Justin Cantafio

Canada’s food system faces growing challenges, including rising food insecurity, declining farm viability, corporate consolidation, and climate change. The need for resilient, community-based solutions has never been greater. Farmers’ markets offer a powerful alternative—providing a localized, human-scale approach that strengthens food sovereignty, revitalizes local economies, and enhances adaptability to global disruptions.  This report draws on findings from across Canada, Mexico, France, Spain, Portugal, Malta, Italy, and Turkey to explore how farmers’ markets address systemic food challenges. These humanscale markets are embedded in their communities. They foster social connection and trust while reconnecting consumers with the people who grow, raise, and make their food. They generate local revenue, create jobs, and incubate small businesses. They offer direct-to-consumer sales that support small- and medium-scale farmers—many of whom use agroecological methods that regenerate land and build resilience. Critically, they can also promote food equity and social justice by improving access to fresh, affordable food in underserved communities and providing opportunities for marginalized and systemically-excluded farmers and food producers.  

This report advocates for a food system rooted in social justice, food sovereignty, and community leadership. Canada can build a more equitable, sustainable, and resilient food future that prioritizes farmers, communities, and ecological well-being over corporate profit. While farmers’ markets are not a silver bullet, they are a critical foundation for a food future that is just, resilient, and truly rooted in the places and people it serves.