Winnipeg Free Press: Letter to the editor from Dr. Joyce Slater
A letter to the editor from Dr. Joyce Slater in the Winnipeg Free Press (April 25, 2020) highlights the importance of a food systems approach to addressing the challenges brought by COVID-19.
She notes:
…As the epicentre of food, nutrition and agricultural research in the province, the (Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences) is essential for navigating and responding to the food-related crises that continue to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic. Recent weeks have seen unimaginable changes to the way we procure, distribute, access and prepare our food. Along this route are critical questions that must be answered immediately and into the near future, that will inform policies to ensure regional and national food security.
Our researchers are conducting, and have potential to conduct, COVID-19-relevant research in the areas of: food safety (food-related transmission dynamics and evidence-based communication to the public), food security (how vulnerable populations are affected by increased emergency food needs that have skyrocketed with school closures and job losses), agricultural economics (seismic changes in the grocery industry; vulnerabilities in food supply chains), plan and soil science (ensuring Manitoba produces robust crops to support healthy food processing), animal science (healthy livestock and dairy industries) and nutrition (obesity and chronic diseases increase risk of COVID co-morbidities; need for food skills)….
I am doing social community work and always tell people to open the kitchen garden. I think this is a good time to teach our community of kitchen garden and indigenous products than fast food.