Steffanie Scott is associate professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Management at Waterloo, former president of the Canadian Association for Food Studies, and past co-chair of the Waterloo Region Food System Roundtable (2007-11). She conducts research on food systems in East Asia (China, and formerly Vietnam) and Canada. Her current research seeks to understand the emergence of China’s organic and ecological agriculture sector, and broader alternative food networks, and to determine their implications for small-scale and poor farmers.
Her next proposed research involves developing an urban food system assessment framework for sustainable eco-city planning, for application in China and beyond. She and a team of co-researchers (Goretty Dias, Bruce Frayne, Derek Robinson, Taiyang Zhong, and Zhu Qian) will conduct a case study application of the framework in Nanjing. Compared to their North American counterparts, Chinese cities have certain characteristics that could be advantageous in building more resilient food systems:
- greater localization of the food system; short food supply chains; and peri-urban food production;
- many small but vertically-integrated producers;
- agriculture as a policy priority; and
- resource protection measures (e.g., protection of agricultural land). The proposed research will offer new insights on the potential for North American cities to learn from and adapt experiences from China regarding localized food systems that incorporate small-scale actors and ecological production practices.
Parallel to her research in East Asia, Steffanie has been involved in Ontario-based research on food system sustainabilityand economic development networks in the local food sector. To see Stephanie’s latest work, please visit her website.