The Laurier Centre for Sustainable Food Systems (LCSFS) connects researchers and community partners engaged in sustainable food systems change. We create opportunities for citizens, practitioners, policy-makers, private enterprise, and academics to work together to imagine and foster food systems that are fair, healthy, ecologically regenerative, culturally appropriate, prosperous, and inclusive.
Using food as a lever for positive change, the LCSFS enables meaningful collaboration among people across institutions, sectors, and disciplines to support community-driven research, innovative knowledge sharing, and the development of community resources and more sustainable food system policy. Our interdisciplinary work cuts across multiple projects to create local and global networks that help develop resilient food systems.
Dr. Alison Blay-Palmer is the UNESCO Chair on Food, Biodiversity and Sustainability Studies, jointly hosted by Wilfrid Laurier University and the Balsillie School of International Affairs.
In response to wildfires and inaccessible food prices, the Northwest Territories' "tiniest town" is working with Laurier researchers to incubate a community garden. See how this fruitful partnership came to life.
Knowledge sharing is key to the LCSFS’s vision for sustainable food systems. Robust knowledge sharing networks of diverse food systems actors enable innovative and creative food system solutions to help address some of the world’s big problems, such as climate change, food insecurity, environmental degradation and biodiversity loss, and social inequity.
In addition to project-specific knowledge sharing activities, the LCSFS hosts events, publishes academic and plain-language reports, shares information through social media, and produces the research-focused podcast Handpicked: Stories from the Field.
Handpicked: Stories from the Field explores how sustainable food system research can change how we produce, get, eat and understand our food. Handpicked is hosted and produced by Dr. Laine Young and Dr. Charlie Spring.
On Oct. 1, 2025, the Laurier Centre for Sustainable Food Systems (LCSFS), the Centre for Women in Science (WinS), and the Viessmann Centre for Engagement and Research in Sustainability (VERiS) co-hosted Moving Forward Together: Partnerships to Advance Sustainable Development and Social Justice Goals in Waterloo Region and Beyond.
The Laurier Centre for Sustainable Food Systems engages in a wide variety of research and knowledge sharing activities throughout the year. Our annual reports highlight our annual achievements and progress.
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