“The release of these videos could not be timelier,” said Rob Moquin, executive director of Food Matters Manitoba in a news release.

“Even before the current COVID-19 crisis, food insecurity among Manitoba’s families was on the rise,” he added. “Poverty and precarious employment have always been among the root causes of food insecurity.”

Food Matters Manitoba premiered the series via video conference on April 21 to an audience of students, academics, food advocates and reporters.

Each short video features a diverse group speaking first about their own experiences with hunger, then causes of food insecurity, and finally solutions.

“I was 16 and living on my own when I first experienced food insecurity,” says one participant, who goes on to say a disability has costed them their job, and they live on income assistance.

The money, and therefore the food typically wouldn’t last the month, leading them to resort to “just not eating so I could make that food stretch.”

Three immigrant participants talk about not being able to find the food they liked and knew how to cook, and being unfamiliar with shopping customs.

The daughter of an immigrant family said they received food hampers, but “half of it (her parents) wouldn’t know how to prepare or eat.”

Over 14 per cent of Manitobans are food insecure, says Food Matters Manitoba. About four per cent, or over 42,000 people are severely food insecure, meaning they are drastically reducing how much they eat, and often choosing between things like paying rent and buying groceries.

About two-thirds of food-insecure Manitobans are working for a living, says one of the videos.

Access to well-stocked grocery stores is another issue. According to the videos, this affects both urban and rural people. If the grocery store is far away, and paying for groceries is already an issue, transportation may be impossible.

The third video calls for people who have enough to eat to consider ways to help others — such as helping local food banks, and working to reduce stigma around food insecurity.

One video participant works with a community garden set up for immigrant families. He says the garden saves each family over $100 per month. Three hundred families participate in the project.

Food Matters Manitoba also calls for all levels of government to work together to ensure communities have the resources they need to feed everyone.

The videos are available on Food Matters Manitoba.

The post Video series busts hunger myths appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

“Isn’t the real question not ‘What’s going to change?’ but rather ‘What should change?’”

The topic at hand had been how our publications group will cover the myriad of fast-changing issues that the agriculture sector suddenly faces.

And by refocusing the question just a little more tightly, a colleague provided us all with a valuable new lens to view our current situation.

As Ottawa correspondent D.C. Fraser observes in his most recent column one issue that’s sharply come into focus is temporary farm workers.

Suddenly agriculture businesses find themselves in an unenviable position of justifying bringing in workers while a couple million Canadians find themselves suddenly out of work, he writes. He adds that even though employers have been assured they can bring workers in, they’re finding other roadblocks.

Those include an inability to get paperwork processed as non-essential services are shut down and flights are hard to find.

After the smoke clears, it’s worth asking if there’s a better solution to this problem. It could be getting more Canadians interested, although there are certainly issues around that notion. Or it could be lobbying government for multi-year approvals for trusted workers that return season after season.

Another obvious question this raises is the country’s reliance on offshore sources for critical products necessary for the country’s well-being.

The headline grabbers have, of course, been medical equipment such as ventilators and medical face masks.

An order by U.S. President Donald Trump restricting manufacturer 3M from shipping N95 face masks out of that country drew the ire of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau late last week. The U.K. newspaper The Guardian recently reported the U.S. is “hijacking” shipments of bought-and-paid-for medical supplies by outbidding other nations on airport runways in China.

Domestic manufacturers are springing into action and repurposing car part manufacturing plants to make ventilators and in Winnipeg winter wear manufacturer Canada Goose is set to crank out scrubs and patient gowns.

For agriculture, as reporter Alexis Stockford writes there are concerns over whether enough fertilizer will be available to put the crop in this spring.

Clearly Canada can’t be self-sufficient in all things. But when it comes to having enough fertilizer for the nation’s fields, it’s going to be worth discussing whether this is something we should collectively pay more attention to as a nation.

Other things up for discussion in a broader societal context: our debt culture, the precarious economic position of far too many families, and the list goes on.

But for the agriculture and food sector, one issue looms above all, especially in the minds of consumers — whether or not we should suddenly be concerned about our food security.

The answer is, simultaneously, a resounding yes and no.

