Photo 178555851 © David Pereiras Villagra | Dreamstime.com

By Erika Rolling

F.A.S.T.

City-wide food insecurity survey finds nearly one in five households cannot afford groceries

Jan 24, 2024 | 1:17 PM

An online survey put out in June and July of 2023 has found the majority of residents in Grande Prairie find food “very expensive”.

The Food Access and Affordability Survey by the Food Access and Security Taskforce (F.A.S.T.) was distributed with the help of the City of Grande Prairie. It received 2,188 responses; well over the goal of 1,000.

Jerry Napier, Co-Chair of F.A.S.T, says the organization’s purpose is to comprehensively understand the local food environment and challenges.

“We did get a good range of people (in the survey). If we looked at the annual incomes for households, it certainly gave us a good picture of where people stood with food security, so we were quite pleased with how many different groups and people we reached.”

Napier says one in five households in the city are struggling to put food on the table.

Meaningful Mementos

Remembering Someone You've Lost at Christmas

Dec 03, 2024

Seasonal Sorrow

How Do You Get Through The Holidays When You're Grieving?

Nov 01, 2024

Upcoming Events at Oliver's

Grief & Loss and Estate Planning Seminars

Oct 02, 2024

Grocery budgets on a weekly basis found most households in Grande Prairie spending more than $150. Over 33 per cent of respondents said they spend more than $200 weekly at the grocery store.

“It affects the ones with the lower incomes greater, because they have to pay the same price as an other. That’s where we are looking at making sure we (F.A.S.T.) can put something in place; like action plans to help mitigate the insecurity of food for all.”

The conclusion of the survey says the data found a significant number of residents are struggling with the high cost of food and concerns about food security are prevalent.

It’s not just food for humans either. People were also asked about their pets diet costs.

Napier say pets play an important role in their owners mental wellbeing and society as a whole, but they also need to be fed.

On average, the survey found pet owners in Grande Prairie spend around $111 per month to feed their animal companions.

Findings also show that less than 40 per cent of respondents get produce from their own gardens, community gardens, or orchards, and that only 25 per cent use compost for food waste.

What’s Next?

F.A.S.T. reviewed the findings of the 2023 survey and made a list of recommendations for short-term and long-term goals.

• For short-term, they want to find a backbone organization to be able to focus attention on addressing food security now and engage with local businesses and residents.
• For long-term, priority is on sustainability and education in the community, and reducing food loss and waste.

Napier notes F.A.S.T. is eager to develop a community-based action plan and wants to expand their community involvement and engagement plan, “but we need to get more people at our table to do this.”

“Our goal is to go out and start looking at different projects that we can tackle, something like food waste in stores and make it more efficient for use of that food for example.”

Napier says once F.A.S.T.’s action-plan is developed, it will look at where the need lies in Grande Prairie, where food comes from in the community, and more.

He also says the organization’s goal is to get society status when possible.