Improving Access to Local Food in Waterloo Region

1
Improving Access to Local Food in Waterloo Region
Grace Brunger, Department of Environment and
Resource Studies, University of
Waterloo gbrunger_at_fes.uwaterloo.ca
Introduction
Conclusions
Conceptual Framework
Many food bank programs around the country offer
fresh, locally grown food to those in need. The
Food Bank of Waterloo Region (FBWR) does not
currently run these types of programs because of
the efficiency required to collect and distribute
the three million pounds of mostly non-perishable
food they provide to emergency food recipients
every year. Although all of the food they collect
is needed, the literature criticizes food banks
for focusing on the large amounts of
non-perishable food that are donated, instead of
trying to solicit the types of food, including
more fresh food, that are needed. many
emergency food recipients confided that the
emergency hampers were frequently limited in
terms of the variety and quality of items that
were received and that there was a lack of fresh
produce (p. 29, Smilek et al., 2001). The
recommendations of this thesis were synthesized
into a guidebook on how to obtain locally grown
and processed food for distribution to those in
need in Waterloo Region.
Defining the goals and monitoring the success of
food banks by measuring the number of pounds of
food collected and distributed, ignores the
underlying reasons emergency food is needed, and
solutions for moving people off of the emergency
food distribution system are not apparent and can
not be prioritized. A more holistic approach to
relieving hunger begins with the goal of
improving food self-sufficiency.
Expanding the boundaries of the local food system
to include food banks reveals several
opportunities to improve the function of food
banks and also increase consumption of local
foods by those in need in Waterloo Region. The
Plant a Row, Grow a Row program has proven to be
an effective way of introducing local food to
food banks across Canada that should be
implemented in Waterloo Region.
Summary

• Through interviews and a literature review, the
  local food system and the Food Bank in Waterloo
  Region were qualitatively examined to determine
  how mutual benefits could be obtained by linking
  the Food Bank to sources of local food. Two main
  issues encountered with Food Bank local food
  programs in the past were
• the lack of available resources to collect,
  store and distribute fresh foods safely and,
• the inefficiency of initiatives such as
  community gardens in terms of the total number
• of pounds of food collected compared to the
  amount of resources.

Key Recommendations
Methods
The Plant a Row, Grow a Row program, whereby
gardeners donate a row of their produce to the
Food Bank, was chosen as an ideal starter program
to developing local food promotion at the Food
Bank. A guidebook was devised to implement this
program based on solutions to issues that were
encountered in the past. Additional
recommendations include developing an expanded
local food network which includes food banks and
social agencies and developing policy within the
Food Bank to promote the same definition of
healthy foods that the Region uses, which
includes local foods. Establishing connections
with the local food economy is one way that using
a more integrated approach to addressing hunger
can shift the focus from the amount of food
distributed to actually moving people off of the
emergency food system.

• Expand existing local food networks to include
  social agencies in order to share resources
• Organize a comprehensive review of related social
  services in the Region.
• Food Bank
• Adopt a definition of healthy food which
  includes local food
• When buying food, buy local
• Measure success by the number of people moved off
  of the emergency food system
• Educate the community about the importance of
  donating fresh foods
• Increase resources dedicated to fresh foods
• Agencies
• Use community resources to implement the Plant a
  Row, Grow a Row program to encourage fresh food
  donations
• Develop additional local food programs e.g. farm
  gleaning (community groups pick produce left
  behind by harvesting machines) mobile farmers
  market etc.
• Consider offering both free emergency food
  hampers and paid co-operatives, so recipients
  have the option to participate in food production