Yes, because food security is a critical issue for any country. As more than one person has observed over the years, no country is more than a few meals away from a revolution.

No, for reasons that are obvious to anyone familiar with the enormous productive potential of Canadian agriculture, combined with our relatively scant population.

Canada remains one of the crucial breadbaskets of the world, and it’s extremely unlikely that anyone here will know hunger because food is scarce.

What the current crisis has revealed, however, is the tenuous nature of our complex food system with its long and complex “just-in-time” supply chains.

These arose for reasons that made perfect sense at the time. Warehouses are expensive to build, staff and maintain. Better to invest in a robust logistics system that could manage inventory to arrive as customer demand arose, and have those warehouses rolling down the highway on wheels.

When those wheels stop, or are slowed, or when demand suddenly spikes, as we’ve seen recently, the flaws in that system are revealed.

Suddenly, when rice and flour run out on the store shelves, customers discover that most modern stores don’t have the mythical “in the back” crammed full with shelves of supplies. They’ve got a loading dock, a break room and staff washrooms.

Whether there’s going to be an appetite to discuss this system in depth later isn’t clear. It may return to business as usual. Or some consumers may feel it’s insecure and needs reform.

But as we weather this coronavirus crisis, we should all be thinking about what should change and what we’re going to do as individuals to make it happen.

The post Editor’s Take: Winds of change appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

Ibbitson explained his take on the world’s population at the 37th annual Keystone Agricultural Producers (KAP) general meeting in Winnipeg on Feb. 5.

As the author of Empty Planet, which explores population growth, Ibbitson believes the world’s population has been on pace for some time to top out at nine billion by mid-century. Then by 2100 it’s to decline back to about 7.5 billion, roughly where it is today.

All this, he said, would be detrimental to farming, as producers around the world could be growing more food than what the global population could consume.

On top of that, a growing number of countries would be contending with declining populations, creating an older populace, and with steadily fewer people in a country’s tax base.

“This will be unique. This will be a case where we deliberately through our own free will chose to decline our population,” he said, citing a growing number of demographers who have questioned the UN Population Division’s forecast.

“This decline will be permanent. It will never change, because for the very simple reason there will be fewer babies born than the year before,” he continued.

Ibbitson listed several countries from the developed and developing world that are below the 2.1 per cent replacement fertility rate required for a country to maintain its population, including Canada at 1.5. A few of the others were Germany at 1.5 per cent, China 1.6, the United States 1.7, Brazil 1.8 and South Korea at less than 1.0. He noted India is officially at 2.3 per cent, but population experts believe the country’s actual rate to be at 2.1.

While developed countries such as the U.S. took 100 to 150 years to slip to these low birth levels, numerous countries in the developing world have fallen to or below 2.1 within a generation.

Ibbitson said urbanization is the root cause of this global population phenomenon, with more than 55 per cent of the world’s people now living in urban centres. There are four aspects he listed to this:

• In economic terms children are no longer assets, but liabilities;
• Women are more educated;
• Traditional religions are weakening;
• As is the family clan.

Combined, these have led couples to have fewer children and do so later in life.

The key is to continue levels of immigration numbers or to increase them, Ibbitson said, pointing to Canada’s growing population is thanks to immigration.

As of October 2019, Canada’s population was almost 37.8 million, increasing by 0.6 per cent annually, according to Statistics Canada. Ibbitson predicted the country’s population could exceed 50 million by 2050 should immigration equal at least one per cent of the population.

However, he stressed Canada must avoid the xenophobic reactions the U.S. and several European countries are currently experiencing towards immigration.

“We have to show immigration works inside your community, on your street, in your school and in your workplace. How you personally profit by having high levels of immigration,” he explained.

Ibbitson pointed to Hungary as one example of where “nativist attitudes” have led to zero or near-zero immigration, which has fuelled a population decline. Government policies to essentially bribe women to have babies have failed and the rate of depopulation in Hungary has picked up speed.

For Canada he suggested temporary foreign workers, such as those working on farms, should be permitted to obtain permanent resident status in much the same way foreign students are allowed.

The post Global population to decline after peaking by 2050 appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

“It’s all nonsense,” Darrell Bricker told the farmers attending CropConnect 2020 in Winnipeg.

