Establishing Sustainability or Sustaining the Established: An Agroecological Analysis of Recent Canadian Food Policy

Abstract

This research project explores to what extent the design of major recent federal initiatives within the Food Policy for Canada (the Policy) supports a sustainable food system within Canada according to agroecological principles. The project conducted a content analysis supported by NVivo 12 to categorize grey literature and a qualitative literature review to analyze academic sources. The literature review provided context to present alongside the content analysis’ findings. The most common principles of agroecological food system sustainability were connectivity, land and natural resource governance, social values and diets, and participation. While these principles indicate more transformative food system action, fundamental concerns about the Policy’s support and inclusion of agroecologically sustainable principles were identified. Keywords: Agroecology, sustainability, Canada, food system, Food Policy for Canada