Thunder Bay and Area Community Food System Report Card ~ Launched January 2023

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The Thunder Bay + Area Food Strategy is very pleased to have just launched the updated Community Food System Report Card.

A Community Food System Report Card assesses the food system as a whole, compiling local food data on the economic, environmental, and social factors included in food production, processing, retail, consumption, and waste or repurposing. The Report Card helps to measure progress towards regional food sovereignty.

The role of the Thunder Bay + Area Community Food System Report Card is to assess our regional food system as a whole by tracking changes to 119 indicators across seven different food system pillars: food access, forest & freshwater foods, food infrastructure, food procurement, food production, school food environments and urban agriculture. Having the updated 2023 data allows us to see what’s changed across our food systems compared to 2015 when the first Report Card was released.

The Report Card doesn’t provide a grade nor a pass/fail – rather, it presents a snapshot of our current food system with a call to action to get involved in building a more equitable and sustainable food system for all.

There's SO MUCH information to share from this updated Community Food System Report Card that we've created a new dedicated website to showcase the results: www.foodsystemreportcard.ca

The Community Food System Report Card is presented in chapters representing the seven different food strategy pillars. Each chapter includes background context for that pillar; the indicators that were measured; observations; and highlights.

You can also download the entire 76 Page PDF Report.

Also, stay tuned to our social media @tbayfood and newsletter to see updates and deeper dives into each of the pillars over the coming months!

Partnerships & Process
Creating this Report Card was a communal undertaking! Here's a sense of the partnerships and process involved:
~2 years collecting data on over 119 different food system indicators
~3 primary research partners
~6 advisory committee members
~5 additional community researchers
~76 page final PDF report
~over 200 references in the final report!
~dedicated website: foodsystemreportcard.ca
~written and video highlights included for each pillar

What Are Folks Saying?

Here is some recent media coverage digging into different aspects of the report from the launch, to some trends and highlights, to challenges and opportunities related to food production and institutional procurement:

TB Newswatch Launch
CBC Superior Morning Launch
Farm Revenues CBC
Local Food Production & Procurement CBC Radio
TBTV News Launch
Up North CBC Launch

Data Sharing & Roll-Out

As there is just so much information about the regional food system and measured indicators, the Thunder Bay + Area Food Strategy has a number of activities and events planned to share the findings of the Report Card and help build some of the “calls to action” towards a better food system for all.

Follow our website and social media to learn more about building a more equitable and sustainable food system in Thunder Bay.

@tbayfood

tbfoodstrategy.com

foodsystemreportcard.ca