Trust is vital ingredient in Canada’s food system

More than half of Canadians regularly encounter conflicting information from different experts and don’t know what to believe.

Only six per cent feel highly knowledgeable about how their food is produced, processed and regulated.

Canadians express trust in the food system, but that trust has fluctuated significantly in recent years alongside broader global uncertainty.

During the pandemic, trust rose sharply, then fell. Today, as geopolitical tensions shape a renewed focus on Canadian systems, confidence appears to be rebounding again.

That’s the tension at the heart of the issue. Trust is present, but without understanding, it can be more fragile than it appears.

It’s a foundation that deserves far more attention in how we think about the system and the decisions that shape it.

Canada’s agri-food sector is navigating global trade pressures, climate challenges, affordability concerns and rapid technological change.

In a system as interconnected and complex as food, success depends on whether people see it, understand it and trust it.

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Our research shows that about one in five Canadians react with anxiety when it comes to innovation in the food system.

When something feels new or unfamiliar, hesitation is often instinctive. It’s less about whether it works and more about whether it feels right and aligns with expectations for the food people bring home.

Innovation is a constant across Canada’s food system. What’s needed is for people to see that innovation in context and recognize the outcomes it delivers.

Public trust is infrastructure, and like all infrastructure, it must be maintained collectively. No one body can carry it.

It lives in how farmers talk about their practices, in how practices are developed, how decisions are made, implemented and experienced, how regulators explain their decisions, how governments set priorities and how industry brings new ideas to market.

Trust needs to be embedded across the system and supported through sustained effort and intentional investment of funding and resources.

Canadians have told us what would strengthen their trust: greater affordability, clearer, more accessible information and greater transparency about where food comes from and how it is produced.

These are practical indicators of what the system needs to communicate and demonstrate to build public confidence.

Low public trust in the agri-food sector has real consequences.

For those producing food, low trust adds pressure to constantly prove practices are safe, even when strong standards are already in place.

It can also slow the adoption of new technologies and practices because innovation faces greater hesitation when it is not widely understood or trusted.

When trust is low, every step of the system becomes more complicated, slower and less efficient.

As Canada looks ahead to the next agricultural policy framework, there is an opportunity to consider public confidence from the start of decision-making, alongside priorities, investments and trade-offs.

In practice, this can include approaches such as integrating transparency and communication into program design and ensuring decisions are developed with public understanding in mind.

Canada’s food system has real strengths to build on: a strong safety record, a global reputation for quality and a sector that continues to adapt.

However, in a period of uncertainty, when misinformation spreads quickly and institutional credibility is under pressure across every sector, performance alone isn’t enough.

We need public trust to ensure our efforts lead to real outcomes. Responsibility spans the entire system, from production to regulation to how information is shared with Canadians.

Like any infrastructure, it only holds if everyone helps maintain it.

Lisa Bishop-Spencer is executive director of the Canadian Centre of Food Integrity.