alongside plant-based innovation, Canada could become an international example of how food production can nourish people while restoring nature.
A Vision for the Future
Food security should not simply mean ensuring enough calories are available.
It should mean producing nutritious food in ways that regenerate soils, restore biodiversity, protect waterways, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve public health.
The Vegan Organic Network believes that veganic farming offers one of the most promising pathways towards this future.
By combining ecological farming with entirely plant-based fertility systems, veganic agriculture demonstrates that productive farming does not have to depend on either synthetic chemicals or livestock-derived inputs.
Canada’s National Food Security Strategy is an important beginning.
The next step should be to place plant-based agriculture—and ultimately veganic farming—at the heart of its vision.
If countries are serious about building resilient food systems for future generations, they must invest not only in producing more food, but in producing food that restores the living world on which agriculture itself depends.
A truly resilient food system is one that nourishes people, protects wildlife, rebuilds soils and safeguards the climate. Canada has the opportunity to lead that transition—and in doing so, inspire governments around the world.
Food security and environmental security go hand in hand. By investing in plant-based farming today, nations can help build a greener, cleaner, cruelty-free world for generations to come.