Food Insecurity Is Not a Food Problem

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Prince Edward County’s Missing Employers—and the Cost of Making Business Investment Too Difficult

Prince Edward County produces food in abundance. Its farms grow vegetables, grains and fruit; its vineyards and food businesses have helped build a celebrated regional identity; and its restaurants, markets and agricultural enterprises attract visitors from across Ontario and beyond. Yet within this productive landscape, a significant number of households in Hastings and Prince Edward continue to experience food insecurity. That contradiction is usually discussed as a problem of distribution: how to collect more surplus food, improve refrigerated storage, coordinate volunteers, expand community kitchens and help food banks respond to rising demand. These efforts are necessary, compassionate and worthy of public support, but they address what happens after a household has run out of money. They do not explain why so many households lack enough income to purchase the food already surrounding them.

-> Ask your Council, MPP and MP why.

Food insecurity is not fundamentally a shortage of food. It occurs when household income is insufficient after rent, utilities, transportation, childcare, medication and other unavoidable expenses have been paid. In Prince Edward County, that income problem cannot be separated from a much larger economic failure. The County has not attracted a significant new large-scale, year-round private employer in recent memory, while one of its largest industrial employers—the mushroom operation in Wellington—has closed. The community has become increasingly capable of responding to poverty, but it has not shown the same determination to confront the economic conditions that continue producing it.

The Employer That Disappeared

For years, the mushroom plant in Wellington was one of Prince Edward County’s largest private-sector workplaces. It provided something increasingly scarce in the local economy: employment at an industrial scale that was not dependent entirely on wineries, beaches, restaurants or the summer tourism season. The closure of the Highline Mushrooms facility removed approximately 280 permanent, part-time and seasonal positions, according to the County’s 2025 Economic Snapshot. The significance of that loss extends well beyond the employees whose jobs disappeared because a large workplace also supports truckers, suppliers, tradespeople, equipment repair firms, fuel providers, contractors and nearby stores. Its wages circulate through grocery stores, pharmacies, restaurants, housing and local services, while its commercial activity contributes to the municipal assessment base.

When a major employer leaves, the economic effect does not end at the property line. Families reduce spending, local businesses lose customers, workers may be forced to commute farther or leave the community, and charitable organizations encounter greater demand. What makes the closure particularly troubling is that Prince Edward County cannot point to another employer of comparable scale that has recently been attracted to replace it. The County has welcomed many valuable small businesses, accommodations, wineries, restaurants, professional practices and entrepreneurial ventures, and these enterprises contribute greatly to the community. Nevertheless, a collection of small, seasonal or owner-operated businesses is not economically equivalent to a workplace providing hundreds of dependable annual paycheques.

Prince Edward County has built a highly successful visitor economy, but it has not built an equally strong and diversified employment economy. That distinction becomes especially visible when the tourism season ends and households must continue paying rent, mortgages, hydro bills, vehicle costs and groceries through the winter.

The Comparison With Belleville

The contrast with nearby Belleville is difficult to ignore. Immediately across the bay, Belleville and the broader Quinte industrial corridor have developed a much deeper base of year-round employment in manufacturing, healthcare, distribution, food processing, education and public services. Major regional employers have included Autosystems–Magna Lighting, Procter & Gamble, Lactalis Canada, McKesson Canada, Hanon Systems, Aptyx, JBS Ontario, Trenton Cold Storage, Kruger Products and Electro Cables. Some employ hundreds of people, while others have workforces approaching or exceeding one thousand.

The Comparison With Belleville Is Difficult to Ignore

Immediately across the bay, Belleville and the broader Bay of Quinte industrial corridor have built a far deeper base of year-round employment.

The region’s major industrial employers include:

Employer	Reported employment
Autosystems–Magna Lighting	1,250
Procter & Gamble	901
Lactalis Canada	614
McKesson Canada	437
Hanon Systems Canada	350
aptyx	303
JBS Ontario	230
Trenton Cold Storage Group	204
Kruger Products	178
Electro Cables	177

These employers span automotive components, consumer products, dairy processing, pharmaceutical distribution, climate systems, plastics, meat processing, cold storage, paper products and electrical manufacturing.