A qualitative analysis of academic journals,
government documents, agency and related websites
was conducted to find information on successful
food bank local food programs in Canada. Ethics
clearance was received from the University of
Waterloo to conduct interviews with Wendi
Campbell from the Food Bank of Waterloo Region
Peter Katona from FoodLink Waterloo Region, and a
local organic farmer. Information obtained from
the literature was evaluated to identify programs
and policies successful at addressing underlying
reasons for hunger. These success stories were
compared to experiences from Waterloo Region in
order to recommend policy and program directions
for the Food Bank of Waterloo Region. These
recommendations were synthesized into a guidebook
which lays out an action plan for implementing
the Plant a Row, Grow a Row program in Waterloo.
Purpose
The purpose of this report is to compare the
positive experiences other emergency food
assistance agencies have had in joining forces
with the local food initiative to see if a
similar model could be adapted to Waterloo Region
to both help the Food Bank to improve economic
access to healthy food for those in need, and to
help food localism promoters to increase the
amount of local food consumed in the Region. The
benefits of improving the local food system
include benefits to the local economy and
farmers, improved nutrition for the food-insecure
who use food banks, as well as lower
environmental costs and demand on transportation
infrastructure. Recommendations address the
barriers to dealing with fresh foods that were
identified by the Food Bank such as supplying
safe storage and transportation.
Results
References
The program (food hamper) is good but it isnt
the answer for all your needs. Foods like bologna
and brownie mixes dont make people healthy (p.
29, Smilek et al., 2001) The explicit goal of
the Food Bank of Waterloo Region is to get rid of
the need for emergency food however, all its
resources are occupied distributing as many
pounds of food as possible, at times of
questionable quality. There is significant
potential to change the Food Banks activities to
better promote this goal. The literature review
identified several local food programs that have
been successfully implemented across Canada.
These include the Plant a Row, Grow a Row
program, where gardeners donate a row of their
harvest to the food bank and farm gleaning
programs, where groups of school children or
other community groups volunteer to pick left
over produce such as potatoes or onions that are
left in farm fields after harvesting machinery
has gone over the fields. In Waterloo Region,
there are farms with unpicked produce immediately
following harvest that they are willing to donate
to the food bank if volunteers can coordinate
pickers and transportation. There are also high
school students who need volunteer hours in order
to graduate who can not come to the Food Bank
during regular work hours.
Knight, D.B., Northey, M. (2001). Making sense
a students guide to research and writing
geography environmental sciences second
edition. Toronto Oxford. Region of Waterloo
Public Health. (2004). A Glance at Diet, Weight
and Diabetes Report. http//chd.region.waterloo.on
.ca/web/health.nsf/4f4813c7 5e78d71385256e5a0057f5
e1/F9E487C67FAC45E885256FE90060ADF6/file/Glance_D
iet_Weight_Diabetes.pdf?openelement Smilek,
S.M., Bidgood, B.A., Parent, M., Thompson, J.
(2001). When the Fridge is Bare - Challenges to
Food Security in Waterloo Region. Waterloo,
Ontario Food Bank of Waterloo Region. Tarasuk,
V. (2001). A Critical Examination of
Community-Based Responses to Household Food
Insecurity in Canada. Health Education Behavior
28(4), 487-499.
The Local Food Initiative The impacts of local
food on health have been recognized by the
Waterloo Regional Public Health department, which
initiated a local food movement. Compared to many
countries, Canadians spend a relatively low
percentage of income on food (see figure 1), and
because local farms in Waterloo are struggling to
remain economically viable, regional local food
efforts have focused on increasing income for
farmers. Efforts to help low income earners has
been left to lobbying the Province to lower
housing costs. Linking Food Banks with Food
Localism Because the lowest income earners are
most likely to be food insecure, this project
fills an important gap by considering ways
support for food banks can also support food
localism.
In any given year, as much as 3000 - 5000 of
potatoes can be left in one farmers fields in
Waterloo Region

• Programs to take advantage of these available
  resources have been operating effectively in
  other communities, but the two main issues that
  would need to be addressed if they were to be
  implemented in Waterloo Region are
• the Food Banks lack of facilities and human
  resources to handle, store and distribute fresh
  food safely and efficiently
• matching the seasonal availability of fresh food
  with demand.