SDG 2: Zero Hunger

End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture.

Through research, community engagement, sustainable food practices, academic programs, global outreach and advocacy, Wilfrid Laurier University demonstrates our commitment to a world where everyone has access to nutritious and sustainable food sources.

Highlights of Progress

The work that Laurier completed in 2023 to advance SDG 2.

Laurier supports Empty Bowls's 25th anniversary, raising funds for The Food Bank of Waterloo Region

Since 1998, Empty Bowls has raised awareness about hunger in Waterloo Region and has provided over 1.4 million meals for people in need. Laurier hosted the 25th annual event, organized by Laurier's Robert Langen Art Gallery and Waterloo Potters’ Workshop, to raise money for The Food Bank of Waterloo Region. For every ticket sold this year, The Food Bank can provide 100 healthy meals for the more than 58,600 individuals in Waterloo Region who depend on food assistance programs.

Campus initiatives support Laurier students experiencing food insecurity

Across Canada, people are feeling the impacts of higher food prices and the rising cost of living. Laurier’s campus communities are no exception. Students who are experiencing food insecurity can access a range of supports and resources, all at little or no cost.

Laurier researchers awarded new federal research funding to study food sustainability

Alison Blay-Palmer, professor of Geography and Environmental Studies and the UNESCO Chair on Food, Biodiversity and Sustainability Studies, was awarded a Partnership Grant of nearly $2.5 million from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Together with 35 partner organizations across four continents, she is leading the FLAGship (Food, Learning and Growing) Partnership to support and inspire resilient regional food systems.

Laurier students, faculty and alumni are making a huge impact in the movement toward universal food security

Rising grocery bills, a lack of affordable housing, crippling debt, geopolitical uncertainty, supply chain issues and general inflation are hindering many Canadians — including some in Waterloo Region — in search of healthy, affordable and sustainable food. At the Lazaridis School of Business and Economics at Laurier, exemplary students and faculty are leveraging their knowledge, academic training, professional networks and fundraising abilities to promote food security in Waterloo, the Laurier student community, remote Northern communities and beyond.

Research Centres

Laurier research centres advancing SDG 2.

The Laurier Centre for Sustainable Food Systems

The Laurier Centre for Sustainable Food Systems (LCSFS) connects researchers and community partners engaged in sustainable food systems change. It creates opportunities for citizens, practitioners, policy-makers, private enterprise and academics to work together to imagine and foster food systems that are fair, healthy, ecologically regenerative, culturally appropriate, prosperous and inclusive. Using food as a lever for positive change, the LCSFS enables meaningful collaboration among people across institutions, sectors and disciplines to support community-driven research, innovative knowledge sharing, and the development of community resources and sustainable food system policy.

Initiatives

Laurier initiatives in 2023 that advanced SDG 2.

Measuring food waste within the university

Laurier is in full compliance with Ontario Regulation 102/94, which mandates measurement of food waste through waste audits and waste reduction work plans for educational institutions. The regulation is part of Ontario’s broader environmental initiatives aimed at reducing waste generation and promoting sustainable waste management practices. Laurier regularly conducts detailed waste audits across its food services, identifying opportunities to minimize waste and divert materials from landfills through composting and other environmentally responsible methods. Laurier's external waste management provider measures organic food waste and reports that measurement monthly to the instution. In 2023, approximately 14mt of organic food waste was produced across our campuses.

The university’s comprehensive waste reduction work plans reflect its commitment to environmental stewardship and sustainability, aligning with both provincial requirements and Laurier’s broader campus sustainability goals as outlined in its Sustainability Action Plan.

Programs to support student and staff food insecurity and hunger

Laurier recognises that students should be able to focus on their studies and having the best student experience without having to worry about food insecurity. The university offers food insecurity and hunger support services, resources and programming to help students and staff thrive, including:

• The Students' Union Food Bank is a year-round service. Laurier community members can request parcels packed with non-perishable food items, accommodating all dietary restrictions. In addition, hygienic and sexual health products can be requested as needed. Students on Laurier's Waterloo campus can also request emergency hot meals during the fall and winter terms.
• The Dean of Students Office offers an emergency food program to students on Laurier’s Brantford campus in the form of gift cards on an as-needed basis.
• Fresh Fruit Fridays is a program run by the Student Wellness Centre in partnership with Food Services. The Laurier community, including staff and stduents, can drop in every Friday between 10 to noon and pick up a free piece of fresh fruit to fuel their mind and body.
• In an effort to combat food insecurity, the Laurier Students' Public Interest Research Group (LSPIRG) and Martin Luther University College (Luther) run a free Weekly Distro program each Thursday at Luther in Waterloo and in the LSPIRG office in Brantford. The program provides fresh and non-perishable food items, as well as other essentials, to any in the Laurier and Lurther community who need them.
• The Brantford Breakfast Bar program runs every Tuesday and Wednesday during the fall term. Students can grab breakfast on their way to class, connect with their peers, or find out more about university services. This program is generously funded by the Student Life Levy and offered in partnership with the Student Wellness Centre and the Dean of Students Office.
• Climate Justice Laurier works with volunteers to grow fresh produce through the Food Justice Garden project. The team grows and harvests fruit, veggies and herbs. This food is donated to the Indigenous Student Centre and offered to any in the community experiencing food insecurity through the Free Weekly Distro program run by Martin Luther University College and LSPIRG.
• The Graduate Students’ Association runs the Mini Market, a pay-what-you-can grocery store that stocks perishable and non-perishable foods, prepared meals, as well as other essentials such as hygiene and household products. Laurier students pay what they can afford based on their budget, ranging from full price to no charge. Staff and faculty pay full price for their items.

