This project is comprised of three phases which will be pursued over a three year period, as summarized below. Note that each phase of this project requires the active support and engagement of the regions’ stakeholders. We intend to cultivate effective working partnerships with community, industry, and government representatives (including First Nations Governments) across the region, and consider this critical to achieving project goals and ensuring that the research results are appropriate and useful.
Phase One: Baseline Assessment
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Agri-Food System Objectives and Indicators: Identify appropriate key objectives of a Yukon agri-food system, and their measurement indicators, to inform foundational agri-food system design in Phase Two.
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State of the Current Yukon Agri-Food System: Survey the Yukon’s current agri-food system and its relationship with communities, the environment, and the economy. Identify and evaluate current assets and limitations in production, wild and traditional food provisioning, processing, distribution, consumption, and waste management through environmental, economic, and socio-cultural lenses. This phase of the research will synthesize and incorporate quantitative data gathered through literature reviews, from existing sources, and through field work, as well as qualitative data gathered through community engagement process.
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Innovative Agri-Food System Practices Inventory: Develop inventory and information database of practices, techniques, and infrastructure, for production, wild and traditional food provisioning, processing, distribution, consumption, and waste management adapted to the range of environmental conditions and cultural interests around agri-food systems in the Yukon and that have potential to contribute to a Territorial agri-food system. This inventory will be informed both by local (Yukon) knowledge and by expertise from other Northern regions around the world.
Phase Two: Agri-Food System Design and Evaluation of Potential Impacts and Outcomes
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Information, key outcomes, and community input gathered in Phase One will be used to develop a preliminary Yukon Agri-Food System Design that integrates and enhances Territorial potential for production, provisioning, processing, distribution, consumption, and waste management. This preliminary design will identify appropriate locations, scales, technologies, infrastructures, and methods for each of these agri-food system components.
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The preliminary agri-food system design will be evaluated against desired impacts and outcomes identified in each domain of investigation, and iteratively refined by the research team and community partners until robust.
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Spatial and graphic representations of the designed Food System will be produced to convey attributes and potential outcomes.
Phase Three: Agri-Food System Implementation Plan
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The research team will work with Yukon farmers and food-sector entrepreneurs (suppliers, processors, contractors, etc.), consumers, and community, Government, and First Nations leaders to develop a comprehensive plan to implement the Yukon Agri-Food System Design. Appropriate and practical indices to monitor and evaluate the implementation process will be developed in partnership with communities. This Implementation Plan will include prioritized tools, strategies, and policy recommendations that can realistically be used to incrementally achieve the impacts and outcomes identified in Phases One and Two.