Handpicked Podcast
The Laurier Centre for Sustainable Food Systems’ (LCSFS) podcast Handpicked: Stories from the Field showcases the excellent and varied research happening at the LCSFS with a focus on how the work creates meaningful changes to the ways we produce, get, eat and understand our food.
Handpicked: Stories from the Field is hosted by Amanda Di Battista, the LCSFS Project Coordinator, and Laine Young, PhD Candidate in Geography and Environmental Studies at Wilfrid Laurier University.
The first season of the Handpicked podcast launched on Sept. 30, 2019 and included six episodes that were released over the 2019/20 academic year. The second season of Handpicked launched on March 9, 2021.
Season 2, Episode 1: “I Can Seed Something Here, I Have land”: Intersectionality, Urban Agriculture, and Community Benefit in Quito, Ecuador
Featuring Alexandra Rodriguez and Laine Young
In this episode of Handpicked: Stories from the Field, Laine Young speaks with Alexandra Rodriguez about Agricultura Urbana Participativa AGRUPAR, an urban agriculture project that aims to address food insecurity and improve people’s lives by creating more a sustainable food system in Quito, Ecuador. Using an intersectional lens, Laine and Alexandra’s conversation looks at the positive community-wide impacts of women’s involvement in participatory urban agriculture projects and considers how women’s lived experience is governed by race, class, gender, sexuality, ability and other factors. Alexandra shares her experience working on the project as well as examples of how AGRUPAR is finding local solutions to the unique challenges facing Quito’s food system.
Listen to Season Two, Episode One | Discussion Questions | Glossary
Contributors
Co-Producers & Hosts: Amanda Di Battista & Laine Young
Sound Design & Editing: Laine Young & Amanda Di Battista
Research Assistants: Adedotun Babajide
Guests
Alexandra Rodriguez
Erick Fay
Support & Funding
Wilfrid Laurier University
The Laurier Centre for Sustainable Food Systems
Balsillie School for International Affairs
CIGI
Music Credits
Resources
Moving Beyond Acknowledgments- LSPIRG
Whose Land
Laurier Centre for Sustainable Food Systems
FAO City Region Food System Program: Quito, Ecuador
RUAF Global Partnership
Milan Urban Food Policy Pact
Intersectionality Matters Podcast
Growing Food in the City: Urban Agriculture in Quito, Ecuador, Through a Feminist Lens, paper by Laine Young
Season 1, Episode 6: “We are all the Shepherds of the Data”: Food, Technology, and Data Sovereignty
Technology is changing all aspects of the food system, including how smaller-scale farmers and food producers connect with different markets. In this episode of Handpicked, Dr. Theresa Schumilas describes her work as the Director of Open Food Network Canada, an open source software platform designed to help producers and eaters build better and more sustainable food systems. You’ll hear about how justice and fairness can inform an activist approach to coding and how non-proprietary software is contributing to food sovereignty in Canada and beyond. Using Open Food Network as an example, Dr. Shumilas explains how software platforms are helping smaller scale producers reimagine their operations by centring community, open source legal protections, and peer-to-peer learning.
Listen to Episode Six | Discussion Questions | Glossary
Contributors
Co-Producers & Hosts: Amanda DiBattista & Laine Young
Sound Design & Editing: Adedotun Babajide & Laine Young
Research Assistants: Chiamaka Okafor-Justin & Jake Bernstein
Guests
Support & Funding
Wilfrid Laurier University
The Laurier Centre for Sustainable Food Systems
Balsillie School for International Affairs
CIGI
Music Credits
Resources
Moving Beyond Acknowledgments- LSPIRG
Whose Land
Laurier Centre for Sustainable Food Systems
Open Food Network Canada
The Open Food Network Global Project
Open Food Network Global Discussion Community
Building Back Better: Infrastructure investments for a greener, more resilient and sustainable country
Racial Justice and Food Systems Resources
Justice in June
Black Women on Black Food Sovereignty Panel, presented by FoodShare Toronto
“When you’re Black, you’re at greater risk of everything that sucks”: FoodShare’s Paul Taylor on the links between race and food insecurity
Seed Change Words From Our Chair: We cannot talk about food without talking about racism
Black Food Insecurity in Canada, Melana Roberts
Season 1, Episode 5: “Change Worth Striving For”: International Agreements as Levers for Food Systems Change
International agreements like the Sustainable Development Goals, the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact, and the New Urban Agenda can be imagined as shared blueprints for change. However, agreements negotiated between international actors can be difficult to implement at local and regional scales. In this episode of Handpicked, we talk to food systems actors and researchers working to connect international agreements with municipal and regional policy development. In our conversation with Alison Blay-Palmer, Patricia Ballamingie, Barbara Emanuel, and Theresa Schumilas we examine how international agreements are important tools for decisionmakers concerned with food, consider how storytelling is an important part of meaningful food advocacy and policy development, and look at how the City of Toronto’s has used the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact to inform policy and program development across the city.
