Guelph students named Innovators of the Year for idea that tackles food insecurity
November 3, 2016
GUELPH, Ontario – Students from two Upper Grand District School Board secondary schools have been named “Innovators of the Year” for an idea that addresses food insecurity in Canada.
Akash, a grade 11 student in Guelph CVI’s International Baccalaureate program, and Yili, a grade 12 student at Centennial CVI, were members of the winning team at the SHAD – John Dobson Entrepreneurship Cup this fall.
The team of Akash and Yili, along with 32 other high school students from across the country, formed at SHAD Queen’s this summer. Queen’s University was one of 12 host university campuses for SHAD, a month-long STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) based enrichment program.
This year, teams from across the country were tasked with coming up with innovative ideas to tackle food insecurity.
“With Canada on the cusp of the 150th anniversary of Confederation, the theme of food security is a serious concern. In 1867, almost every Canadian grew their own food; currently that number is three per cent and that has brought with it some real challenges,” said Tim Jackson, President and CEO of SHAD.
Akash and Yili’s team created Farms2Forks, an online platform that connects small scale farmers and processors to households. The idea is that families would go to the website and order their groceries. Food would be delivered right to their door, and farmers have their customer based increased. Families that are deemed food insecure would receive a 30 per cent discount on each order.
The idea also included establishing the Farms2Forks Foundation, a registered charity that could issue tax receipts for money that goes into directly subsidizing the food discounts.
“Farms2Forks helps build local economy by empowering farmers and processors and increases agricultural infrastructure. Through the use of Farms2Forks, consumers get easy access to quality food at prices they can afford,” said Akash, the team’s leader.
Akash said that before SHAD the group didn’t realized that food insecurity was such a large problem in Canada.
“Food insecurity in Canada never really struck me as a major issue. I always thought food was never a concern in Canada. I knew we had a lot of farmland and an abundance of natural resources. At SHAD, when I learnt about the problem of food insecurity, I was shocked that this was an issue in such a developed country. I also learnt that food insecurity is not just about having something on the dinner table, but it is also about the availability of food and the nutritional aspect,” he said.
The SHAD – John Dobson Entrepreneurship Cup awards were presented last month at a ceremony in Toronto.
Congratulations to the entire Farms2Forks team! You can read more about their project on the SHAD website.
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For more information:
Heather Loney, Communications and Community Engagement Officer
Upper Grand District School Board
519-822-4420 ext.725
[email protected]
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