The State of Food Security in 2022 and Levers for Change

Key Themes from 2022

2022 was a challenging year for food security in Newfoundland and Labrador. It was also a year when a lot of new data helped us better understand our food system. Some key themes:

  • A cost-of-living crisis: access to food got a lot harder in 2022. Inflation overall hit almost 7% and food prices increased even more, hitting over 10% across the board and even higher on some key products. Many, many households either entered food insecurity or saw it worsen. This includes higher-income households that might not have experienced food insecurity in the past. It also includes households who use social supports, which did not increase enough to compensate for rising costs. Food charities saw huge increases in demand, just as their own resources were stretched by increasing prices.  Food producers saw their input and logistics costs shoot up, challenging their sustainability as well. 

  • Transformative change promised in the province: Newfoundland and Labrador emerged from 2022 as the province with perhaps the greatest potential for food systems transformation at the policy level. 

    • The Health Accord delivered recommendations that, if fully implemented, would transform food access — in particular through the implementation of a guaranteed basic income

    • A long-promised All-Party Committee on Basic Income was convened to give this concept more thorough and official consideration

    • Consultations were held to develop a new Social and Economic Well-Being Plan, with food security identified as one of the six core components of well-being 

    • A year-long convening process, Rethinking Food Charity, brought together food charity organizations and people experiencing food insecurity to identify a path forward for this sector and the issues it is trying to address

  • Positive shifts nationally: 2022 saw a number of Federal Government initiatives roll out or get moving that will impact the shape of our food systems. They include:

    • A National School Food Policy: Canada is the only wealthy country without a national school food program. Consultations began this year on a national policy that could change that.

    • The Canada Disability Benefit: Bill C-22, now working its way through the House of Commons, will create a national disability benefit that should have significant impacts on food security for folks with disabilities

    • On the food production side, consultations were in progress to develop the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership - Next Agricultural Policy Framework, and the Canadian Food Policy Advisory Council continued to meet. 

  • Updated data: In 2022, we got a much clearer picture of what our food system looks like locally.

    • There was an update to the NL Nutritious Food Basket with 2021 price data, and 2022 data is coming soon. This is a measure that lets us understand what it would cost locally for a household to access a standardized basket of nutritious foods. The 2021 cost was an average of $282/week.

    • We also got an update of PROOF’s definitive “Food Insecurity in Canada” report, with 2021 data. As of 2021, 17.9% of households in Newfoundland and Labrador experienced some degree of food insecurity, amounting to 90,000 people.

    • We got a better understanding of farming across Canada (including in N.L.) with the release of 2021 Census of Agriculture data.

Levers for Change in 2023

There are many challenges in Newfoundland and Labrador’s food system but this is also a time of unprecedented opportunity for real change. Here’s what we see driving change in 2023:

  • Food and health: The conversation about how food intersects with health has become much more nuanced. We’re not just talking about “healthy food” anymore, but about how food and food access fits into the landscape of social factors determining our overall health. The Health Accord’s implementation is creating an opportunity for some big shifts in 2023.

  • National initiatives: In 2023 we expect to see a national school food policy emerge (hopefully, alongside investments in implementation). We also hope to see the Canada Disability Benefit implemented and further work from the Canadian Food Policy Advisory Council.

  • Poverty reduction: Food insecurity is overwhelmingly an issue of poverty and poverty is a pressing issue for policy. There will be many opportunities for systemic change in 2023 between the completion of the Social and Economic Well-Being Plan, a review of the Income Support program, the work of the All-Party Committee on Basic Income, and preparations for the next scheduled review of the province’s minimum wage. 

  • Municipal action: In St. John’s, there is now both a St. John’s Food Action Plan and a Healthy City Strategy. These documents underpin an increased focus on food systems as a key action area within the province’s largest city. Outside of St. John’s, municipalities are increasingly engaged in food systems work as project proponents and as policymakers.

  • Social innovation: There is an increasingly strong network of support for social innovation and social enterprise in Newfoundland and Labrador. Alongside this network is an emerging clarity on where social innovation and social enterprise initiatives could help fill important gaps in our food system. 

  • Indigenous leadership: Indigenous communities in this province have seen a great deal of damage done to their food systems by colonialism and climate change. Indigenous organizations and governments are already leaders in food systems work and we expect this to continue to grow in 2023.

  • Climate crisis: The climate crisis has already had a massive impact on food systems in the province, particularly in Labrador, and on the global food system that supplies much of what we eat in this province. The urgency for action is growing with every climate disaster and supply chain disruption.

  • Grassroots groundswell: There is so much happening in our food scene in N.L. More and more people are taking action on food with so many different approaches. Food First NL, as always, has a role to play in supporting and highlighting all that exciting work. We can also harness this public imagination and energy to drive systems change. 

  • Cost-of-living crisis: Many of the most promising interventions and transformations that we see moving forward in 2023 are going to make an impact in future years. That means that in the short term, the dominant factor in food security will continue to be the astronomical price increases that are pushing many households into food insecurity. Without more rapid responses, this will be a crisis that continues and that creates impacts that will be felt for many years to come.