[BCFSN] new report: Food Counts - a Pan-Canadian Food Systems Report Card

[Abra Brynne]

Hello all,
please see below for a news release about this interesting and useful
report from some great academic allies.
in good food,
Abra

MAY 26, 2017 | 088-17

New national report card provides comprehensive snapshot

of the sustainability of Canada’s food systems

WATERLOO – Researchers at Wilfrid Laurier University, Lakehead University
and the University of Toronto have taken a first step toward producing a
comprehensive report card on the sustainability of Canada’s food systems.

Their new report, “Food Counts: A Pan-Canadian Sustainable Food Systems
Report Card,” brings together 61 existing measures of social,
environmental, and economic well-being to examine food systems at the
national level. Unlike existing food systems report cards, which focus on
isolated perspectives such as economic productivity or individual health
outcomes, Food Counts builds on existing efforts to create an integrative
set of measurements to assess whole food systems, taking a range of
relevant factors into account, from ecological, economic, health, labour,
and educational points of view. There are plans to update it regularly to
track trends.

“The Food Counts report card highlights the limitations of existing
indicators and the need to reassess the way we approach and advocate for
social justice, ecological regeneration, regional economies and active
democratic engagement,” said Charles Levkoe, Canada Research Chair in
Sustainable Food Systems and an assistant professor at Lakehead University.
“There is a lot more research needed to understand the path towards
sustainable food futures and this report card is a vital step in that
direction.”

Some areas where Canada is doing well, from a social justice point of view,
include that agricultural wages are going up while fatalities among farm
workers are going down. More farms are using water conservation measures
and more households are composting.

Areas where Canada is not doing as well include that fruit and vegetable
consumption is going down and is lower than average among Indigenous
peoples. A set basket of food is becoming more expensive and household food
insecurity is going up, with food bank use also on the rise. There are
fewer, older farmers on fewer, larger farms and they are in greater debt.
Farmers are using more chemical fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides, and
agricultural greenhouse gas emissions are going up.

“Developing sustainable food systems is complicated,” said Alison
Blay-Palmer, director of the Laurier Centre for Sustainable Food Systems,
Centre for International Governance Innovation Chair in Sustainable Food
Systems and an associate professor at Laurier and the Balsillie School of
International Affairs. “We need to think about how our food is grown or
harvested, who has access to healthy food, and how these things impact our
environment and local economies. This report card helps us understand where
we are doing well, where we can improve, and where we need more
information.”

The report was produced with funding from the Social Sciences and
Humanities Research Council of Canada by the FLEdGE (Food: Locally
Embedded, Globally Engaged) research and knowledge-sharing partnership,
which is hosted at Laurier. The report can be accessed online at
https://fledgeresearch.ca/foodcounts/. Twitter: #FoodCounts.

CONTACTS

Charles Levkoe, Assistant Professor
Canada Research Chair in Sustainable Food Systems Lakehead University
647-633-7447 or clevkoe at lakeheadu.ca

Alison Blay-Palmer, Associate Professor
Centre for International Governance Innovation Chair in Sustainable Food
Systems Wilfrid Laurier University
ablaypalmer at wlu.ca


Abra Brynne
Director, Engagement & Policy
BC Food Systems Network
abra at bcfsn.org
Ph: 250.352.5342 // mobile: 250.777.2480
Skype: abra.brynne
www.bcfsn.org

**I am in the office monday - wednesday and will respond as quickly as I am
able.

Please support our work <http://bcfsn.org/donate/>.

"Rather than concentrating on what sort of food is healthy for the
individual person, we must think about what kind of production system is
healthy for the globe. Acting in the context of this vision of a different
kind of food system, we will gain the freedom - and the power - to force
change for some measure of justice in this one." Cathleen Kneen, 1987
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