Sustainable food choices on campus

To support a healthy lifestyle on campus, Laurier has introduced sustainable practices and standards to ensure students have access to ethically sourced, locally grown and low-impact options at all campus food service locations. Introducing sustainable options into our food system can help reduce waste, produce fewer transportation emissions, support local community groups, and provide fair wages for marginalized farmers. Examples of sustainable food initiatives on campus include:

• Laurier’s Waterloo campus features a 14,000 sq. ft. community garden with allocated plots that can be rented out from May to October each year. For students who do not have regular access to transportation to get to the garden or have limited availability, produce grown at Northdale can be purchased through a community partner, Young City Growers, and their Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) program.
• Woven into the community garden plots at the Northdale Community Garden is an edible forest featuring fruit trees bearing a variety of apples, pears and service berries. These fruit trees help to fertilize the garden soil and help to prevent erosion from wind and rain. The fruit is available for Laurier community.
• Since 2017, Laurier has been a designated Fair Trade Campus, showing our commitment to providing ethically sourced coffee, tea and chocolate in our cafes, catering and dining areas. Fair Trade-certified products signify that the farmers who grow and sell these goods are treated fairly, make a living wage, have support in working with large suppliers and have access to fair trade networks.
• Since 2023, Laurier’s Food Services has been collaborating with Coolfood to provide meals that have a reduced climate impact. Coolfood-certified meals look at the agricultural supply chain and the land used to make the food to determine the carbon footprint of the ingredients. Meals that meet the requirements will be designated with a Coolfood logo.

Healthy and affordable choices available on campus

Laurier offers a range of healthy and affordable food options to all members of our campus community at all food locations. Dedicated chefs and dietitians are available help take the mystery out of healthy eating and are available to accommodate dietary needs in a personalized, sensitive manner.

Laurier has a range of dining options which offer healthy, fresh and nutritious foods and is committed to accommodating allergies or food intolerances (soy, eggs, nuts, dairy, seafood, wheat), vegetarian, vegan, no gluten, halal and prescribed diets. For enhanced convenience, Laurier offers a variety of meal plans available to staff, faculty and students. For those struggling with food insecurity, Laurier offers a number of programs which provide affordable or free food, including: Students' Union Food Bank; Weekly Distro; Food Justice Garden project and the Mini Market.

Supporting farmers and food producers

Laurier is committed to supporting the sustainable production of foods by providing knowledge and skills to farmers and food producers.

Since 2010, Laurier has maintained a unique and productive research partnership with the Government of the Northwest Territories. The partnership, which was expanded and extended to 2030, has brought new research expertise and training opportunities to the Northwest Territories (NWT) and strong community connections and research opportunities to Laurier scholars. The partnership supports a range of issues, including Northern agriculture. The Northern Food Systems Research Group (NFSRG) is composed of researchers, food producers, farmers, students and community practitioners engaged in participatory action research in the NWT. The NFSRG works collaboratively with partners on community-defined and led projects that build more resilient Northern food systems. Projects include:

• Working with Ka'a'gee Tu First Nation, territorial fire managers and local food producers to establish a firebreak farm that supports the community’s food system and adaptation to climate change.
• The establishment of food hubs in NWT communities.
• Working with local food producers and communities in the NWT to envision the future of northern agriculture. Interest in growing food in the North is increasing and it is important to ensure that agricultural practice, policy and funding upholds Indigenous ways of being on the land. In particular, agriculture should centre human-environment relationships, long-term land stewardship over short-term yields, working with the boreal ecosystems and supporting Indigenous sovereignty. One way of doing this is through agroecology, a traditional knowledge system of growing food that is rooted in Indigenous value systems and ways of life.
• Working with Sambaa K'e First Nation to integrate agroecology into their planning for food system resilience through the establishment of community gardens. Community gardens are important sites for agroecological food growing, education, research and engagement.

