Focusing on food security in KFL&A

Faculty of Arts and Science researcher Kristen Lowitt has received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) to hire a community researcher and a research assistant to help develop a comprehensive food strategy for the Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington (KFL&A) area. The project is being undertaken in partnership with the KFL&A Food Policy Council (FPC).  

The work will build on a project completed this spring in collaboration with the City of Kingston and the Queen’s PhD Community Initiative where the Food Policy Council  helped students develop a set of proposed pillars for a food strategy.

These pillars include food education and literacy, food system governance, food infrastructure, food production, food access, culture and community.

“We applied for a SSHRC Partnership Engaged grant which is great because they are designed to support working with community organizations to address a particular problem or need,” Dr. Lowitt (School of Environmental Studies) explains. She is the primary investigator (PI) for the project and a council member of the FPC. “The Food Policy Council was the partner, and the project was to develop this food strategy. The funding will be going towards this community researcher to work with the Council and organize this project. We will also have funding for a graduate student as well.”

The food strategy project will lay out a vision for the food system in the community, indicative of a growing movement of FPCs across North America that are working with municipalities to undertake inclusive food systems planning. Dr. Lowitt says a Food Charter was developed in the KFL&A area about 10 years ago that lays out the principles for a food system. That sCharter was endorsed by a number of municipal partners and other local organizations.

“The FPC is now thinking about next steps in this process, operationalizing that Charter into a strategy,” she explains. “This project is building on that. Now we want to do a series of outreach workshops with partners involved in the local food system from across the region. This will help us build a longer-term strategy that is embedded in community values.”

Dr. Lowitt says during the pandemic, food security was on people’s minds and there was increased conversation around regional resilience as long-distance food supply chains became disrupted. She adds the project is being driven by the local community to strengthen the local and regional food systems.

“Our goal is to build a food strategy that will help guide policies and projects within the local food system for years to come,” says FPC co-chair Ellen Mortfield. “Over the next year, we will be talking to as many community partners as possible to build a clearer picture of what’s working and what’s not in our local food system.”