Sustainable Food Security Education Programs

Currently in Canada there are two post secondary programs available to take online in the realm of food security and sustainable agriculture. I am personally super excited by this, as I can take these courses from the comfort of my own home!

The first one is the Food Security program through Ryerson University (based in Toronto). Here is a brief program description:

Program Highlights

Research and practice across local, national, and international communities: these will be the core components of your studies. The Chang School’s Certificate in Food Security will introduce you to the following topics:

hunger and poverty
food policy and programs
community development
urban food security
global nutrition

Our food security teaching team is recognized internationally in the field. Having lived and worked around the globe, they understand the challenges of implementing food security in Canada and the developing world.

You may choose to take one or two courses, or register for the entire six-course Certificate in Food Security. A benefit of studying with The Chang School is membership in a highly interactive, supportive online learning community. Most courses in the Certificate in Food Security can be completed online. By taking our unique courses via distance education, you'll be interacting with peers from all over the world!

The other program is called the Sustainable Local Food for All Canadians and it is through the St. Lawrence College (based in Kingston). Here is a brief program description:

Program Description

This distance education certificate program is designed to meet the rising interest in, and need for, "how to" training for local food system development that is sustainable, socially just, economically dynamic and ecologically specific to the countrysides, cities and regions of Canada. The curriculum is being developed in collaboration with food and farm related organizations who have expertise to share, training needs to be addressed, and positions to be filled.

Courses have a practical orientation and include problem-based and experience-based learning components. The focus is on how to change the food systems in the communities we live in. There is a particular emphasis on the challenges, lessons and successes learned in regions across Canada and beyond, with plenty of reading and discussion of models, concepts and ideas as participants analyze and compare problems over time and space and debate solutions relevant to specific communities, ecologies and economies.

Participants are welcome to take any individual courses they like. For the certificate, you will complete 3 required courses and 3 electives of your choice.

For more info on these programs, click on the links that go to their webbys.

Sláinte!

Laurel