Land used to produce food is at the core of disputes, violent conflicts and despair across the world. As farmers increasingly can no longer afford to grow food and as one in ten Canadians faces food insecurity each year, it is clear that our culture-specific land systems lie at the heart of the current food and farm crises. Solutions must be implemented to ensure food security and food sovereignty in Canada and the world.

In Belongings, Sally Miller illustrates how food and farm crises result from adherence to the rules of private property. Miller looks at the state of farmland and farmers in Canada and across the world as a way of understanding ownership, land regulation and the dire situation of our ability to produce food. Hundreds of acres of prime farmland are lost each day to residential development, further restricting the ability of farmers to supply our food needs. Farmers face ever-increasing financial risks and often have to sell farmable land for commercial development to make ends meet.

Finally, Miller highlights several alternative structures of land use that are proving to be successful in Canada and across the globe and argues that the way in which we understand and manage foodlands needs to be reconsidered to achieve sustainable food systems with healthy food access for all.

Sally Miller has worked for almost twenty years in the alternative food, agriculture and co-op sectors, as a manager, consultant, organizer an researcher. She has degrees in anthropology and environmental studies. She has taught anthropology, writing and environmental sociology, and designed and implemented curriculum, workshops and materials for non-profits and co-ops in the U.S. and in Canada. She recently helped to found the Fourth Pig Worker Co-op, a co-op dedicated to natural and sustainable building and energy use.

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