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Engaging Youth in Food Systems

The term “food system” is used fairly frequently in discussions of food, but it’s not entirely clear how well people actually understand it. Taking a look at the results from a simple Google search, here are a couple of definitions: 

There is an entire 26-page document dedicated to outlining definitions and concepts of food systems for the UN Food Systems Summit 2021. Clearly, understanding our food systems is a complicated undertaking that, too often and because of its complexity, isn’t even considered. In many places around the world today, including most of Canada, it’s easy to take for granted that there will be food available to purchase at the grocery store or that restaurants will serve you whatever you order from the menu. That’s the extent of many people’s knowledge and with that comes a dangerous disengagement from the many moving pieces that make food available to people (the good news: plenty of people want to learn). 

What about young people? 

The transition from childhood to adulthood comes with an increase in independence and autonomy over what, where, and how one will obtain their food. This is one of the reasons why youth are so uniquely positioned to create change in our food systems. As the future consumers of food products, and the future of agri-food work, their voices will shortly become the dominant force. 

So what does this mean? It means that young people should be well-informed on the current state of our food systems and how they can make a difference. As Canada looks towards increased sustainability and locality of food, today’s youth are key. 

What are we doing about it? 

In our School Food Gardens program, various volunteer projects have been initiated that aim to address this issue of engaging youth in the food systems. From March to August of 2021, approximately 90 high school students in Ontario have joined us in one or more of our volunteer roles. One of our most exciting projects has been the development of our Youth Food Market, a student-led initiative aimed to provide fresh, local produce and other items to the Waterloo Region community. In order to achieve this, our Market Leaders took charge of logistics, finance, and promotions to bring the Market to life on July 31st and August 28th. On top of providing products to the community, this project has also given young people an opportunity to deepen their understanding of sustainable food systems and develop leadership and entrepreneurial skills. 

A second initiative that works to engage young people in the food systems is our Interview Series, in which high school students take on the task of interviewing individuals working in the food and agricultural sectors; restaurant staff, farmers, machine operators, food scientists, policy workers, urban agriculture coordinators are all potential interviewees, among many, many others. The goal of this is to broaden young people’s understanding of the vast array of potential jobs available in food systems and to learn what steps they can take to pursue such careers. You can sign up for our e-newsletter to stay up-to-date on the launch of this series in the fall. 

For some interesting reading each week, we also have a youth-written blog with over 40 student writers using their creativity and passion to address a variety of environmental, gardening, and food-related issues. 

The recently released IPCC report has heightened the urgency in what we are doing. Our food systems are contributing significantly to the climate crisis. There is no time to waste. Empowering youth today is a critical step in ensuring we have strong leaders tomorrow. 

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Have an idea or want to get involved? Email wrsfg@seeds.ca

Back to September 2021 Newsletter