Dollars and Sense: Opportunities to Strengthen Southern Ontario’s Food System has two objectives. First, to better understand the economic and environmental impacts of regional food systems. Second, to assess how increasing regional food production and distribution would affect the larger food system, including businesses that supply farmers, food processors and distributors, as well as retailers and food service operations.

Among the report findings:

• Reducing the top ten fruit and vegetable imports by 10 percent and expanding local production would help create 3,400 jobs and boost the province’s GDP by nearly a quarter billion dollars.
• Transitioning 10 percent of food consumption to organic would improve farm incomes and reduce the environmental impact of food production.

The report was researched and written by Econometric Research Limited, Harry Cummings & Associates, and Rod MacRae, PhD. It was produced with support from the Metcalf Foundation, the J.W. McConnell Family Foundation, and the Friends of the Greenbelt Foundation.