The CEO of IPSOS public affairs has written two books spelling out why his analysis of current world demographics and cultural shifts tells a different story than the common narrative that production must increase 70 per cent to feed nine billion people by 2050 and that population will continue to grow to 11 billion or more.

His analysis is that world population growth will peak at around eight billion by the middle of this century and then start to decline before settling at about the levels it is today of around 7.6 billion. What’s more, agriculture as it exists today is more than capable of feeding them.

Bricker points to declining birth rates as the key variable in global population trends. Women are marrying later, if they are marrying at all, and they are having fewer children.

Globally, the average birth rate per family was 5.2 kids in the 1960s. Today it has dropped to 2.4 and that will decline to 2.2 in 2050, he says. The rates in many industrialized nations are now below the population replacement rate.

Urbanization is one of the biggest factors causing birth rates to decline in the world’s most populous countries. Two things happen when farmers move to the city: they go from being food producers to consumers, and children go from being a free source of labour to becoming an expense.

Even in less developed economies the pace of urbanization is escalating, often beyond the capacity of governments’ ability to accommodate with infrastructure and economic development.

In the 1960s, 34 per cent of the world’s people lived in cities. Today more than half are city slickers and by 2050, that will rise to more than two-thirds.

That’s still a lot of people to feed and Bricker is on side with the other piece to the ‘growing demand for food’ equation — the fact that the middle class is growing in developing economies and its dietary demands are changing.

Bricker said one changing demographic isn’t getting enough attention from the pundits. Mull this one over. “2011 was the first year Japan sold more adult diapers than it sold kids’ diapers.”

Only in Japan, you say? The fastest-growing demographic in Canada is 85 years or older, Bricker says. Couple that with the fact that women live longer than men, and are more apt to live alone in their later years, and the dynamics of the Canadian food market are changing dramatically.

They are the ones with disposable income and their consumption preferences are very different than current patterns.

While much of the marketing attention is being focused on millennials, Bricker said they aren’t as influential on consumption trends as some would have us believe.

For one thing, they aren’t affluent. Because their parents’ generation is living and working longer, the millennials are possibly the “most frustrated generation in history,” he said.

They’ve incurred high debt loads getting an education, they can’t find jobs because people are retiring later and there is a shortage of affordable houses to purchase because more people are aging in place. Fifty per cent of the adults ages 18 to 35 in the Greater Toronto Area still live with their parents.

What does all this mean for farmers?

For the thousand or so farmers attending CropConnect 2020 maybe not much. Prairie farmers are more attached to global consumption trends than Canadian ones. Although the trends cited by Bricker are indeed global in nature, they are less pronounced in developing economies. The growth of the middle class is by far the biggest dynamic that will shape the volume and types of food those markets demand.

So far, one of their first choices has been to include more meat protein in their diets. Older consumers tend to favour more traditional eating patterns including meat. However, Bricker says plant-based protein is here to stay; it’s not a passing fad.

As well, growing multiculturalism will change the market dynamics in ways farmers can only begin to imagine. Current immigration rates are growing Canada’s population by one per cent per year.

The suggestion that farmers don’t need to pull out all stops to feed the world may seem heretical to those immersed in a production culture that spans generations.

Trends and predictions are all based on what we know today. There is no way to fully calculate the impact of the unknown dynamics — except to say they will have an impact.

However, his research suggests there is room for a rethink of some common assumptions driving management and business decisions.

The post Editorial: Feeding a hungry world? Yes, but… appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

In fact, it could be decades away, with widespread gender discrimination persisting that also poses obstacles to their ability to help feed the world, respondents told the Global Women in Agriculture, study, done over five continents and released by Corteva Agriscience, agricultural division of DowDuPont.

The study, commissioned across 17 countries in both the developed and developing world, asked 4,157 women to identify the barriers to their full and successful participation in agriculture.

Why it matters: Women’s full participation in agriculture will provide leadership and diverse perspectives the industry needs for its profitability and competitiveness.

Responses came from both those whose farms ranged from small subsistence operations to those with 300 employees or more, and those surveyed included farm owners and managers, employees and workers.

