In Canada, we are getting better at growing our own fruits and vegetables, even though our winters make it tough to grow food all year round.
Thanks to new farming technologies like greenhouses and vertical farming, along with traditional farming, we're not as dependent on importing fruits and vegetables as we used to be.
Canada has always been good at growing more food than we need, so we usually send a lot out to other countries. But there’s been talk about Canada not making enough of its own processed foods, like turning wheat into bread right here at home.
When we look at how much food we import compared to what we grow, there’s a special number called the trade dependence ratio. If this number is negative, it means we buy more from other countries than we grow.
For many fruits and vegetables, Canada has been buying more from other countries than we grow ourselves. However, things are getting better.
For example, we’ve been growing more nectarines and buying fewer from abroad. This change is because fewer people are eating nectarines now, and we are growing more of them in Canada.
This push to grow more food in Canada helps our farmers and cuts down on the pollution from shipping food long distances.
It also makes us less worried about problems from around the world, like when it’s hard to get food from other places because of bad weather or other problems.
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