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Since the early 2000s, plant closures have been a significant concern in Ontario, Canada. Scholars and policymakers alike aim to investigate the causes of plant closures and determine how to mitigate their impacts. Despite the large body of literature on plant closures, local economic development practitioners' perspectives and experiences have been neglected. To fill this gap, this paper interviewed twenty-two practitioners from various cities in Ontario to understand how practitioners perceive and respond to plant closures. The findings provide a comprehensive overview of the various dynamics of plant closures. Also, based on the findings, seven policy recommendations are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A recurring debate in cities and in the literature is whether gardening food to eat is essential or recreational. When the COVID-19 pandemic began, some political jurisdictions closed gardens, deeming them non-essential to life – including the province of Ontario where fieldwork for this study was conducted. This paper analyzes mixed methods data generated pre-pandemic to understand the role of urban agriculture in the lives of gardeners in Toronto, Canada. When people produce food for the home, is their activity recreational or an essential source of food? We employ a social-ecological lens and find that gardening supported health and wellbeing and provided participants with an important food source, oftentimes culturally significant. Qualitative and quantitative data describes the rich experiences of gardener participants in the diverse city. We argue that gardens are essential and seeing them as part of culinary infrastructure makes space for nonmarket food production in food systems analyses. Viewing gardens as essential should prompt policy decisions, particularly during crises, which support social-ecological, nonmarket food sources as important parts of culinary infrastructure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]