Northern communities in Manitoba contend with health issues related to the difficulty of accessing health food. (Shutterstock)
Indoor farming helps community members bring healthy food to northern Manitoba
As written in The Conversation by , Instructor, Agrology and
Healthy food is hard to come by in northern Manitoba. Food shipped from the south is prohibitively expensive and is often stale, and the climate and soil in the region don’t support much traditional outdoor farming.
This issue disproportionately impacts northern Indigenous communities, many of which have moved away from traditional food practices, creating a supply problem with far-reaching health consequences.
The 10-year First Nations Food, Nutrition and Environment Study, funded by Health Canada and published in 2018, found that one in four First Nations people in Manitoba is affected by diabetes. Those living in Manitoba’s vast but sparsely populated portion of the Boreal Shield Ecozone experience poorer health outcomes compared to their southern neighbours.
Research at the University of Manitoba is partially supported by funding from the Government of Canada Research Support Fund.