KINGSTON — An ethical prison farms advocacy group says prison farms could offer a solution to possible food shortages.

Evolve Our Prison Farms is proposing that Kingston’s prison farms, and others across Canada, should become federally funded food bank projects to address potential food shortages caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

In an open letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Calvin Neufeld, founder of Evolve our Prison Farms, wrote that prison farms could help “alleviate the impact of the COVID-19 crisis” and improve food security locally and nationally.

“There are 1,500 acres of prime agricultural prison farmland in Kingston, Ontario,” he wrote in the letter. “We propose putting this federally owned land into immediate production of nutrient-dense food crops (such as potatoes, carrots, leafy greens, peas, grains) to address the threat of food insecurity in these uncertain times.”

Using that acreage for plant-based food production could “supply hundreds of thousands of Canadian households,” Neufeld wrote in his letter.

Evolve Our Prison Farms, which has long advocated for prison farms to function as solutions to social justice issues and leave behind an industrial farming-for-profit model, said Kingston’s prison farms could grow vegetables instead of producing goat’s milk, cow’s milk and livestock feeds — the current plan for Kingston’s prison farms.

“Everything we’ve been working towards, this is a real-world opportunity to bring all of those into effect, not only to transition to serve social justice purposes but to address an immediate need,” Neufeld said in an interview with the Whig-Standard on Sunday. “We do see this being the culmination of a very long effort.”

According to Neufeld’s letter, growing fresh produce on prison farms would not only address food shortages and preserve local food security but would also be a way to grow food for northern communities, relieve overcrowding by getting prisoners out of institutions and working on farms, and provide employable skills to “assist prisoners in reintegration.”

The proposal also presents the idea that prisoners could reduce the reliance on temporary foreign farm workers — a labour source that will be affected by the current global pandemic.

“Everything is unprecedented right now,” Neufeld admitted.

In 2018, the Canadian government committed $4.3 million over five years to get Kingston’s prison farms back up and running. That current plan includes the establishment of both dairy cow and dairy goat herds, and it also mentions farm crops, gardens and beekeeping.

It would employ about 60 inmates when fully operational, the Whig-Standard reported in 2019.

However, Neufeld believes that using the prison farms for prisoners to grow vegetables for food is viable and the most effective way to utilize a program that both benefits prisoners without exploiting their labour and meets an immediate societal need for food.

“This isn’t theoretical, this is a crisis,” Neufeld said. “The federal government has an opportunity here to solve a lot of problems with a simple decision that Correctional Service Canada is well positioned to carry out in the very short term, and to continue forward.”

Neufeld has pointed out that moving away from using animals for industrial farming is also a psychological benefit for prisoners. Evolve Our Prison Farms has proposed using animals as rehabilitative tools on the farms rather than for commercial meat or milking operations.

“We’ve worked all these years to ensure that prison farms do no harm,” he said. “It’s crucial to us to find a way to provide all of these opportunities, without it being harmful to anybody. We do believe this is eminently possible, as long as the political will is there.”

Neufeld said the federal government has described Kingston as a pilot project that will determine the direction taken for the reopening of other prison farms across Canada.

“Do we want to see prison farms across Canada replicate a proposed model in Kingston that’s moving toward industrial production for private corporations or see Kingston be the seed that ensures prison farms across the country become a network of food security? This is a tremendous opportunity that will have wide-ranging political and practical implications,” he said.

Neufeld plans to circulate a petition to support his plan in the coming days.

“It’s planting season right now. If there is political will, if the stars align, we can do this.”

With files from Ian MacAlpine

mbalogh@postmedia.com