While MAFRA does not physically provide access to local food in Manitoba, it is a vital program that facilitates research to promote alternative food through community supported agriculture (CSA) programs and community food gardening programs. MAFRA works to help ensure that all Manitobans have access to “local, fresh, healthy, culturally appropriate, fairly produced and affordable food” (MAFRA, 2013). MAFRA’s research programs target food justice and food security issues in rural, urban and northern Canada in an effort to improve the wellbeing of the citizens.
MAFRA helps to create sustainable local food systems in Manitoba by funding research and projects based around food justice and food security in Manitoba. This year MAFRA has provided funding to such projects as the urban ‘Here We Grow’ project and the inter-regional project ‘Changing the Normal’. ‘Here We Grow’ is a project that works with the West Broadway Community Association to build skills and grow food in a socially vulnerable area of Winnipeg while also conducting participatory research designed to help better understand the link between people, place, language and culture. ‘Changing the Normal’ is a research endeavour designed to address waste in Manitoba fisheries through a pilot program that redirects wasted fish to food banks in order to provide nutritious local food to those who cannot afford it. To see a full list of the projects MAFRA has funded this year visit www.localandjust.ca.
MAFRA helps to create sustainable local food systems in Manitoba by funding research and projects based around food justice and food security in Manitoba. This year MAFRA has provided funding to such projects as the urban ‘Here We Grow’ project and the inter-regional project ‘Changing the Normal’. ‘Here We Grow’ is a project that works with the West Broadway Community Association to build skills and grow food in a socially vulnerable area of Winnipeg while also conducting participatory research designed to help better understand the link between people, place, language and culture. ‘Changing the Normal’ is a research endeavour designed to address waste in Manitoba fisheries through a pilot program that redirects wasted fish to food banks in order to provide nutritious local food to those who cannot afford it. To see a full list of the projects MAFRA has funded this year visit www.localandjust.ca.