What it is…

Most definitions of community food security encompass seven points:

• Food access
• Food safety
• Nutrition
• Sustainable food production (agriculture)
• Self-reliance (food skills and local food systems)
• Culturally acceptable food
• Social justice

Food security is a global issue and because of the increasingly global nature of our food system what happens in one part of the world affects people from around the globe.  Therefore, food must be considered in both the broader context and the local context, to truly understand and appreciate how connected we all are through food.

Food Insecurity happens when:

• Families and individuals lose food skills such as cooking and eating together
• Food Producers (farmers, hunters, gathereres and fishers) do not make fair or sustainable wages
• People have to travel long distances to get to grocery stores or food sources
• Healthy food options are not available
• People do not have enough money to access healthy foods
• Food has to be transported too far to get to our stores
• Food production systems are unsustainable
• People cannot access culturally approporiate foods

Is Manitoba Food Secure?

Manitoba has a strong agricultural industry that produces many food products for both Manitobans and people across the world. Manitoba’s agriculture industry provides one out of six jobs in the province, and our agricultural exports alone contribute more than $3 billion to our economy[1].

However the population of Manitoba is heavily concentrated in the south, with the majority of agricultural producers and suppliers also located there. Northern communities have food and other necessities shipped in, which is expensive and not always possible during the winter months. The result is that our Northern communities find themselves without healthy foods available everyday. Because of the high cost to transport these products to remote communities, Northern shoppers end up paying more to subsidize the transportations cost. Many Northern communities pay more than $12 for a 4-liter carton of milk—two and a half times what the rest of the province pays for the same product. The high markup on food and supplies means that many Manitobans just don’t have the resources to buy the foods that they need.

Food Insecurity doesn’t just happen in Northern communities though. Almost 48,000 Manitobans use food banks each month--5,000 more people than the population of Brandon! For thousands of urban, rural, and northern low-income Manitobans a lack of transportation prevents them from reaching grocery stores and farmer’s markets, and accessing healthy foods.

The agricultural industry may produce big dollars, but the people who produce our food—our farmers—aren’t necessarily seeing it. Farming is a business that costs a lot of money to run. Many farmers across the country face steep increases in production costs (fuel, fertilizers, and pesticides), but are making less and less profit off of what they produce. The average income for Manitoba farmers is lower than it is in any other province, and one in three farm families have second jobs off of the farm to support themselves. In the last 20 years there has been a 28.4 percent decrease in the number of Manitoba farms—and more than 2000 Manitoba farms disappeared between 2001 and 2006. Farmers are finding it harder and harder to stay in business, and fewer young people are going into farming. Our Food Security is directly linked to the farmers who produce our food.

*Statistics from MAFRA and Winnipeg Harvest

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