What does it mean for a place to have equitable and sustainable food systems? Researchers at universities across the Lower Mainland are highlighting the complexities and searching for meaningful solutions.

Food systems encompass the tangled web of activities that go into producing food, including agriculture, processing, distribution, and consumption. So unsurprisingly, figuring out how to feed a growing population within a capitalist world, while simultaneously reducing climate impacts and increasing access, has complex answers.

Laura Kozak, a research associate at Emily Carr University who was involved in the school’s Circular Food Innovation Lab (CFIL), says that to solve challenges in the food system, we need systems-based approaches: bringing parties from all different parts of the cycle to work together, from government to business.

“On the City side, there’s definite motivation to reduce solid waste to landfill,” Kozak says. “But there’s also a real recognition that [neither] the City on their own, nor any business in the food supply chain, could do that alone.”

As a 10-month project between Emily Carr, the City of Vancouver, the Vancouver Economic Commission’s Economic Transformation Lab, and 18 local businesses and organizations, the CFIL examined the challenges of wasted food.

One of the core findings was the need to “enact a bit of a cultural shift”—for example, by more closely following and promoting seasonal produce. Introducing harvest calendars to set consumer expectations about what is in season could help stores reduce waste and encourage shoppers to choose local options.

“There’s a staging of abundance that happens in grocery stores,” Kozak explains, “an expectation that consumers will have every product available all year round, which puts strains on the system.”

Part of reducing wasted food means finding other uses for unsold products. But the existing system that sees food-insecure people rely on non-profit initiatives also needs changing.

Wallapak Polasub, research and extension program manager at Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s Institute for Sustainable Food Systems, is studying food security in newcomer populations. She says there are two systemic barriers that newcomers have: a lack of income, and difficulties navigating a new environment where food they’re used to may not be accessible.

“A lot of these organizations [supporting newcomers] right now all say that the need for food is so much, especially for marginalized community members,” Polasub explains over a Zoom call. “A lot of the program efforts have gone into providing food, or culturally appropriate food…even though they recognize that it might not be a long-term solution.”

When money is tight, food is often the first necessity that falls away.

“We still treat food as a commodity,” Polasub explains. “And therefore, if you have more means, you can acquire more.”

Polasub says that although everyone is appreciative of the help, some people have mixed emotions associated with accessing food banks or other donations.

“They don’t want to be reliant all the time. They want to do something for themselves, and especially, some of them feel guilty,” Polasub explains. Relying on charitable food donations is only a short-term solution, which is complicated by the way non-profits’ budgets are often assigned to specific initiatives—which, in times of crisis, means emergency programs like direct food donations.

Systemic changes—whether it’s getting newcomers involved in growing fruits and vegetables, or promoting policies that provide more economic safety—would provide longer-term solutions, she says.

“We need to look at it as, ‘Okay, [some] resources go to the emergency food program,’ ” she summarizes, “ ‘and we have to make sure we have enough resources to do the long-term program, as well.’  ”

While research is important, implementation can be difficult. Sid Mehta, senior director of ancillary services at Simon Fraser University, says that while there has been incredible progress made in food systems research, convincing the powers that be of its benefits can be a challenge in and of itself.

Over the last few years, the Food System Action Lab at SFU has been working to ensure the university’s food program reflects the institute’s own work. The food program sources 30 to 40 per cent of food locally—among the highest of any university dining program in North America, according to Mehta—and incorporates Indigenous foods into the options available through Rooted (a collaboration with Teetl’it Gwich’in chef Steph Maryluk).

Program leaders took part in the UN’s Food System stocktaking event in Rome earlier this year, discussing things like the university’s approach to replacing single-use plastics with sustainable alternatives—such as building more water-filling stations to coincide with banning plastic bottles, partnering with organizations to swap from single-use food packaging for reusable items, and upcycling used chopsticks. Most recently, the university's newly launched Roots program aims to promote more local, plant-based, and Indigenous foods in food service operations by providing training to workers. 

“Every one of these initiatives is multi-stakeholder. It is meant to be looking from a food system transformation lens, and it is being built as a scalable solution,” Mehta says. That collaboration aspect is key: “If we do it alone, we’ll do it fast, but it’s not going to have any impact.”

Scaling food system solutions requires a willingness to make mistakes, and to accept that results might be slow—or that plans may need changes to effectively work in the real world.

“Listen, learn, fail, iterate,” Mehta says. “There is no easy way.”