JAFSCD peer-reviewed article by Sarah Elton (Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto), Matilda Dipieri (School of the Environment, University of Toronto) and Donald Cole (Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto)
Rising food prices and concern about corporate consolidation have recently drawn attention to the dominance of big chain supermarkets in the North American food system. In Toronto, Canada, an alternative to these private supply chains raises the possibility that other business models are not only possible, but can function over the long term.
In a new JAFSCD article, Reconsidering the wholesale food market: The Ontario Food Terminal and the role of public infrastructure in a corporate consolidated food system, authors Sarah Elton, Matilda Dipieri, and Donald Cole, all at the University of Toronto, describe how the third largest wholesale terminal on the continent—the Ontario Food Terminal (OFT)—supports a diverse foodscape and widens food access in Toronto. Since 1954, this public institution has supported a range of small and midscale businesses, from farms to retailers.
Drawing on field and archival data, this case study describes how a wholesale food terminal supports agriculture and retail of the middle. It is a model that contributes to territorial food systems and should be considered by other regions as an institutional model with the potential to support circular food economies. These findings are pertinent to municipal and regional governments planning for regional food systems. Please contact Dr. Sarah Elton at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, for more information: https://www.dlsph.utoronto.ca/faculty-profile/elton-sarah/
KEY FINDINGS
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The public infrastructure of the OFT supports midscale, independent businesses along the supply chain—agriculture and retail of the middle—by providing a wholesale marketplace for trade in fresh produce that operates outside of the proprietary supply chains of major supermarkets.
- The OFT offers a “safety valve” for midscale farmers because it provides them reliable access to a wide range of buyers.
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The OFT’s wholesale marketplace provides independent retailers with access to a diversity of wholesale and farm sellers, thus supporting a diverse retail landscape for fruits and vegetables that are competitive in price for consumers.
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR POLICY, PRACTICE, AND RESEARCH
The Ontario Food Terminal has been in operation since 1954 and thus provides an example of functioning public wholesale food system infrastructure that could be replicated in other jurisdictions, including as part of a community-based circular food economy.
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In Ontario, a public institution continues to support agriculture in the middle while making affordable fresh fruits and vegetables accessible to people in Toronto. It’s been doing this since 1954. Read the entire @JAFSCD article about the Ontario Food Terminal by @sarahelton.bsky.social and colleagues for free: https://doi.org/10.5304/jafscd.2025.142.010