Belleville is not protected from economic downturns, layoffs, automation or international competition, and not every industrial job provides high wages or ideal conditions. Its advantage lies in diversity. When tourism slows, manufacturing continues. When one plant reduces its workforce, hospitals, schools, distribution centres, food processors and other employers remain. The city’s economy rests on several foundations rather than one dominant seasonal cycle.

Belleville’s own economic-development strategy describes a diversified base involving manufacturing, retail, healthcare, education and technology. It identifies industrial land development, streamlined processes, red-tape reduction, infrastructure, workforce partnerships and targeted investment attraction as deliberate priorities.

That employment base did not appear by accident. Belleville has spent decades preparing industrial land, extending municipal services, marketing employment areas, building relationships with investors and making manufacturing and distribution central to its economic-development strategy. Its current plans continue to emphasize industrial expansion, business retention, streamlined municipal processes, infrastructure, workforce partnerships and the active recruitment of employers.

Prince Edward County, by contrast, remains much more exposed to tourism cycles, agricultural seasons and the fortunes of a relatively small number of major employers. That difference has consequences at the food-bank door.

Prince Edward County has pursued a different economic trajectory. Its tourism brand has become nationally recognized, but its dependence on tourism, hospitality, agriculture and small business leaves it more exposed to seasonal employment and irregular income. The result is that the County can appear exceptionally prosperous during July and August while some of its residents face severe financial pressure by January and February.

The Highway 401 Explanation

When the difference between Belleville and Prince Edward County is raised, the usual explanation is that Belleville is situated directly on Highway 401. Access to the highway is undoubtedly valuable. Manufacturers and distributors consider transportation time, freight costs, rail connections and access to Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa and the United States when selecting a location. A property beside an interchange has an advantage over one that requires additional travel on secondary roads.

However, the 401 has become too convenient an explanation for Prince Edward County’s lack of major employers. The County is not geographically isolated. It borders Belleville and Quinte West, parts of it are within a reasonable drive of the highway, and workers already commute across municipal boundaries every day. Many successful industrial communities in Ontario are farther from Highway 401 than Picton or Wellington, yet they have attracted employers because they prepared appropriate land, installed infrastructure, maintained competitive costs and treated investment attraction as a sustained municipal priority.

A company choosing where to build a plant does not look only at the distance to the nearest highway ramp. It studies the entire business environment, including the price and availability of land, property taxes, development charges, planning and building fees, water and wastewater capacity, electricity, approval timelines, required studies, workforce availability, housing costs, transportation routes, municipal responsiveness and the likelihood that operating costs will remain competitive over many years. Highway access matters, but it cannot compensate for an investment environment that is more expensive, uncertain or difficult than the alternatives.

Belleville did not build its employment base merely because the 401 happened to pass through it. It built industrial parks, serviced land, investor relationships and a regional manufacturing ecosystem over decades. The more difficult question is whether Prince Edward County has assembled an equally persuasive case for major private investment.

High Taxes and the Investment Decision

Businesses do not invest in a community primarily because it is beautiful, popular or enjoyable to visit. They invest because they believe they can operate competitively there for many years. Municipal property taxes are important within that calculation because they are recurring and are generally payable regardless of whether the company has enjoyed a profitable year. A business can sometimes absorb a one-time expense if its long-term economics remain favourable, but an elevated annual tax burden continues for as long as the company owns or occupies the property.

Property taxes are imposed on assessed property value rather than corporate profit. A manufacturer that invests in a larger building, expanded warehousing or improved facilities may increase the value on which it is taxed. Over a 20- or 30-year investment horizon, even apparently modest differences in annual operating costs can become substantial. Investors therefore compare not only the initial price of land but the total cost of remaining in a municipality over the life of the project.

Taxes are also only one part of the municipal burden. A business may face development charges, planning fees, building permit fees, water and wastewater connection charges, frontage requirements, road improvements, engineering deposits, environmental studies, conservation authority approvals, legal agreements and financing costs caused by delay. Each requirement may have a legitimate public-policy rationale, yet an investor experiences them cumulatively. A municipality can defend every individual charge and still create an overall cost structure that makes investment less attractive than it would be in a neighbouring jurisdiction.

Prince Edward County’s planning process demonstrates how quickly preliminary costs can accumulate. A subdivision or condominium application can involve a base fee exceeding $10,000, together with per-lot charges, advertising costs, deposits, agreement fees and external legal, engineering or peer-review expenses. A major commercial or industrial proposal may require far more extensive studies and infrastructure work. These expenses may be necessary, but the central economic-development question is whether the County’s total package remains competitive with Belleville, Quinte West and other Ontario communities seeking the same investment.

