A Brief Overview → Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HElR_YhwvlA

Nutrition For Malvern → Meet the Team

Summary

The Problem → Food Insecurity

Low-income families in Malvern, Ontario face the immense issue of food insecurity. In the Toronto area, food insecurity affects 1 in 5 households[6]. The community of Malvern, situated in North Scarborough, is the ninth poorest neighbourhood per capita of the 140 neighbourhoods in the Greater Toronto Area[4]. Due to the low-income per capita, lack of community gardens and farmer’s market spaces, and rising cost of groceries, low-income families in Malvern experience inadequate access to food. These families are the key stakeholder in this problem, but grocery stores, food-banks, and the Agincourt Community Services Association (ACSA), which tackles food insecurity in Malvern and surrounding communities, are all impacted by this problem. The issue of food insecurity for low-income families in Malvern must be addressed.

The Solution → Nutrition For Malvern

To address the issue of food insecurity in Malvern, hydroponic-based shipping container vertical farms built by Freight Farms will be incorporated into the community. 50% of the produce will be donated to local food-banks. This will provide free locally-grown produce, which will increase the nutritional value of food consumed by low-income families, satisfying two of the design criteria[18]. The other 50% of the produce grown will be sold to grocery stores and restaurants to cover operational costs, which will allow the project to be economically viable. The solution is environmentally sustainable because the produce is grown locally, eliminating food loss during transportation. The produce will be comprised of leafy greens, which can be consumed in their entirety. The reduction in food waste satisfies the project’s final design criteria [18]. This solution is feasible as the enclosed farms can be directly purchased from a company that has a track-record of successful deployments.

Practical Humility Clause

It is important to acknowledge the limitations of our knowledge and the aspects of the project where we have made assumptions. We assume that we are able to partner with and be supported by the Agincourt Community Services Association (ACSA), a local school, a local food-bank, grocery stores, and restaurants. If we are unable to gain the support of these entities, we may need to alter our solution. We assume that low-income families in Malvern want fresh produce and have the time and knowledge to prepare the provided food. If this is not the case, this solution may not be as effective as we hope. We assume that we will be able to raise enough capital to fund the pilot version of this project. We acknowledge that as the solution is built, we will learn more about the community and problem, and may adjust our solution as necessary.

Detailed Explanation

Background

The community of Malvern, Ontario, with a population of 43,765[4] and located North of the 401 highway in Eastern Scarborough, is deemed one of the thirteen food insecurity priority neighbourhoods in the Toronto area[8]. As of 2016, 12% of families were in bottom for average income. This is roughly 1350 families out of the total 11055 families in Malvern[9]. Due to the high cost of living and low average income, food-insecurity is a big problem among low-income families in Malvern. Currently, food-banks attempt to solve the issue of food insecurity. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, over 3,000 food banks across Canada saw an estimated 50% reduction in food donations[5]. By increasing the amount of fresh produce grown locally, the issue of food insecurity can be mitigated by providing nutritional value that is not seen in existing community resources.

Figure 1: Map of Average income after tax, after shelter cost per capita, 2015, City of Toronto [4]

Design Criteria

Below are three key design criteria that must addressed by the solution.