Ontario public institutions and on-site food production: Current capacities and constraints

REPORT HIGHLIGHTS - Opportunity for on-site food production comes from public and political support for ‘local food’, combined with a shortage of land for new producers - GIS study of Ontario healthcare properties shows 217 with more than one acre of arable land available, and 54 with more than five acres - Case studies demonstrate the benefits of a ‘farmer’— independent, staff member or community group—and/or labour force dedicated to the project - Initial and on-going viability correlates to the extent of institutional support, particularly staff time for project coordination - Institutional motivations for on-site food production initiatives vary, include mental and physical therapeutic benefits See more at the Project SOIL website

Hunting and environmentalism: Conflict or misperceptions

This work examined some assumptions that underpin the conflict between hunters and anti-hunting movement. The moral contradictions of anti-hunting activism are positioned in the complex context of consumer culture, managed environmental protection, and industrial food production. The assumption that environmental groups are by definition opposed to hunting is investigated. Given that both hunters and environmental groups are interested in land conservation, and given the rapid habitat loss around the globe, the question is asked whether joint conservation efforts would prove beneficial not only to both groups' interests, but also to the fragile North American ecosystems and the species that reside in them. Copyrigh

Illicit food: Canadian food safety regulation and informal food economy

Food economies that take place informally or ‘under the table’ can offer interesting insights into relationships that people have with their food, and with social and institutional frameworks that shape their food systems. Relying on data from 14 in-depth interviews conducted in Nova Scotia in 2013, this paper interrogates the tensions between everyday eating practices and food safety regulations. Specifically, I examine how informal economic activities related to food expose some of the (perceived) shortcomings of those regulations. The stories that the participants shared offer a glimpse into the world of meaning attached to a range of practices that exist on the margins of contemporary food and public health systems. These stories and the assoc

Big Data in food and agriculture

Farming is undergoing a digital revolution. Our existing review of current Big Data applications in the agri-food sector has revealed several collection and analytics tools that may have implications for relationships of power between players in the food system (e.g. between farmers and large corporations). For example, Who retains ownership of the data generated by applications like Monsanto Corproation's Weed I.D . “app”? Are there privacy implications with the data gathered by John Deere's precision agricultural equipment? Systematically tracing the digital revolution in agriculture, and charting the affordances as well as the limitations of Big Data applied to food and agriculture, should be a broad research goal for Big Data scholarship. Such a goal brings data scholarship into conversation with food studies and it allows for a focus on the material consequences of big data in society

The digital divide and how it matters for Canadian food system equity

Policy discussions have raised concerns about how big data are used and who has knowledge about the ways in which they are used. These discussions, however, have largely ignored the role that digitization plays in agriculture. Consequently, the digitization of agriculture is unfolding with very little regulatory intervention. Drawing on ongoing research, this article argues that this omission may be critical, and suggests how it can be considered in current policy endeavours

"Ain't nobody got time for that!": Framing and stereotyping in legacy and social media

Background Social media can be powerful tools for rallying support for a social cause, political mobilization, and social commentary. They can also greatly contribute to incendiary discourses and social stereotypes-often through memes. This article explores the case of one American, known by the moniker of "Sweet Brown," whose interview about a local fire made her an overnight celebrity in 2012. Analysis A frame analysis of her portrayals in legacy and social media is conducted, and reveals that social media platforms facilitate and even encourage a reductionist approach to messaging. Conclusion and implications Sweet Brown's appearance, which conjures gender, race, and socio-economic class, became a powerful tool for circulating stereotypes. The interplay between legacy and social media can serve to reproduce stereotypes and marginalization, as is evident in the case of Sweet Brown

‘Liking and sharing’ the stigmatization of poverty and social welfare: Representations of poverty and welfare through internet memes on social media

Internet memes play an important role in the reproduction, reinforcement and cir-culation of social stereotypes, including those about people who live in poverty. In this paper we investigate the relationship between Internet memes and stereotypes about poverty by examining a set of memes that make claims about one particular aspect of poverty in high-income countries – receipt of social assistance in the form of welfare cheques, medical cov-erage and food. We apply critical discourse analysis to a set of widely circulated poverty memes to identify how notions of individual responsibility and deservedness surface in these messages. Whereas the memes in our sample consist of both visual and textual elements, we found that the text was decidedly more important for reproducing stereotypes linked to the abstract neoliberal values of individual responsibility and participation in market econo-my

Community food security in Pictou Landing First Nation

In 2013 a participatory research project explored food security in Pictou Landing First Nation, a Mi'kmaq community geographically located in Canadian province of Nova Scotia. The project used photovoice-a qualitative research method that collects photographic data along with oral information from project participants. The findings revealed that pollution and ecological changes around Pictou Landing First Nation were the most significant community challenge to eating well. Community members shared photographs and stories to describe their experiences with food and point to their key concerns, which also included physical and economic access to healthy food. Participants also commented on a number of great assets in the community, such as the recent development of community gardens and the knowledge of traditional foods that still exists in the community. This chapter offers reflections on the project's findings and on the use of photovoice to examine social dimensions of food systems. The chapter also considers the larger implications of these findings to the issues of Indigenous community food security, cultural safety, and ecological consequences of industrialization