The Northern Sustainable Food Systems Research group is comprised of researchers, students, and community practitioners who collaborate with partners on community-defined projects that work toward more resilient food systems in the Northwest Territories (NWT). Research relationships have grown over the past 10 years, expanding to multiple partners in diverse regions across the Territory.

As interest in growing food in northern Canada increases, it is important that agricultural practice, policy, and funding upholds Indigenous ways of being on the land. One way of doing this is through agroecology, a traditional knowledge system of growing food that is rooted in Indigenous values systems and ways of life. Agroecology is a favourable model for agriculture in the NWT, one that can support co-created research with local communities to protect local ecosystems while also growing food in ways that build on existing relationships with the land and waters.

Our regional FLOW project aims to build links and facilitate cooperation across partners, funders, and government in the NWT to advance community agroecology within the agri-food system. We envision the NWT will be a Circumpolar leader in sustainable food systems through innovation and policy that prioritizes local food production, fosters reconciliation, and is adaptive to climate change.