By Neal Cameron The University of British Columbia has been a leader in moving food service procurement towards supporting more sustainable and just food systems. As the first Fair Trade Certified Campus in Canada and the first Canadian university to purchase exclusively OceanWise seafood, UBC has shown a commitment to engaging in food system change....Read More

A look at how Farm to School initiatives in Canada align with the new Canada’s Food Guide  This resource was developed to look and feel like the new Canada’s Food Guide . Developed to be shared at the National Farm to School Conference held in May, this fact sheet showcases some preliminary results from the...Read More

A Summary Report of the BC School Fruit & Vegetable Nutritional Program evaluation conducted in the 2017-2018 school year. The evaluation assessed program awareness among students, teachers/coordinators and families, program impact on students and their families, and program use by teachers to support delivery of the BC curriculum. The evaluation was led by BC Agriculture...Read More

Farm to School programs bring healthy, local food into schools, from pre-schools to campuses, providing opportunities for hands-on learning that enhances food literacy while strengthening local food systems and school and community connectedness. The Benefits of Farm to School: Evidence from Canada demonstrates the impacts of Farm to School activities, which include public health, education and learning,...Read More

A look at the early impact of the Farm to School Canada Grant Program Throughout Canada and the United States, a momentum of activity is taking place to get fresh healthy foods from nearby farms, lands, and waters into the minds and onto the plates of students. Sparked by motivation to improve student nutrition, food...Read More

Food literacy is increasingly recognized as an important influence on eating patterns. (1, 2) Currently, there is no reliable tool to measure food literacy. The absence of a measurement tool along with a limited shared understanding of the comprehensive nature of food literacy makes it challenging for nutrition practitioners to assess the impact of food literacy...Read More

ON March 21, the CDN government released a report outlining  proposed guiding principles and recommendations to inform the development of a new Food Guide, based on data gathered through a pan-Canadian public consultation process. As expected there was strong support for tools to help Canadians increase their intake of water, and fruits and vegetables and...Read More

This beautifully illustrated step by step guide, available in both official languages, was designed specifically to support school communities and the local food supply sector in their efforts to advance Farm to School in New Brunswick. While the guide was developed with NB in mind, it draws upon the latest, most innovative approaches and tools...Read More

This is mostly the description on the NFSN’s website: Evaluation for Transformation defines the outcomes that farm to school has the potential to achieve and it offers common language, guidelines and metrics to understand those outcomes for the first time. The framework is organized around four key sectors: public health, community economic development, education and...Read More

This fact sheet offers a research-based overview of the benefits of farm to school and provides a list of sources.  Stated benefits are provided under 5 themes:  (1) Economic Development (Job Creation and Economic Activity; Farmer and Producer Income), (2) Public Health (Student Nutrition Behaviors; Knowledge, Attitudes and Access), (3) Education (Student Engagement and Academic...Read More