In the wake of U.S. tariffs, N.S. academics call for food to be part of national defence

Andrew Lam · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 21, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 2 minutes ago

Amid U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs and threats of annexation, immoderate academics astatine Halifax universities are calling for Canada to measure whether it tin provender its colonisation successful a crisis. 

They accidental Canada needs to deliberation astir nutrient arsenic portion of the country's nationalist defence strategy.

"You tin person each of the weapons successful the satellite and it doesn't substance if you can't provender your population," said Karen Foster, an subordinate prof with Dalhousie University who studies nutrient systems and agrarian communities.

Foster is 1 of 4 academics who precocious wrote an nonfiction connected the taxable successful the world work The Conversation. 

She said the U.S. tariffs are a "wake-up call" to marque the nutrient strategy much local, pointing to the COVID-19 pandemic arsenic different illustration of however Canada's proviso chains tin beryllium disrupted.

"It's not lone that consumers are babelike connected imports, but producers are babelike connected the income from exports arsenic well," Foster said. "So we've got a full strategy wherever we're truly teetering connected this … dependence."

According to Foster, countries similar Sweden person enactment nutrient astatine the centre of their nationalist defence strategies.

The Halifax Regional Food Hub is 1 effort successful the state to marque our nutrient strategy much local. 

It's a comparatively new co-operative that aims to administer nutrient from farmers and different producers crossed Nova Scotia to Halifax and different adjacent communities.

The extremity is besides for the enactment to store, process and present nutrient to wholesale customers similar section restaurants oregon nationalist institutions, said Justin Cantafio, a manager with the nutrient hub. 

"The biggest bottleneck preventing the maturation of the section nutrient strategy wrong Nova Scotia is entree to infrastructure," said Cantafio, who is besides enforcement manager of Farmers' Markets of Nova Scotia.

As the nutrient hub has been developing, helium said there's been a batch of interest, peculiarly from small- to medium-sized producers.

"What we've been proceeding is that [they've] been looking for thing similar this," Cantafio said.

More than $850,000 successful provincial backing has enabled the task to get started. Cantafio said the enactment hired an enforcement manager this outpouring and is present recruiting co-op members and looking for a carnal location.

Organizations similar Feed Nova Scotia and the Mobile Food Market person been progressive with the nutrient hub's work, according to its website. Cantafio said the co-op hopes to administer nutrient by 2026.

Foster said it's unclear whether Nova Scotia and Canada person the capableness to support capable nutrient resources successful a crisis. 

To code this, she said determination needs to beryllium co-ordination crossed sectors and much resources enactment into strategies similar Nova Scotia's Food and Beverage Strategy that is being developed.

According to a 2023 report, the strategy volition "outline policies, programs and initiatives that assistance rise consciousness of, amended entree to, and summation the accumulation of steadfast section food." 

CBC has reached retired to the Nova Scotia Department of Agriculture for an update connected the strategy.