Listen to Episode Five | Discussion Questions | Glossary
Contributors
Co-Producers & Hosts: Amanda DiBattista & Laine Young
Sound Design & Editing: Adedotun Babajide & Laine Young
Research Assistants: Chiamaka Okafor-Justin & Jake Bernstein
Guests
Alison Blay-Palmer
Patricia Ballamingie
Barbara Emanuel
Theresa Schumilas
Support & Funding
Wilfrid Laurier University
The Laurier Centre for Sustainable Food Systems
Balsillie School for International Affairs
CIGI
Music Credits
Resources
Levers for Food system Change Panel Discussion
The Sustainable Development Goals
The New Urban Agenda
The Milan Urban Food Policy Pact
Toronto Food Strategy
Toronto Food Strategy 2018 Report
Moving Beyond Acknowledgments- LSPIRG
Laurier Centre for Sustainable Food Systems
Season 1, Episode 4 - ”We Know How to Survive on the Land”: Climate Change Adaptation, Food Systems and Life in Kakisa, Northwest Territories
In this episode of Handpicked: Stories from the Field, co-producer Dr. Andrew Spring takes us through Part 2 of his conversation with Chief Lloyd Chicot and Melaine Simba of the Ka’a’gee Tu First Nation. Focusing on five key themes—youth, community gardening, community mapping, land stewardship and waste management—they explore how participatory action research driven by communities can have tangible and lasting impacts on everyday life and help facilitate the transfer of traditional knowledges to the next generation. They also reflect on how research has helped shape and support climate change adaptation strategies in Kakisa, NWT and the importance of building lasting relationships as part of this work.
Listen to Episode Four | Discussion Questions | Glossary
Contributors
Co-Producers & Hosts: Amanda Di Battista & Laine Young
Co-Producer: Andrew Spring
Sound Design & Editing: Adedotun Babajide
Research Assistants: Chiamaka Okafor-Justin & Jake Bernstein
Guests
Ka’a’gee Tu First Nation
Kakisa Photo Blog
Andrew Spring
Support & Funding
Wilfrid Laurier University
The Laurier Centre for Sustainable Food Systems
Global Water Futures
Balsillie School for International Affairs
CIGI
Music Credits
Sounds
Resources
Moving Beyond Acknowledgments- LSPIRG
Laurier Centre for Sustainable Food Systems
Food: Locally Embedded, Globally Engaged (FLEdGE)
Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada: Calls to Action
Season 1, Episode 3 – ”Take Care of the Land and the Land Will Take Care of You”: Discussing Climate Change with Members of the Ka’a’gee Tu First Nation in Kakisa, Northwest Territories
In this episode of Handpicked: Stories from the Field, co-producer Dr. Andrew Spring sits down with Chief Lloyd Chicot and Melaine Simba of the Ka’a’gee Tu First Nation from the community of Kakisa in the Northwest Territories. Reflecting on their long partnership of collaboration, they talk about how climate change is impacting food systems in Canada’s North and how their small community is finding ways to adapt to the changing landscapes. You'll hear about community-driven participatory action research and initiatives ongoing in Kakisa, the unique ways that food security issues impact northern Indigenous communities, the importance of the land, and how the community members are monitoring and adapting to the changes being observed.
