A Tale of Three Carrots
Ran Goel
2014

Farmers produce more than twice the food that all seven billion of us need. Our grocery stores are overflowing with thousands of products from around the world. Yet some people are not getting enough food. In fact, almost a billion souls suffer the indignity of hunger in an era of plenty. Some are not getting the right kind of food. And all of us feel the impact of the billions of kilograms of chemicals used to grow our food. Health effects, ranging from spikes in certain cancers, hormone levels, sperm counts, and allergies, have been associated with such chemicals.

A Tale of Three Carrots tells the story of how our food is grown and sold. But it also tells an alternative story of how farming and food buying can be different. The decision to safeguard our health, our land, and our future is ultimately in our hands. By following the story of three different carrots from three different farms, we can compare and contrast the options that are available to us when growing, selling, and purchasing food. The aim is not to supply answers or provide a blueprint for how to reform our food system. Rather, it is meant to provoke us into understanding that there is a problem and help us imagine and seek out alternatives.

A Tale of Three Carrots was written by Ran Goel. Ran is the founder of Fresh City, Canada’s largest commercial city farm. A New York investment lawyer turned farm entrepreneur, Ran holds degrees from York University, the London School of Economics, and the University of Toronto.

A Tale of Three Carrots was published by Fresh City Farms, Inc., with support from the Everdale Environmental Learning Centre and the Metcalf Foun­dation.