SF4C tackles food policy: Students come together to innovate emergency food systems planning in the Fraser Valley

On May 12^th and 13^th, 2026, the Sustainable Food Systems for Canada (SF4C) team brought together community organizations, local policy makers, academics, and learners from across Canada for the network’s first policy focused hackathon.

Seventeen learners from across the Lower Mainland British Columbia met in Abbotsford at the Food and Agriculture Institute at the University of the Fraser Valley (UFV). Small, transdisciplinary groups were formed and were presented with a large, but timely challenge: what proactive policies can better anticipate and respond to food system emergencies like wildfires, flooding, and landslides, that are seen more and more in the Fraser Valley?

Day 1: Wheels Turning

Mentors from local food policy councils in Abbotsford, Mission, and Chilliwack came to provide learners with real world challenges and experiences to inform their proposed policy solutions. SF4C team members from UFV including Dr. Alesandros Glaros, Cameron James, Ramneek Dhunna, and Dr. Anna Griffith, alongside partners from Ontario including Aaron Misener, Jeanna Rex, and Dr. Amy Proulx organized and facilitated sessions on design thinking, policy writing, and communication. Drs. Stefania Pizzirani and Lenore Newman led sessions on One Health and the nuts and bolts of policy writing.

The discussion started big — what are the drivers of change affecting food systems in the Fraser Valley? The groups then scoped the problem smaller — what specific policies are likely to help a specific stakeholder group, in the event of an emergency?

Groups covered a wide range of solutions through discussions around formalizing dairy cattle evacuation systems, bolstering food hub networks, enhancing soil health as a long-term mitigation tool, and much more.

Day 2: Send-Off

The second day involved the learner groups presenting their solutions to a packed room of industry, academic, community, and government organizations.

Their policy pitches were adjudicated by a stellar team of judges including Alex Mitchell (CEO, Abbotsford Chamber of Commerce), Dan Huang-Taylor (Executive Director, Food Banks BC), Sameeha Jhetam (Professor, UFV), Tammara Soma (Professor, Simon Fraser University), and Theresa Burns (Chief Veterinary Officer, Government of British Columbia). These incredible individuals represent a broad cross-section of government, academy, as well as not-for-profit and commercial organizations in the Fraser Valley.

The three top placed teams are now drafting policy briefs that will be shared with local and regional contacts in government. Congrats to all participants.