What Can and Cannot Be Claimed

It would be unfair to state, without direct evidence, that municipal taxation caused Highline Mushrooms to close. Corporate closures can arise from consolidation, labour availability, energy prices, automation, transportation costs, market demand, property conditions, ownership strategy or international competition. Nor should tax rates be compared carelessly because municipalities have different assessment bases, service areas, tax ratios and infrastructure obligations.

The stronger and more defensible concern is that Prince Edward County has not publicly demonstrated that its complete tax, fee, servicing and regulatory environment is competitive enough to attract and retain major year-round employers. The proper comparison is not simply whether one industrial tax rate is higher or lower than Belleville’s. It is whether a company can acquire land, secure servicing, obtain approvals, construct a facility, recruit employees and operate for two decades at a competitive overall cost.

That full calculation is rarely placed before residents. Instead, public economic-development discussions often focus on tourism statistics, business openings, promotional campaigns and generalized expressions of interest. Those measures may be useful, but they do not answer whether the County is winning or losing the serious investment decisions that create hundreds of stable jobs.

The Vicious Circle of a Narrow Tax Base

A municipality with limited industrial and commercial assessment must obtain a greater share of its revenue from homeowners, small businesses, tourism-related activity and user fees. As those costs increase, the community becomes more expensive for residents and employers alike. Workers struggle to find affordable housing, businesses have difficulty recruiting and retaining staff, and existing enterprises face higher fixed expenses. If the municipality continues raising taxes and fees without successfully expanding its employment and assessment base, the pressure intensifies.

The pattern becomes self-reinforcing. Too few large employers produce too little commercial and industrial assessment. That places greater pressure on households and existing businesses, which contributes to higher taxes, fees and local prices. Higher costs then make it more difficult to attract new employers and the workers they require, leaving the municipality dependent on the same narrow tax base it is trying to support.

This is why municipal taxation and economic development cannot be treated as unrelated policy files. A major employer creates jobs, but it also broadens the assessment base and helps distribute the cost of municipal government more widely. A municipality that discourages large investment may unintentionally preserve the residential tax pressures it repeatedly tries to manage through annual budget increases.

The Burden on Small Business

The argument for major employers should not diminish the importance of small businesses. Prince Edward County’s restaurants, shops, farms, accommodations, contractors and professional services are the backbone of the local economy. They employ residents, support community events, animate main streets and contribute to the County’s character. Many, however, operate with narrow margins and highly seasonal revenue.

A restaurant may face rising food costs, insurance, wages, electricity, rent, property taxes and licensing expenses while depending heavily on summer customers. An accommodation operator may carry taxes, insurance, financing, maintenance, wastewater limitations and regulatory obligations through months of reduced occupancy. A builder or trades business may face application charges, studies, development costs and delays that cannot always be passed on to a client. A retailer may not pay municipal taxes directly, but those costs are incorporated into commercial rent.

When municipal costs rise, businesses have limited options. They may increase prices, reduce staff, shorten operating hours, postpone improvements, abandon expansion, relocate or close. Each response affects the wider community. Higher prices make local goods and services less affordable; reduced staffing weakens household income; and delayed investment restricts the future tax base.

A municipality cannot tax its way into prosperity if the cumulative burden suppresses the private investment needed to sustain that prosperity.

A Seasonal Economy Carries Fixed Costs All Year

The effect of taxation is particularly important in a seasonal economy. A large manufacturer or distribution centre may generate relatively predictable revenue throughout the year, while many tourism and hospitality businesses earn most of their income during a short period. Their property taxes, insurance, financing and maintenance costs do not decline when visitor traffic disappears.

A business may have a crowded patio in August and an almost empty dining room in February, but the annual municipal tax bill remains. The same is true for accommodations, attractions and many agricultural enterprises. This concentration of revenue makes fixed-cost increases especially consequential and may discourage businesses from extending their season or retaining employees throughout the winter.

That outcome works directly against the County’s economic needs. Prince Edward County requires more businesses willing and able to operate year-round, yet rising fixed costs can make year-round operation less viable.

