The Gateway Centre of Excellence in Rural Health is asking Huron County residents to help them understand the Huron County local food landscape.
Gateway Research Assistant Sage Milne says part of their Great Local Food project involves a survey that they're asking Huron County residents to fill out to help them get a clearer picture of the food landscape.
“Understanding where they're accessing food, so are they getting it at the farmers market, are they going to their local grocery store or butcher shop and purchasing local food. And we're also trying to understand if there's any barriers that exist to accessing local food in the area," Milne said.
Milne says the research they've seen suggests that there is a massive amount of food loss and waste. She explains loss is when it happens in the supply chain and waste is when it happens on the consumer end, and she says there is a significant amount of food that is disposed of and never reaches the consumer.
Additionally, Milne adds that they're still in the process of going through the research for their final report and they're still asking people to fill out the survey to help them. She adds Huron County has a great diversity of people and communities that might access food in different ways. Some people have transportation and some don't, so they access food in different ways, and one of their goals is to increase accessibility.
“We do understand that there is a strong relationship between access to healthy, affordable food and good health and between a strong local economy and good health. So that connection does interplay with what deliverables we're trying to get from the project," Milne added.
Milne says when the project is finished they'll be putting together information packages for consumers, as well as passing the results along to the producers that were involved in the project and third party organizations like the Huron County Food Distribution Network and farmers markets.
More information about the program and the survey can be found on the Gateway Centre of Excellence in Rural Health web site.
