Goal 2: Zero Hunger
End hunger, achieve food security, improve nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture
Related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
Research
Food Studies Interdisciplinary Research Group
This Calgary Institute for the Humanities working group, formed in 2019, is a first step towards building and consolidating an interdisciplinary group of food scholars at the University of Calgary. This research group inspects current ways of producing, processing, distributing and consuming food, and how they relate to overarching issues such as global economic integration, immigration, language and culture, welfare state transformation, and the environmental crisis or the crisis of care work.
The Simpson Centre
The Simpson Centre, part of UCalgary’s School of Public Policy, is a Canadian agricultural policy research centre focused on socioeconomics, sustainability and outreach. The Simpson Centre is a locus of Canadian research that strengthens and supports the growth and sustainability of agri-food and agri-business — especially in Western Canada.
Teaching, learning and student experience
Edible gardens project boosts access to fresh produce on campus
In collaboration with UCalgary stakeholders from Crowsnest Residence Hall, Campus Architecture, the Office of Sustainability and a Peer Helper Group designing an interactive sustainability map, the Edible Gardens Peer Helper Group raised awareness for the goodness growing around the UCalgary campus. The goal of this project was to boost access to healthy, local produce and lower food insecurity among the campus community.
Calgary Community Fridge addresses critical gap in Calgary’s food-security landscape
Several UCalgary students founded the Calgary Community Fridge to offer fast and easy access to food for those in need. The fridge is located outdoors and available 24/7, with no questions asked. Food and personal hygiene item donations are welcomed to help foster community involvement in the program.
Campus Food Bank
Administered through Students’ Union (SU) Volunteer Services, the SU Campus Food Bank provides a seven-day emergency food relief service to the campus community. This relief is provided through nutritionally sound hampers that follow Canada's Food Guide, along with information regarding resources available on and off campus.
Campus and community impact
Local
The Sustainable Food Systems One Health event highlighted how human health, the well-being of animals and planetary health must not be viewed in isolation. Participants learned about needs and opportunities for change, how a rethink of our current agri-food systems can support the necessary ecological and social transformation, and how the City of Calgary is working to improve food-system resilience.
National
The Kluane Lake Research Station (KLRS), located at UCalgary’s Arctic Institute of North America (AINA) in the Yukon, is Western Canada’s first off-grid hydroponic food-production facility. Powered by solar power and adapted to cold-weather subarctic temperatures, the KLRS strives to address food insecurity in Canada’s North by providing Yukon communities year-round access to various freshly grown produce.
National
A gift from the Canadian Cattlemen’s Foundation has opened doors to a national youth program at UCalgary’s W.A. Ranches. This new program aims to attract both urban and rural youth and raise awareness of the requirements of sustainably growing and raising food.