How Employment Becomes Food Security

Food insecurity often begins with an ordinary household budget in which nearly every expense is fixed. Rent must be paid, hydro must remain connected, and a vehicle may be essential for reaching employment in a rural community. Childcare, medication, insurance and debt payments cannot always be delayed. Food becomes one of the few expenses that can be reduced immediately, even though doing so affects health, childhood development and personal dignity.

This is why employed people can still experience food insecurity. A person may have a job but receive inconsistent hours, lose work during winter, earn wages that have not kept pace with rent, or spend a large portion of income commuting. Some residents combine several part-time jobs without obtaining benefits or dependable schedules. Others work intensively during the tourism season and then rely on reduced income or Employment Insurance for part of the year.

Municipal taxation affects these households both directly and indirectly. Homeowners see it on their tax bills, tenants pay it through rent, businesses incorporate it into their prices, and employers consider it when deciding whether to hire, expand or locate elsewhere. Municipal taxes are not the sole cause of food insecurity, but it would be equally misleading to pretend that the cost of doing business, the availability of employment and household financial security are unrelated.

When Charity Becomes Permanent Infrastructure

Community food organizations perform indispensable work. Better refrigeration can preserve more food, improved transportation can move it more efficiently, and stronger coordination can help people receive assistance with greater dignity. Those investments should continue because immediate hunger cannot be postponed while governments debate long-term economic policy.

The danger arises when a community becomes highly efficient at managing deprivation while paying insufficient attention to the economic conditions that produce it. A refrigerated truck can transport vegetables, but it cannot provide a household with stable income. A larger warehouse can store donations, but it cannot replace a year-round paycheque. A better food-distribution network can relieve immediate hardship, but it cannot substitute for employment, adequate income supports or affordable housing.

Food banks were intended to serve as emergency responses. Their transformation into permanent community institutions reflects not a failure by the people running them, but a persistent failure of public policy. Their volunteers and donors deserve praise, yet governments should not allow that generosity to obscure the larger obligation to reduce the number of households requiring assistance.

Measuring What Economic Development Actually Produces

Prince Edward County should judge economic-development success by outcomes that matter to residents. The most important annual measure should be the number of net new, full-time, year-round jobs created at wages capable of supporting a household. Visitor counts, promotional reach, inquiries, ribbon cuttings and new business registrations provide useful information, but they do not reveal whether residents have gained stable income or whether employment losses have exceeded employment gains.

Every annual economic-development report should disclose how many major employers were approached, how many considered investing, how many selected another municipality and what reasons they gave. It should explain how Prince Edward County compared with Belleville, Quinte West and other competing jurisdictions on land, taxation, servicing, approvals, workforce and housing. It should also identify how many businesses closed, how many jobs disappeared and how much year-round employment was actually added after those losses were considered.

Without these measures, residents are being asked to evaluate activity rather than results.

A Business Competitiveness Audit

The County should commission an independent Business Competitiveness Audit comparing the complete cost of establishing and operating representative businesses in Prince Edward County, Belleville, Quinte West and several comparable Ontario municipalities. The exercise should model a food-processing plant employing approximately 100 people, a light-manufacturing facility, a warehouse or distribution centre, a professional-services office, a year-round hospitality operation and a small commercial or trades business.

For each model, the audit should calculate land costs, annual property taxes, development charges, water and wastewater expenses, planning and building fees, deposits, required studies, typical approval times, transportation costs, workforce availability and housing conditions. It should then estimate the total municipal and local operating burden over 20 years.

Such an audit would replace assumptions with evidence. Prince Edward County should not presume that it is investment-friendly because staff are welcoming, the landscape is attractive or the community enjoys a strong public reputation. It should be able to demonstrate that an employer can establish and operate a business here at a cost comparable to competing locations.

A Tax Strategy Connected to Employment

Prince Edward County cannot simply reduce taxes without considering the services and infrastructure they fund. It maintains an extensive rural road system, bridges, emergency services, waste programs, recreation facilities and administrative functions across a large geographic area. It also faces significant capital requirements and infrastructure deficits that cannot be wished away.

Those realities, however, make economic diversification more urgent rather than less. A weak industrial and commercial base is not a reason to keep increasing the burden on the existing tax base. It is a reason to expand that base deliberately.

