Nourishing Communities

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xxiii

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2. Need for Transformations

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1

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   2. Connecting Food Access and Housing Security: Lessons from Peterborough, Ontario

      • Patricia Ballamingie, Peter Andrée, Mary Anne Martin, Julie Pilson

      Pages 3-22

   3. Strengthening the Backbone: Local Food, Foreign Labour and Social Justice

      • Janet McLaughlin

      Pages 23-40

   4. Community Food Security in Pictou Landing First Nation

      • Pictou Landing First Nation, Irena Knezevic

      Pages 41-57

   5. The US Experience in Planning for Community Food Systems: An Era of Advocacy, Awareness, and (Some) Learning

      • Samina Raja, Subhashni Raj, Bartholomew Roberts

      Pages 59-74

3. Pathways to Transformation

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 75-75

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   2. Can Community-Based Initiatives Address the Conundrum of Improving Household Food Access While Supporting Local Smallholder Farmer Livelihoods?

      • Peter Andrée, Patricia Ballamingie, Stephen Piazza, Scott Jarosiewicz

      Pages 77-94

   3. Nourishing Learning Environments: School Food Gardens and Sustainable Food Systems

      • Elizabeth Nowatschin, Karen Landman, Erin Nelson

      Pages 95-112

   4. Using a Complexity Lens to Address Local Food Dilemmas in Northern Ontario: The Viability of Crowdsourcing and Crowdfunding

      • Mirella Stroink, Connie H. Nelson, Adam C. Davis

      Pages 113-130

   5. The Local Food Policy Audit: Spanning the Civic-Political Agrifood Divide

      • Jill K. Clark, Caitlin Marquis, Samina Raja

      Pages 131-146

   6. Supply Management as Food Sovereignty

      • Phil Mount

      Pages 147-164

   7. Navigating Spaces for Political Action: Victories and Compromises for Mexico’s Local Organic Movement

      • Erin Nelson, Laura Gómez Tovar

      Pages 165-181

   8. Communities of Food Practice: Regional Networks as Strategic Tools for Food Systems Transformation

      • Charles Z. Levkoe

      Pages 183-200

   9. Postscript

      • Alison Blay-Palmer, Irena Knezevic, Charles Z. Levkoe, Phil Mount, Erin Nelson

      Pages 201-204

4. Erratum to: Strengthening the Backbone: Local Food, Foreign Labour and Social Justice

   • Janet McLaughlin

   Pages E1-E1

5. Back Matter

   Pages 205-206

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This edited volume builds on existing alternative food initiatives and food movements research to explore how a systems approach can bring about health and well-being through enhanced collaboration. Chapters describe the myriad ways community-driven actors work to foster food systems that are socially just, embed food in local economies, regenerate the environment and actively engage citizens. Drawing on case studies, interviews and Participatory Action Research projects, the editors share the stories behind community-driven efforts to develop sustainable food systems, and present a critical assessment of both the tensions and the achievements of these initiatives. 


The volume is unique in its focus on approaches and methodologies that both support and recognize the value of community-based practices. Throughout the book the editors identify success stories, challenges and opportunities that link practitioner experience to critical debates in food studies, practice and policy. By making current practices visible to scholars, the volume speaks to people engaged in the co-creation of knowledge, and documents a crucial point in the evolution of a rapidly expanding and dynamic sustainable food systems movement.


Entrenched food insecurity, climate change induced crop failures, rural-urban migration, escalating rates of malnutrition related diseases, and aging farm populations are increasingly common obstacles for communities around the world. Merging private, public and civil society spheres, the book gives voice to actors from across the sustainable food system movement including small businesses, not-for-profits, eaters, farmers and government. Insights into the potential for market restructuring, knowledge sharing, planning and bridging civic-political divides come from across Canada, the United States and Mexico, making this a key resource for policy-makers, students, citizens, and practitioners.

• Community-based research
• Sustainable food systems
• Ecological regeneration
• Democratic citizenship
• Participatory Action Research
• Social equity

• Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada

  Irena Knezevic

• Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Canada

  Alison Blay-Palmer

• Department of Health Sciences, Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, Canada

  Charles Z. Levkoe

• Just Food, Ottawa, Canada

  Phil Mount

• International Development Studies, University of Guelph, Guelph, Canada

  Erin Nelson

​Nourishing Communities: From Fractured Food Systems to Transformative Pathways is the product of more than a decade of collaborative work by a network of scholars, community-based partners and practitioners interested in constructing more sustainable just food systems. Established in 2007, the Nourishing Communities research network aimed to foster direct connections between university- and community-based actors, and to draw on tools rooted in both theory and practice to support food system transformation. The organization's early work was based primarily in the province of Ontario, Canada, where it explored a wide range of sustainable food systems initiatives in an effort to better understand their successes, innovations and challenges, and make their experiences more accessible to a wider audience. Drawing on the varied backgrounds and areas of expertise of the network’s first members, the group has adopted an interdisciplinary approach, and collaborated closely with regionally-anchored community organizations, businesses, and government personnel representing the inter-related actors that comprise a food system.

Policies and ethics