“We conducted this study to further understand the current status of women farmers around the world, from the largest farms in the most advanced economies to the smallest subsistence farms in the developing world, and to create a baseline from which we can measure progress going forward,” said Krysta Harden, vice-president external affairs and chief sustainability officer of Corteva Agriscience when the study was released in the fall.

How women describe their financial circumstances varied on where they were in the world, but together they tell a consistent story: earning a livelihood from farming is a struggle.

A large percentage of participants — 38 per cent — said their income from farming is insufficient to meet their family’s needs.

In Nigeria and Kenya 42 per cent of the women surveyed said so. So did 37 per cent of American women and 24 per cent of Canadian women.

The study did not attempt to determine poverty levels of respondents, nor address whether the women were able to fill the income gap by other means, but ‘financial stability’ was listed second only to ‘my family’ when women were asked to list their concerns.

The three key barriers identified were earning less than their male counterparts (37 per cent), and nearly as many (36 per cent) saying they had less access to financing than men.

And while regionally, Latin American, Asian and European women were most likely to report the third barrier, gender discrimination, 61 per cent of Canadian women agreed with the statement that “gender discrimination is an issue in the agriculture industry.”

It is defined as the belief that one gender is treated less well than the other, and reflected in different payment for the same good or services, different career or job opportunities, and different financial opportunities.

Most surveyed throughout the world also said it will take at least a decade, or more to eradicate gender discrimination.

The survey identified five key actions toward reaching that goal, including better access to training in agricultural technology and land management, improved access to higher (academic) education, protection and support for women experiencing gender discrimination, plus interventions that improve women’s work and life balance, and raise awareness of successful women in agriculture.

Iris Meck, president of Calgary-based Iris Meck Communications, host of the Advancing Women conferences, says she sees progress being made in Canada even if the gender gap has not closed. Women are much better recognized now for the contributions they make in agriculture, as evident in many more news articles about women in the business, and more advertising directed at the industry depicting women, she said.

“I think we’ve made great strides in the agricultural sector to profile more women and get women involved,” she said. “In Canada there has been movement of the needle. But perhaps the needle just hasn’t moved far enough to close that gap.”

In the future, women will need to be prepared to seize opportunities and recognize their own capabilities and potential, she said.

“I think far too often women underestimate what their capabilities are.”

Research shows Canadian women do remain under-represented in key roles in the industry. According to the Supporting the Advancement of Women in Agriculture (SAWA) survey of 2015, just 25 per cent of all agricultural managers were female and only 12 per cent of national and provincial association chairs and presidents were.

That survey also cited lack of access to training, and being denied opportunities, as well as “double standards,” lack of mentoring and lack of confidence as issues for women.

The post Women in agriculture say barriers to equality persist appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

Myrna Ronald is one of numerous volunteers raising money to help Beacon of Hope. She has accompanied her husband (an Infectious Disease physician) to Africa over the past 30 years getting to know the people who have been directly affected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic. At a Manitoba Farm Women’s Conference in Brandon, Ronald had a display of clothing, bags, purses, and kitchen linens for sale, made by the women affected by AIDS.

“When in Africa I have taken orphans by bus to their doctors’ appointments, counselled teens about re-entering school, helped women to better their tailoring skills, learned how to build schools and made sure money allocated appropriately goes to designated projects. We leave this month for four weeks in Africa,” said Ronald.

Jane Wathome, the director of BOH, saw many women at work, church and in her neighbourhood caught in a cycle of extreme poverty, the sex trade and HIV/AIDS. She decided to pursue further training in counselling and theology in order to help. During her studies she partnered with MAP International, an organization that helps people living in poverty, and was introduced to a slum in Ongata Rongai.

Wathome and a group of friends arrived in the area in September 2001 where they met women living there who had taken initiative to deal with HIV/AIDS that was afflicting their families, and the creation of Beacon of Hope resulted from this in May 2002.

The mission of BOH is to bring hope to women living with and affected by HIV/AIDS by empowering needs. Ongata Rongai has a population of 147,000, and to date BOH has helped over 7,000 women through training in income-generating programs, to be independent and have resources for their children to be fed and schooled. The vision of the women of Ongata Rongai is to grow to become a training centre for Nairobi, Kenya and other African countries.

