Farm To Plate report

The Farm To Plate report, which is the result of months of hard work put in by the McGill Food Systems Project summer research team last summer, is now available for your perusal online. The report analyzes and explains the industrial food supply chain through which the food we consume at McGill travels. This interesting document is the perfect place to start if you’re looking to change – or just find out more about – McGill’s food system.

Fair Trade Goods

Fair trade goods are those which are certified by groups such as TransFair Canada/USA or FLO International. The farms or facilities that these products come from must meet the ethical requirements agreed upon by these organizations. The requirements state that the workers must be safe in their workplace, are given fair working hours, feel as though they are a part of the decision-making done by the company and are paid fairly, which is where the money from the increased cost of fair trade products (compared to non-fair trade) goes. Thus the intentions of fair trade are good, and workers that create fair trade certified products enjoy many benefits, but there are also some problems that arise in the system.

Best Practices for Sustainable Purchasing at McGill

As part of their coursework for “Environmental Management” (GEOG 302), five McGill students (including members of the McGill Food Systems Project) created both a management proposal and case report on the subject of “Best Practices for Sustainable Food Purchasing at McGill”. These documents, available for your perusal below, contain the result of lots of research and offer a potential source of guidance for the university’s food and dining services.

Best Practices for Sustainable Food Purchasing at McGill – Management Proposal
Best Practices for Sustainable Food Purchasing at McGill – Case Analysis

Local Food Days Survey Results

If you’ve been to one of the local food days this year, you may have seen people going around with surveys asking people what they think of the event, or maybe you’ve even taken one of these surveys yourself! Well, here are the results of the first round of those surveys:

Local Food Days Surveys

Geography 302: Environmental Management I Presentation

Here are the slides from the presentation meant to accompany the two documents that have been published on this site, and which can be found here. All this research dealing with McGill’s food purchasing policy was completed by five students of GEOG 302 this semester.