Material (Socio)Natures: Examining the History of the Ontario Food Terminal and the Distribution of Fruits and Vegetables in Toronto

Keywords: urban political ecology, urban food systems, food infrastructure, public governance, socionature, historical urban geography
Abstract Type: Virtual Lightning Paper Abstract

Abstract

The Ontario Food Terminal (OFT) is Canada’s largest wholesale fruit and produce distribution infrastructure. Yet, it receives limited scholarly attention in understanding how urban populations are fed and the flows of food into and within cities like Toronto. This project will examine the history and origins of the OFT, paying particular attention to the political, economic, or socio-ecological circumstances to which its conception and development first responded. Understanding the impetus for its creation, the Terminal’s history will provide insight into the changing entanglements of people, food, and nature. The research findings are based on news and media sources from various archives and the Terminal’s Board meeting proceedings and annual and financial reports. This project employs an urban political ecology framework, taking note of how environmental changes are closely tied to historical, political-economic, and social conditions, as well as the systems of power that follow them. Through this examination and subsequent discussion, the changing nature of our food system and the contradictory narratives around local food production, governing public goods and the role of physical infrastructure are dissected. In discussing preliminary research findings, complex questions emerge at the boundaries of nature and society, historicizing notions of productivity and development through food.