Based on Canadian Income Survey (CIS 2021 and 2022), 18.4% of people in the ten Canadian provinces lived in a food-insecure household whereas 33.4% of Indigenous Peoples living in food-insecure households1. A 2018 national survey found that over half of Indigenous households experience food insecurity2,3. Lack of access to healthy, nutritious, and affordable food is one of the main reasons for high diabetes, heart diseases, etc. among First Nations. For example, diabetes has affected 17.2% First Nations individuals living on-reserve, compared to 5% in the general population4. Fresh produce is costly and insufficient in remote communities, especially in the long winter season. Food transportation cost is high and has high carbon footprint. Improving food security by local food production is the potential solution. Controlled environment agriculture (CEA) facilities including greenhouses and indoor vertical farming (IVF) (aka plant factories) will allow local vegetable production. Especially, IVF is independent of ambient weather and may use existing buildings, such as schools, repurpose them into IVF, greatly reduce building cost and operating cost, provide fresh vegetables year-round for local communities.
Our research will focus on energy efficient technologies for repurposing buildings to IVF, plant production in IVF, and environment control for IVF. Renewable energy may be used in IVFs in remote communities.
[1] (https://proof.utoronto.ca/2023/new-data-on-household-food-insecurity-in-2022/ ).
[2] Deaton., B. A. Scholz, B. Lipka. 2019. An empirical assessment of food security on First Nations in Canada. Canadian Agricultural Economics Society 68:5–19
[3] CBC.ca. 2023. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/human-rights-watch-report-climate-food-indigenous-1.5771262
[4] Diabetes Canada. 2023. https://www.diabetes.ca/resources/tools---resources/indigenous-communities-and-diabetes