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Sustainability of the UBC Food System Project (UBCFSP) III : scenario 8

University of British Columbia. Sustainability Office

UBC Food Services and the Alma Matter Society (AMS) are interested in the costs and benefits of developing a sustainable food system, and whether the public will support these changes. It is of interest to identify UBC consumer perceptions of the price of food on campus, the economic costs and benefits of pursuing more sustainable food practices at Food Services, and potential consumer support for these changes, which may manifest themselves in price changes. In preparing our recommendations, our value assumptions of weak anthropocentrism, ecocentrism, as well as a community-oriented view has guided our approach. We have chosen group 14’s model as our framework and built on their existing vision. The stakeholders that will be affected by the information we provided are: consumers at UBC, retail employees of UBC food service outlets, food vendors off campus, food distributors, and both local and global farm producers. Our ecological indicator is the availability of local foods. Co-operation with food distribution companies to trace products that are in high demand on campus is necessary. Comparison to a list of BC food products that are produced in high quantity will determine if local foods are being used adequately. Our economic indicator is the affordability of nutritious food for individuals living on campus. Affordability will be measured using the Healthy Food Basket. Our social indicators consist of consumers’ perceptions of current food prices at UBC, knowledge about sustainability and food practices on campus, and opportunity for participation in food practices, such as the UBC farm. The consumers’ perceptions can be measured using surveys and focus groups. Our recommendations include educating the UBC community on sustainability and the food system and collaborating with UBC food distributors to gain reliable information. Disclaimer: “UBC SEEDS provides students with the opportunity to share the findings of their studies, as well as their opinions, conclusions and recommendations with the UBC community. The reader should bear in mind that this is a student project/report and is not an official document of UBC. Furthermore readers should bear in mind that these reports may not reflect the current status of activities at UBC. We urge you to contact the research persons mentioned in a report or the SEEDS Coordinator about the current status of the subject matter of a project/report.”

Text

University of British Columbia. AGSC 450; UBC Social Ecological Economic Development Studies (SEEDS) Student Report

Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library

10.14288/1.0108697

Land and Food Systems, Faculty of

Unreviewed

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/ca/