Page 27 - ECF-LIA-Nov-DEC-2023-F2

Farming to Feed People
Fresh: the City of Edmonton’s Food and Urban Agricultural
Strategy is a local response to the increased demand for urban
agriculture. It includes initiatives such as:
Inspiration for Policy
A circular economy is based on the idea that wastes are
resources that aren’t being used well (yet), and food waste can
be better utilized or navigated in ways that decrease hunger,
increase affordability of food and increase the environmental
sustainability of the food system.
Three policy suggestions to create a more
circular food system are to:
1. Implement a landfill ban for organics.
2. Build infrastructure to support food rescue organizations and
circular food practices.
3. Obtain more information and create data systems to track food
waste. This will improve distribution to avoid food waste in the
first place, and target and fund innovation for the high waste
areas in the system. Anthony, L., & Messer, D. (2023, February 7). The
circular opportunity to fix food waste. Policy Options.
Indigenous Ways Forward
Miltenburg, E., H.T. Neufeld, and K. Anderson (2023).
Relationality, Responsibility and Reciprocity: Cultivating
Indigenous Food Sovereignty within Urban Environments
(2022). Nutrients.
Indigenous people living in urban centres
are often displaced from their home
territories and are seeking opportunities
to reconnect with culture and identity
through land and food.
Employing self-determined processes to
grow, harvest and share food among the
Indigenous community provide pathways
towards Indigenous Food Sovereignty.
Profile of Toronto’s Black Food Sovereignty Plan
The Black Food Sovereignty Plan seeks to use a community
and public health informed approach to address the
issue of chronic Black food insecurity by dismantling
systemic socioeconomic barriers, while increasing access,
opportunity and Black community ownership over their local
food systems.
With sustainable support from the city, the plan will
support the development of Black-led food insecurity
initiatives, support and fund Black-led and -serving
food organizations and food sovereignty community
infrastructure, and leverage new and existing City
strategies to advance systems change to realize Black
food sovereignty.
City of Toronto (2021). Toronto Black Food Sovereignty Plan.
Urban Farming
The pandemic shed new light on the cracks in the food system
and supply chain issues. This increased desire for local and
sustainable food.
Examples include:
• Using underutilized space (empty lots and abandoned spaces)
to grow food.
• Rooftop and greenhouse gardening in urban settings.
• Vertical gardening.
Stall-Paquet, C. (2021). Fresh from the city: The rise of urban farming.
Canadian Geographic.
Alternative Farming Practices
are on the Rise
• Bees, chickens and a public edible fruit
tree database
• Zoning bylaws to ease process of gardening on
un-used plots
• Guidelines and a streamlined permitting process
for boulevard gardening to encourage citizens
to garden in underutilized spaces.
• Urban farms
• Funding and support for community gardens
• Partnering with Sustainable Food Edmonton to
offer growing and education programming.
City of Edmonton. Fresh: Edmonton’s Food and Urban
Agriculture Strategy.
Vital Signs
Data reflects the most up-to-date available information. ecfoundation.org 27