Project: Food Fight is a research and policy initiative, in partnership with the University of Windsor and University of Ottawa faculties of law, focused on addressing food loss and waste in Canada.
Reports indicate that 58% of all food produced in Canada is wasted each year. This waste contributes to environmental degradation, poverty, and global food insecurity. This project will focus on understanding and expanding on current federal and provincial legislative regimes surrounding food waste as well as reviewing Canada’s international commitments in this space and potential policy solutions being employed to address food waste and loss in other jurisdictions. This research will lay the groundwork for developing a policy brief, associated campaign, and a centralized data hub as we push towards tangible solutions for the measurement and mitigation of food waste in Canada.
This project is made possible by our law school partners. Under the guidance of Professors Patrícia Galvão Ferreira and Professor Heather McLeod-Kilmurray, students are afforded the opportunity to tackle real-world legal issues and collaborate with Reimagine Agriculture in our fight for a brighter food future.
"Legal and policy frameworks at the national, subnational, and global levels can play a crucial role in moving us away from conventional food systems that are currently undermining our ecosystems, helping to destabilize our climate, and perpetuating hunger and inequality. Food waste is one pressing element of this puzzle, as it has heavy environmental, economic, and social footprints. Food waste is also a significant contributor to the climate crisis. This partnership with Reimagine Agriculture and UOttawa provides Windsor Law students with an ideal opportunity to engage in a collective research and advocacy initiative that will identify what laws and policies Canada needs to put in place to meet the SDG 12.3 target of halving per capita food waste by 2030."
Heather McLeod-Kilmurray is a Professor at the Centre for Environmental Law and Global Sustainability (CELGS) at the Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa. Her research deals with food law including GMOs and industrial factory farming, toxic torts, environmental justice and the relationship between science and courts. She is co-author of The Canadian Law of Toxic Torts with Prof. Lynda Collins, and co-editor of Canadian Food Law and Policy with Profs. Nathalie Chalifour and Angela Lee. She is a former part-time member of the Ontario Environmental Review Tribunal.
Headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Reimagine Agriculture acknowledges that we are on the traditional territory of many nations. Please read our full land acknowledgement here.