Project Description

This project addresses community food security at the grassroots level while also providing much needed systematic research on the state of the Greater Vancouver Region's food system. Ultimately, the project will gather the baseline data required to measure the most appropriate indicators relating to economic, social and environmental sustainability within the food system. This data will then be used in subsequent years in order to determine the degree of improvement or identify barriers that may be preventing improvements from being made. This research will also enable the VFPO to make policy recommendations based on concerns expressed by community members through a number of public forums.

The specific project objectives are as follows:

• to encourage greater community involvement in directing and participating in the decision-making process where it relates to food security;
• to determine what indicators are most appropriate for measuring the overall health of community food systems; and
• to stimulate community initiatives which lead to an increase in local food security;
• to develop a community-based process which may serve as a model for other regions and that has the potential to be duplicated throughout the province.

This project will be principally coordinated by Alejandro Rojas, a Professor in the Department of Agriculture at the University of British Columbia (UBC). Our research team also includes: Herb Barbolet, Executive Director of FarmFolk/CityFolk; Gwen Chapman, Association Professor of Food, Nutrition and Health at UBC; Wendy Holm, Economist and Agrologist; Graham Riches, Director of the UBC School of Social Work and Family Studies; and Deanna Tan, Dietitian/Nutritionist and Coordinator of the VFPO. This interdisciplinary team will bring a holistic approach to this project with their knowledge of the health, social and environmental components of the food system.

Project Components

Our first step will be a broad invitational gathering of local professionals within the GVRD, all of whom have some expertise of food issues whether they be nutritionists, farmers, government officials, grassroots organizations, etc. This initial meeting will serve a dual purpose for the VFPO:

• It will allow us to expand our network and make connections with other individuals and organizations working on improving the local food system; and
• An exploration of the issues of concern as well as possible indicators for such issues can be initiated.

Following this meeting, the research team will begin organizing and holding public forums in the four health regions of Vancouver/Richmond, Simon Fraser, South Fraser and the North Shore. These forums will provide feedback from the different communities on the issues and indicators identified at the initial meeting and will encourage action-oriented activities in order to address some of the issues discussed.

The VFPO would like to bring more community involvement to decisions regarding the food system and could therefore make policy recommendations based on what is expressed by community members at the public forums. Once all the information is collated, with issues and indicators firmly established and measured, we then have a baseline set of data by which to identify any improvements made in subsequent years. The usefulness of such data is immense and very much needed as nothing of its kind currently exists for the Greater Vancouver Region.