About the Food System Report Card

Food systems include the economic, environmental, and social factors involved in food harvesting, production, distribution, processing, retail, consumption, and waste.

In 2015, the Thunder Bay and Area Food Strategy created a food systems report card that established a snapshot of the challenges and opportunities within the regional food system. The indicators relate to each of the seven pillars of the Food Strategy, so that progress or change on issues—from the persistence of poverty to the state of urban agriculture, and size and strength of the farming sector—can be measured over time.

Many organizations, schools, local governments, businesses, First Nations, and others in the Thunder Bay area have led efforts to improve food sovereignty for years. This Report Card gives an area-wide picture of how, taken together, all these efforts are making food easier to access, establishing social and environmental justice as part of food systems, building a strong local food economy, and fostering the creation of a more resilient and food sovereign place to live.