Council should establish a clear target for commercial and industrial tax competitiveness, examine lawful incentives tied to permanent jobs and capital investment, and ensure that appropriately zoned employment land is available with credible servicing. Major employment proposals should receive a dedicated municipal project lead, coordinated agency review and transparent timelines. Investors should be able to obtain reliable estimates of fees, deposits and infrastructure requirements before committing capital, while existing employers should be consulted regularly about taxes, labour, housing, transportation and regulatory pressures before those pressures become reasons to relocate.

The County must also work more closely with Belleville, Quinte West, Loyalist College and regional agencies. Workers, housing markets, supply chains and transportation systems cross municipal boundaries every day, and economic development should reflect that reality.

Tourism Is an Asset, Not an Entire Economy

Prince Edward County’s tourism success has created businesses, restored properties, supported farms and restaurants and brought national recognition to the region. It should be protected and strengthened, but it should not be mistaken for a complete economic strategy.

A healthy regional economy requires several foundations, including tourism, agriculture, food processing, healthcare, construction, manufacturing, technology, professional services, education and logistics. The purpose of diversification is not to replace tourism or industrialize the County indiscriminately. It is to ensure that households are not left vulnerable when one sector slows and that residents can find dependable work in January as well as July.

Well-planned food processing, clean manufacturing, healthcare, technology and professional-service employers can create stable jobs without destroying the rural character residents value. Preserving the County and providing employment are not opposing goals. The challenge is to pursue both with care, evidence and competent planning.

The Questions Council Must Now Answer

The closure of one of Prince Edward County’s largest industrial employers should prompt more than expressions of regret. It should trigger a serious examination of why the County has not attracted a comparable replacement, whether its taxes and fees are competitive, how many investors have considered the County and gone elsewhere, and what changes are required to improve the investment environment.

Council should ask whether employment lands are adequately serviced, whether approvals are predictable, whether cumulative municipal costs are discouraging investment and whether economic-development performance is being measured by job creation or by promotional activity. It should also ask whether the County’s housing, transportation and infrastructure policies make it possible for a major employer to recruit and retain workers.

These questions are not accusations against staff, Council or any particular department. They are the questions any municipality should ask after losing a major workplace while household insecurity continues to rise.

The Real Food-Security Strategy

The immediate response to hunger is food, but the lasting response is income. For working-age residents, dependable income usually begins with stable employment. For seniors, people with disabilities and others unable to participate fully in the labour market, it requires adequate public income supports. For everyone, it requires attainable housing, manageable transportation costs and essential expenses that do not consume almost every dollar earned.

Prince Edward County must remain a place where farms produce food, visitors come, entrepreneurs create and small businesses thrive. It must also become a place where major employers are willing to invest, established businesses can afford to remain and residents can build secure lives without depending on a short summer season.

High taxes and municipal costs are not the only obstacles to that objective. Global markets, labour shortages, interest rates, infrastructure limitations and corporate strategy all influence investment. Municipal taxation, fees, servicing and approvals are nevertheless among the factors over which local government has the greatest control. That makes them impossible to dismiss.

Prince Edward County’s food banks are responding compassionately to hardship they did not create, and their work deserves sustained support. The deeper obligation belongs to governments that must create the conditions for stable employment, adequate income and business investment. The goal should not be to build an ever-larger system for distributing emergency food. It should be to build an economy in which fewer households need that emergency system.

Food insecurity is not fundamentally a food problem. It is an income problem, and a community that has lost one of its largest industrial employers, attracted no comparable replacement and allowed the cost of living and doing business to rise must confront the possibility that its economic and taxation choices are contributing to the insecurity charities are now being asked to manage.

Disclaimer

This article is intended to encourage informed public discussion about food insecurity, economic development, municipal taxation and business investment in Prince Edward County and the wider Quinte region. It does not allege that municipal taxation caused the closure of Highline Mushrooms or that any particular employer declined to invest because of a specific tax, fee, official or municipal decision. Corporate investment and closure decisions are influenced by numerous factors, many of which are not public.

References to high taxes and municipal costs concern the cumulative investment environment and the need for transparent, evidence-based comparison with competing municipalities. Tax rates, assessments, services and property classifications differ among jurisdictions and should not be compared in isolation. Nothing in this article should be interpreted as alleging wrongdoing, misconduct or improper motive by Prince Edward County, another municipality, an elected official, public servant, employer, consultant or community organization. County First welcomes corrections, additional evidence and alternative perspectives that contribute to a fair and constructive discussion.