Listen to episode three | Discussion Questions | Glossary
Contributors
Co-Producers & Hosts: Amanda DiBattista & Laine Young
Co-Producer: Andrew Spring
Sound Design & Editing: Adedotun Babajide
Research Assistants: Chiamaka Okafor-Justin & Jake Bernstein
Guests
Ka’a’gee Tu First Nation
Kakisa Photo Blog
Andrew Spring
Support & Funding
Wilfrid Laurier University
The Laurier Centre for Sustainable Food Systems
Balsillie School for International Affairs
CIGI
Music Credits
Sounds
Resources
Moving Beyond Acknowledgments- LSPIRG
Laurier Centre for Sustainable Food Systems
Food: Locally Embedded, Globally Engaged (FLEdGE)
Season 1, Episode 2 - “What Gets Measured Gets Managed”: Hidden Food Metrics as Tools for Democracy
In this episode of Handpicked: Stories from the Field, we sit down with Dr. Nevin Cohen, an Associate Professor at the City University of New York (CUNY) School of Public Health and the Research Director of the CUNY Urban Food Policy Institute in New York City, to explore how to measure food system change. Because of the complexity of our food systems, there are hundreds of metrics that can be used to measure sustainability and food system health. Dr. Cohen explains how food system researchers are rethinking the kinds of metrics they use in order to make important food policy decisions. Dr. Cohen highlights how hidden food metrics, or “Food Metrics 3.0,” can provide us with more nuanced understandings of what is happening in our food systems so that we can work together to make those systems more sustainable.
Listen to episode two | Discussion Questions | Glossary
Contributors
Co-Producers & Hosts: Amanda Di Battista & Laine Young
Research Assistant: Jake Bernstein
Guests
Click the links to learn more about their work
Dr. Nevin Cohen
Support & Funding
Wilfrid Laurier University
The Laurier Centre for Sustainable Food Systems
Balsillie School for International Affairs
Music Credits
Keenan Reimer-Watts
Lee Rosevere
Resources
Moving Beyond Acknowledgments- LSPIRG
Laurier Centre for Sustainable Food Systems
Food: Locally Embedded, Globally Engaged (FLEdGE)
Food Metrics Panel Discussion with Nevin Cohen
CUNY Food Policy Institute Home Page
SNAP Benefits Website
Canada’s Food Policy
References
Cohen, Nevin, et al. “‘B-side’ Food Metrics.” CUNY Urban Food Policy Institute, 2019.
Household food insecurity is a serious public health problem that affects 1 in 8 Canadian households. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://proof.utoronto.ca/
CANADIANS VISITED FOOD BANKS 1.1 MILLION TIMES IN MARCH 2018. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://hungercount.foodbankscanada.ca/overallfindings/
Season 1, Episode 1 - Because Everybody Eats: Exploring Sustainable Food Systems for a Better World
In the very first episode of Handpicked: Stories from the Field, we will introduce you to our podcast and give you a taste of what you can expect from the upcoming season. We sit down with Dr. Alison Blay-Palmer and ask her some tough questions about food systems and the work of the Laurier Centre for Sustainable Food Systems (LCSFS). We explore the concept of “sustainable food systems” in depth so that listeners have the context they need to better understand the work that will be highlighted throughout the Handpicked series. In this episode, we also speak with LCSFS Advisory Board members and students about they how define sustainable food systems and what that means for the research and community engagement work they do. We hope this episode leaves you with a better understanding of the work being done by the LCSFS to make our food system more sustainable and whets your appetite for more stories from the field.
Listen to episode one | Discussion Questions | Glossary
Contributors
Co-Producers & Hosts: Amanda Di Battista & Laine Young
Episode editing & Research: Laine Young
Research Assistant: Jake Bernstein
Voiceovers: Takhmina Shokirova
Guests
Click the links to learn more about their work
Alison Blay-Palmer
Andrea Collins
Patricia Ballamingie
Irena Knezvic
Alex Latta
Theresa Schumilas
Andrew Spring
Kaitlin Kok
Maggie Mills
Carla Johnston
Support & Funding
Wilfrid Laurier University
The Laurier Centre for Sustainable Food Systems
Balsillie School for International Affairs
Music Credits
Resources
Moving Beyond Acknowledgments- LSPIRG
Laurier Centre for Sustainable Food Systems
Food: Locally Embedded, Globally Engaged (FLEdGE)
URBAL
Our Common Future Report
Food & Agriculture Cluster
Milan Urban Food Policy Pact
City Region Food Systems Project
References
Brundtland, G. H., Khalid, M., Agnelli, S., Al-Athel, S., & Chidzero, B. (1987). Our common future. New York. Retrieved from http://netzwerk-n.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/0_Brundtland_Report-1987-Our_Common_Future.pdf
IPCC (2019). Climate change and land: An IPCC Special report on climate change, desertification, land degredation, sustainable land management, food security, and greenhouse gas fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems (Draft). Retrieved from https://www.ipcc.ch/report/srccl/
La Via Campesina & GRAIN (2014). Food sovereignty: 5 steps to cool the planet and feed its people. Retrieved from https://viacampesina.org/en/food-sovereignty-5-steps-to-cool-the-planet-and-feed-its-people/