Food safety is connected with many other things, including affordable housing, he said. His party, if elected, has committed to spending $6 billion over the next four years to infrastructure. He said food issues also have to do with income. He then he highlighted his party's income plan, listing tax credits and investments.

Miller said climate change is "fundamentally changing the game of agriculture on the landscape.

The Green Party platform puts forward a sustainable economy and one of the elements of this plan is support for new farms.

"We have to rebalance things. We have to bring back the attention to smaller agricultural initiatives," he said, adding big industrial agricultural people can look after themselves.

Seagram said the NDP was the only party to have a national food strategy and he encouraged the audience to view it online. Other parties, however, also have national food strategies as part of their platforms.

"We would prevent monopolistic policies," he said. "We have Monsanto, we have large corporations that are, through trade agreements, they are taking over the way in which we farm. We have to put a stop on that."

He said his party will support smaller farms and help farmers keep and grow their own seeds, rather than being forced to buy seed from another party. His party would also help build local markets and ensure everyone has access to food, calling it a human right.

Dineen said the Communist Party has stood "shoulder-to-shoulder" with farmers since the party's inception in 1921.

The party stands for public support for family farmers, protection against bankruptcy and price controls to ensure farmers can afford to continue farming.

He said his party also believes in "curtailing agribusiness, GMO's (genetically modified organisms), and the free trade agreements that facilitate monopoly controlled group systems." This includes restoring the Canadian Wheat Board to protect farmers during lean years.

cseto@guelphmercury.com