Solving problems early
“The goal of the network is to land us all on ‘Common Ground’, which is the name of the network,” she says. “We need to look at what the challenges are of moving towards net zero in food systems. What problems arise when you introduce new policies. The idea is to get researchers and people in the sector into conversations early, so that we’re identifying gaps and tensions, and working to resolve them through policy with end users in mind.”
She says the researchers linked by Common Ground Canada Network will collaborate to share knowledge and work with people in the industry and community food organizations. The ambition is to assess systemic issues that could ultimately become impediments to Canada’s net-zero ambitions.
“Often the social sciences are brought in at the end once the technical solution to a problem is defined but there is hesitancy in the public to adopt it. Then we’re called on to try and figure out what’s wrong with people rather than the policy,” says Dr. Foster. “But it really needs to start earlier than that. There has to be interdisciplinary research that has social scientists and humanities scholars in there from the get-go to help frame the questions and the approach.A different kind of ecosystem
The Common Ground Canada Network will be based at Dalhousie and currently includes 28 partner organizations across the country, with plans to grow that number. Including academic institutions, research teams, centres and institutes, civil society organizations, and other community partners, the network’s members have deep experience working with people in the agricultural sector. Dr. Foster says their embedded expertise has earned them relationships of mutual trust, reciprocity, and respect.
The agriculture and agri-food sectors comprise a complex ecosystem that employs one in nine Canadians, from farmers and fishers to manufacturers and supply chain actors. Dr. Foster says the parts make up a complicated system of interdependent relationships that require a social-science perspective to fully map and digest them.
She references Dalhousie researcher Dr. Phoebe Stephens who tracked venture capital investment in Canadian agriculture and discovered that more funding went to innovations in food retail than technologies with the potential to lower carbon emissions. Among many other areas, network researchers are studying barriers for people to enter or remain in the agricultural sector and how ‘fake meat’ could gain market acceptance to provide a viable alternative to more carbon-intensive products.
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