Ronald said, “Our group in Winnipeg does two things to raise funds for BOH. Every October we have a fundraising event. This has been an African dinner or dessert and coffee evening with African drumming and stories. This year we finished paying for a birthing centre so women can have safe, clean deliveries. We also set up the African market several times during the year where we can sell the beautiful items, with all funds raised going back to the women of BOH.”

To learn more about this project on the Focus Africa Facebook page.

The post Focus Africa — helping women in need appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

The report also identified the need for a trained “go to” person who would have the knowledge and information required to provide some direction and consultation on sexual assault cases as required. “When we realized that relatively little had been done since this survey was conducted to fill this massive gap in our community, we knew we needed to take action,” said executive director, Brandy Robertson, “and we knew that offering services to victims of sexual assault made sense alongside the domestic violence support services we already offer.”

This need became increasingly obvious in spring 2016 when the handling of sexual assaults on Brandon University’s campus came under fire and again in fall 2016 when a string of downtown sexual assaults rocked the city. In November 2016, the federal government’s Department of Justice put a call out for funding proposals entitled “Measures to Enhance Criminal Justice System Responses to Adult Sexual Assault in Canada.” Applicants could apply for single- or multi-year funding to address the unique challenges faced by adult victims and survivors of sexual assault.

“It was a lengthy and in-depth application process,” said Robertson, “but we were already seeing an influx of women coming to the centre requesting this kind of assistance so there really wasn’t a question as to whether or not we would apply.” TWRC received approval for its project “Adult Sexual Assault Victim Counselling and Advocacy in Brandon and Area” in January of 2017. TWRC will be the only agency outside of Winnipeg with counsellors and advocates specifically trained in trauma-informed, survivor-centred sexual assault support offering services to the public.

The Women’s Resource Centre is open from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday to Wednesday, closed Thursdays, and open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday, or call 204-726-8632 or email advocate@thewomenscentrebrandon.com. Immediate sexual assault crisis support can be reached at 1-888-292-7565. Immediate domestic violence crisis support can be reached at 1-877-977-0007.

The post Centre offers counselling and services for sexual assault victims appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

The crowd at Grain World gave the Canadian sports journalist a standing ovation after he’d given his frank talk about his personal struggle with depression, imploring others to speak up too.

“The agricultural world is dominated by the concept of strength,” he told his 400-plus audience. “Weakness is to be frowned upon. Weakness must never be shown. I’m here to hammer the point that mental illness, that depression and anxiety, are not weaknesses.”

Landsberg’s presentation was sponsored by the Manitoba Canola Growers Association (MCGA) and Canadian Canola Growers Association (CCGA).

Ending the stigma associated with mental health problems has been his mission for nearly a decade. Landsberg is well known for his brash on-air persona as TSN’s host of “Off the Record.” But as he told Grain World last week, that was one side of him; since 2000 he’s also been in the grip of anxiety and depression.

He’d reached his lowest point in 2008, on a morning when he couldn’t get out of bed and didn’t see any point in going on any longer.

“It was an education in why people end their lives,” he said. He’d kept that part of him private up to that point, with only those closest to him knowing how much he was suffering, and able to get treatment after that.

Then he began to speak publicly about his depression.

Game changing

The first time was a year later when he and former Habs hockey player Stéphane Richer, who has also suffered severe depression, talked about it on his show, asking each other how they were doing now.

Their candid on-air conversation had immediate impact. Landsberg said he got 22 emails right away, all coming from men saying they’d never heard two guys talk openly about depression before.

• Read more: Farmers want and need resources for mental health: survey

They said it would make it easier for them to open up and look for help too, he said.

“This was where my life began to change massively,” he told Grain World.

After that he began talking about depression in other forums becoming an ambassador for the Bell Let’s Talk initiative, which encourages dialogue about mental health, in 2011.

In 2013 he released the widely-acclaimed documentary “Darkness and Hope: Depression, Sports and Me.” Today he remains actively engaged in mental health forums under his own Sick Not Weak initiative.

His message to his all-farmer audience last week was that they can help end the silence in the agricultural sector too.