Additionally, Laurier hosts the UNESCO Chair on Food, Biodiversity and Sustainability Studies, which serves as a platform for change, using food systems as a lens to work toward biodiversity protection, enhanced community resilience in the face of climate change, increased opportunities for marginalized groups, improved food security and enhanced community well-being. The chair's priorities include:

• Just food systems: A just food system centres universal access to healthy, sustainable and culturally appropriate food as a basic human right. Just food systems engage with all actors along the supply chain and prioritize the rights of all people, future generations, non-humans and the environment. The UNESCO Chair on Food, Biodiversity and Sustainability Studies works with researchers and community partners in the Global North and South to examine multi-scale structural solutions to address food system inequity. Through strategic public education and communications, the chair helps bring language around food sovereignty, the right to food and agroecological production methods into everyday discourse.
• Sustainable food getting: Sustainable food getting uses scale-appropriate and place-specific practices to ensure the environmental, social and economic well-being of producers, communities and landscapes without compromising the needs of future generations. It also prioritizes the lived experiences of food producers and looks to traditional and Indigenous knowledge-holders for guidance. Sustainable food getting methods that incorporate the principles of food sovereignty and the right to food create resilience while conserving biodiversity in rural, peri-urban and urban spaces.

Finally, Laurier is home to the Centre for Sustainable Food Systems, which connects researchers and community partners engaged in sustainable food systems change. It creates opportunities for citizens, practitioners, farmers, policy-makers, private enterprise and academics to work together to imagine and foster food systems that are fair, healthy, ecologically regenerative, culturally appropriate, prosperous and inclusive.

Access to university facilities for local farmers and food producers to improve sustainable farming practises

Laurier is committed to advancing sustainable farming practice and supporting local food producers by providing both free and paid access to university facilities, in addition to the countless collaborative opportunities to work with researchers and students.

The Laurier Herbarium is a collection of pressed and dried plant specimens. Each herbarium specimen is accompanied by a label indicating its geographical origin, collection date and the ecology of the plant noted at the collection site. Herbaria provide a record of all the plant species discovered so far in the world, as well as of the particular plants growing in a certain geographical area. Accessing the herbarium can help farmers make informed choices that support crop health, pest management, and environmental sustainability.

Laurier’s Yellowknife research facilities are a vital hub for cold regions research and the university's longstanding partnership with the Government of the Northwest Territories. A year-round physical presence in the territorial capital allows Laurier researchers to meet regularly with partners, including those in Northern Food Systems Research Group, which is composed of researchers, food producers, farmers, students and community practitioners engaged in participatory action research in the NWT.

Laurier's research office in Yellowknife is home to several year-round staff. It provides temporary workspace to support research projects in the North. Laurier’s Enterprise Drive research facility is a comfortable, well-equipped hub for researchers and their partners working in the NWT. In addition to housing, guests can access cold and warm storage for research gear, parking, bicycles, fridge and freezer space for temporary sample storage, and a basic lab workspace. The research facility supports a range of research, including work dedicated to northern agriculture.

Events for local food producers to connect and transfer knowledge

Laurier offers a number of events for local farmers and food producers to exchange knowledge and network.   

In October 2023, the Laurier Centre for Sustainable Food Systems, the Government of Northwest Territories (NWT) and the Territorial Agrifood Association hosted the NWT Sustainable Agriculture Visioning Workshop. Participants represented commercial food production at different scales, community growers and farmers, food educators, non-governmental organizations and advocates, territorial policy officers and the Fort Smith Metis Development Corporation.

The core academic and partner team facilitated discussions about visions for the future of NWT food systems. Sessions included participatory exercises, expert presentations, field excursions and group discussions, as well as shared meals.

Central components of the vision included increasing local production while fostering reconciliation; inspiring and employing future land workers with secure livelihoods; and contributing to regional and national Net Zero targets while building healthy landscapes and protecting against socioecological shocks.

Other examples include:

• Growing a Just Food System: Migrant Labour in Canada
• Territorial Governance for Sustainable Food Systems
• Earth Summit Reflections: Thirty years on, where do we go from here?

Sustainable purchasing

This local sourcing strategy is flexible and responsive to seasonal availability, ensuring that ingredients are fresh and sustainable throughout the year. In addition to supporting local farmers, Laurier’s commitment extends to ethical sourcing practices, including fair trade and animal welfare standards, reinforcing the institution’s dedication to responsible and sustainable food systems. 

Laurier's Policy 4.13 highlights that the university will seek to continuously improve its environmental performance in business operations, including by promoting and integrating sustainable food systems within campus operations by supporting local, organic and healthy options. Through Green Thread, our environmental sustainability platform, Laurier brings innovative and efficient solutions to life and passionately focuses on reducing the environmental impact within food service operations.