Dollars & Sense: Digging into Local Food Opportunities – Webinar, April 27th
Posted: March 27, 2015
Categories: Events / GoodFoodBites / News from Sustain Ontario / Webinars
Published in January 2015, Dollars & Sense: Opportunities to Strengthen Southern Ontario’s Food System encompasses the first research of its kind in Canada on the economic and environmental impacts of food production in southern Ontario, where roughly 98 percent of the province’s food is produced. This keystone report, produced by the J.W. McConnell Family Foundation, the Metcalf Foundation, and the Friends of the Greenbelt Foundation, looks at a number of scenarios to study the potential impacts of shifts in food consumption and production.
Join two of the report’s authors, Dr. Rod McRae and Dr. Atif Kubursi, and moderator Beth Hunter, Program Director with the McConnell Foundation, for a special 90-minute webinar on April 27th to discuss their findings and understand the research process behind Dollars & Sense and its extensive background reports. This webinar will be of particular interest to policy makers, community leaders, funders, academics, and others who want to learn more about this new resource and how it can inform government policy discussions. This conversation is an opportunity to deepen understanding of the findings, discuss policy options and implications of the research in other regions.
Dollars & Sense: Digging into Local Food Opportunities
When: Monday, April 27, 2015 at 1:00pm-2:30pm EDT
Where: Online!
Cost: Free! Space is limited, pre-registration is required.
Go to the registration page.
Speaker Bios
Atif A. Kubursi is professor emeritus of Economics at McMaster University. Dr. Kubursi has also taught economics at Purdue University in Indiana, USA, was a senior visiting scholar at Cambridge, and lectured and consulted at Harvard. In 1982, he joined the United Nations Industrial Organization as Senior Development Officer, working as a team leader of missions to Indonesia, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Sudan, and Egypt. In 2006-2008, he served as the Acting Deputy and then Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia. He is the author of 12 books and over 300 articles and reports. In 1972, Dr. Kubursi formed Econometric Research Limited and has since served as its president. The firm specializes in impact analysis, tourism and economic development and designs computer based models for national, provincial and regional economies. He holds a PhD in Economics from Purdue University.
Rod MacRae is associate professor in the Faculty of Environmental Studies at York University in Toronto and one of Canada’s foremost food policy thinkers. His teaching and research focuses on programmes and policies to support the transition to health-promoting and sustainable food and agriculture systems. Prior to joining York University, he worked as a food policy analyst and consultant to all levels of government and numerous Canadian NGOs. He was the first Co-ordinator of the Toronto Food Policy Council and holds a PhD from McGill University.
Beth Hunter is Program Director at the J.W. McConnell Family Foundation where she has worked since 2010 leads the Sustainable Food Systems initiative. She is a co-founder of Equiterre, one of Canada’s leading environmental organizations, where she acted as director and sustainable agriculture program coordinator. Her MSc in Rural Economics at Université Laval focused on food security and dietary diversity in Lebanon, where she lived for five years. Previous to working at the McConnell Foundation, Beth led Greenpeace Canada’s Oceans campaign, working with major Canadian supermarkets to develop sustainable seafood policies and practices. She has authored numerous articles, reports and guides, including feature articles in Beirut’s The Daily Star; Out of Stock: Supermarkets and the Future of Seafood; and Hungry for Justice: A Montreal Guide to Socially Responsible Food Choices. She lives in Montreal with her partner and two kids.
Download Dollars & Sense as well as background research from the Friends of the Greenbelt Foundation website: Dollars & Sense: Opportunities to Strengthen Southern Ontario’s Food System.
Read Sustain Ontario’s summary: The Dollars and Sense of a Healthy, Ecological, Equitable and Financially Viable Food System.
This event is free for all to attend thanks to the generous sponsorship of the Metcalf Foundation, the Friends of the Greenbelt Foundation, and the J.W. McConnell Family Foundation.