It starts with stopping seeing any sort of mental health challenge as a personal weakness, he said.

“Your industry calls for strength,” he said. “In general you probably the strongest group of people that I have spoken to.

“But in that world, the perception of weakess is frowned upon. The key for me is convincing you that mental illness is not a weakness. Because once you stop seeing it that way then you will go for help and then you will have a better understanding of other people (who need help).”

“I suffer from depression…. depression and anxiety have left me wondering if I could possibly survive this illness,” he said. “But here’s the second part. I’m am not ashamed. I am not embarrassed. And I sure as hell am not weak.”

Perceptions

Suicides are the worst outcome when nothing is said out of fear of being stigmatized, he said, adding often times those left behind will say ‘we never knew.’

“That to me is the greatest tragedy,” he said. “Why would someone rather take their life than go for help? The answer is, to some extent, the fear of being perceived as weak.”

His best advice is for those who need help is to find someone they trust to help them get it. Family members can’t treat you, he said, but they can help get you out of bed and help you look for someone who can.

Ron Krahn, farmer and MCGA director shared the popular Paul Harvey clip “So God Made a Farmer” before introducing Landsberg last week. Farmers’ identity and occupation are very closely linked and they see themselves as hard-working and long-suffering, he said.

“Are we doing ourselves a bit of a disservice? When our work defines us as a person we run a huge risk that when farming isn’t going well and we’re under pressure or stress, our self worth and mental and physical health are affected.”

Farmers aren’t inclined to talk about their personal problems either, he added.

“I think it’s past time to start that conversation in agriculture,” Krahn said.

Surveys show Canadian farmers are, indeed, a population group among the most vulnerable to experiencing stress, anxiety, burnout and depression. Results of a mental health survey of farmers done by University of Guelph researchers in 2015 leave little doubt there’s a problem. Their survey analyzed 1,100 farmers’ responses which revealed high levels of emotional exhaustion and cynicism among farmers. Thirty-five per cent reported experiencing depression.

Even so, one in four also said they would be uneasy asking for help from fear of being stigmatized.

The post Break the silence on mental health appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

Food prices are below the general inflation rate, just as they have been for most of the year to date. The food distribution landscape is much more competitive and cost-cutting measures are the priority for most players in the industry. But the restaurant industry is experiencing something very different. Prices are going up, way up.

Indeed, despite deflationary pressures, food service seems immune to what is happening with food prices in general. The cost of food purchased at restaurants rose by 2.7 per cent over last year. That is almost double the rise in food prices at retail. While food purchased at restaurants became 0.2 per cent more expensive in the last month, food prices in grocery stores dropped by 1.3 per cent in the same period. Menu prices are still moving up, while retailers are trying to figure out how to remain competitive. These are good times for the restaurant industry.

Essentially, this unique phenomenon can be explained by how consumers view and manage their relationship with food these days. People eat out, eat on the go, or eat at their desks more often than ever before. Meals in the traditional sense are slowly disappearing in Canada. As a result, almost 30 per cent of our food expenditure is now devoted to the food-service industry. Last year, food-service sales were up by almost four per cent while food retail barely moved, with a rise of about 0.7 per cent. This is the main reason retailers are looking at omni-channelling their goods, to reach the consumer any way they possibly can. E-commerce, meal kits, ready-to-eat meals, food trucks — all are ways retail is trying to adapt and keep up with an increasingly transient consumer.

Convenience is trumping price now as a key decision factor for an increasing number of consumers. So food inflation data may be hiding the fact that Canadian consumers are in fact paying more for food, not less. They just seem to be spreading their food budget around more.

Americans reached the 50/50 mark just last year. Consumers in the U.S. are now spending equally at restaurants and at retail. At our current rate, Canadians could reach that benchmark by 2030, perhaps even earlier. For the food industry, and apart from what non-traditional grocers like Costco and Wal-Mart are doing, this represents a seismic shift compared to the last few decades. Retailers will need to remain competitive with aggressive pricing, new ways to engage consumers at the point of purchase or online, and most important, with new and different talent.

Most grocers, including Loblaws, Metro and Sobeys, have laid off workers to cut down on costs. But to prepare for what is happening across the industry, grocers will need to think differently; in fact, they will need a paradigm shift in the way they think about food retailing. To get there, grocers will have to take on new people — human capital — who believe the grocery business should embrace new ways, new technologies, and new methods in order to follow changing demand. This is what is happening right now.

It’s no longer about setting up nice merchandising displays, a perfect pyramid of tomatoes or apples, or even making sure the aroma of the bakery section is strategically synchronized with the peak shopping times in the store. It’s about consumers finding time to shop for food amidst all the other daily tasks, and with their struggle to achieve a healthy work/life balance while still having high-quality options.

Catering to a new crop of demanding consumers is no easy task, especially in a context in which food deflation won’t go away. A stronger dollar has helped, particularly for consumers with an appetite for a healthy diet. In the last month, prices for fresh fruit have dropped by more than four per cent. Fresh vegetable prices dropped by a whopping seven per cent, in one single month this fall. These are spectacular decreases which we have not seen in at least three years in Canada. The meat and seafood sections are also experiencing continual decreases in recent months, but nothing to help a grocer’s top and/or bottom line.

In food service, we have seen some consolidation, but we also have seen new independent restaurants and new chains emerging with innovative approaches. We have seen grocers acquiring pharmacy chains, meal kit providers, and specialty stores. We shouldn’t be surprised to see grocers search harder for inspiration from the food-service industry. Grocers will continue to find ways to follow consumers, and their money.

As for consumers, they seem willing to pay more when they eat out. But if you are looking for savings, don’t go to a restaurant. Eating at home has always helped people save. These days though, it’s become even cheaper.

The post The pursuit of convenience appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

Assistant Prof. Susana Caxaj, along with Navjot Gill, recently published research examining the well-being of rural immigrants and whether they feel connected to their communities. Caxaj says a sense of belonging, or a lack of one, can impact the mental health and well-being among immigrant residents — the same residents who may not readily use available mental health services.

According to the last Census Canada poll, immigrants and refugees make up 20 per cent of Canada’s population. Caxaj, who teaches in UBC Okanagan’s School of Nursing, says while many immigrants move to urban communities, the populations in small towns are at a disadvantage when it comes to accessing mental health services.

“In rural areas, pathways for mental illness prevention, treatment, and mental health promotion are complicated by a variety of factors including limited services,” says Caxaj. “And while rural immigrant populations may be more likely to experience mental health challenges, such as anxiety and depression, it is sometimes harder for these populations to access help.”

During a 12-month study in B.C.’s southern Interior, research assistant Gill met with first- to third-generation immigrant residents and conducted community visits, consultations, and focus groups to discuss their sense of belonging. Most participants worked in agriculture and had been in Canada from two to 30 years.

Gill notes that rural communities establish programs and specific practices for immigrants and refugees, but sometimes those initiatives simply miss the mark.

“It’s often different in urban metro areas and there is a definite benefit from the high concentration of immigrant groups in terms of well-being,” she said. “But we can’t assume what works in a large community is applicable to immigrants in a small rural town.”

Gill’s findings indicate that local residents face several tensions while trying to establish a place of their own in their community. Such tensions contradict the idea of ‘small-town life,’ where folks are connected simply by living and working together. “Community members want strong intergenerational bonds that celebrate their unique culture. They want services that are flexible to an agricultural immigrant family. But they also are very aware that small towns pose unique strengths and challenges to getting there,” says Gill.

She does suggest these tensions can be addressed through creative service provision, collaborative decision-making, and diversity-informed program planning. For example, along with organizing language lessons for youth and computer lessons for older adults, and making public places, like recreation centres a place with more diverse representation, physical spaces for social gatherings could be a huge support to families who feel isolated.

“In the current global climate we’re seeing a lot of rhetoric about racism, and as Canadians we want to believe where we live is an understanding place, but it is a huge jump to get from mere intention towards intentional planning,” says Caxaj. “There is a lot to be developed and we need to be asking the questions on the ground. Immigrant families often have answers and creative solutions, but they need the support of their service providers and local leadership to truly thrive and feel a sense of belonging.

The research was funded by the Rural Health Services Research Network Team Building Award and was recently published in Qualitative Health Research.

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