Ontario Tender Fruit Lab June 28, 2016 - 12:00 to 1:00pm Claire Bur - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Sustainable Food Systems Working Group

Finding Common Ground Webinar: Learning from the Ontario Tender Fruit Lab

June 28, 2016 - 12:00 to 1:00pm Claire Buré MaRS Solutions Lab Brent Mansfield BC Food Systems Network

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Sustainable Food Systems Working Group

Vision: Thriving sustainable, local food systems that steward land and water, providing healthy food for all British Columbians Goal: To foster healthy, resilient food systems in regions across the province, in ways that benefit communities, individuals, ecosystems, and local and provincial economies

Finding Common Ground Summit – May 4 & 5, 2016

Summit Goals

• Deepen our shared understanding of what sustainable local

food systems looks like in BC while building our capacity and intention to collectively work towards making it a reality.

• Co-develop tangible action plans that build on existing efforts

and work towards shared outcomes that align with the BC Agrifood and Seafood Strategic Growth Plan and result in actions within the three areas of focus.

Finding Common Ground Summit – May 4 & 5, 2016

At the two-day Summit, participants shared their knowledge and created action plans around three focus areas:

For links to the Finding Common Ground Summit report go to: www.refbc.com/news/turning- priorities-actions-strengthening-bc’s- local-food-systems

Moving Towards Collective Action

The SFSWG is committed to exploring how we can support and monitor advancing the action plans. Some examples include:

• Facilitate the bridging of

relationships, sectors, partnerships and actors

• Convene and coordinate for

collective action

• Mobilize resources, e.g. funding,

research, and coordination

To move toward advancing collective action around action plans we’ll need to continue to explore new models for collaboration and food systems change

• Collective impact – last

webinar (April 21

• Social innovation lab –

today’s webinar

Moving Towards Collective Action

Visit us at marsdd.com

Finding Common Ground: Learning from the Ontario Tender Fruit Lab

F O R : S U S T A I N A B L E F O O D S Y S T E M W O R K I N G G R O U P ( S F S W G ) A N D T H E R E A L E S T A T E F O U N D A T I O N O F B C 2 8 J U N E 2 0 1 6

Our Future Matters

Learning from the Ontario Tender Fruit Lab

What is the Ontario Tender Fruit Lab? How did it work? What was the process? What did we learn?

F I N D I N G C O M M O N G R O U N D W E B I N A R 27 June 2016

Our Future Matters

We are a Public and Social Innovation Lab that helps solve complex social challenges with stakeholders across society, helps governments modernize policies and services, and helps organizations build capacity for system change.

Our Future Matters

The history: How it started

O N T A R I O T E N D E R F R U I T L A B

Healthy and sustainable food is essential for our future, for individuals, for society, and for our planet. How can we help our food systems make this transition? While the demand for fresh fruit year-round is rapidly increasing, much of this new demand is being met by imports and competition on price is fierce. For a healthy, sustainable future we need a strong local fruit industry. But the Ontario tender fruit industry has difficulty surviving. While many inspiring food innovations have occurred, over 90% of people still buy their food in large

• groceries. The need for an industry transformation approach was felt to achieve real systems change.

THE ONTARIO TENDER FRUIT LAB How can we create a resilient tender fruit economy in Ontario, in a way that provides economic, environmental and social benefits? Fruit seems to be a good place to start given its effects on health and sustainability, its role in helping people make healthy food choices, as well as the size and importance to the Ontario economy.

Our Future Matters

Ontario Tender Fruit Lab

Consumer demand for healthy food is growing 15-30% a year. This growing demand is completely being met through imports. Meanwhile thousands of jobs have been lost in the Ontario food sector over the last decade. Goals were to:

• 1. To bring about change in the food system
• 2. Beta test for Social Innovation Lab Guide

MaRS Solutions Lab convened growers, processors, distributors, retailers, NGOs, foundations and government. We supported them to develop an innovation agenda for the sector.

T R A N S I T I O N O F F O O D S Y S T E M

Our Future Matters

Innovation in the tender fruit sector

T H E S O C I A L I N N O V A T I O N L A B A P P R O A C H

We need to understand a complex problem from new perspectives using design and systems thinking. We need a neutral but committed convener for diverse stakeholders, and create space to develop new solutions collaboratively. We need to support innovation as a process that drives towards evidence and scale.

NEW WAYS TO UNDERSTAND PROBLEMS NEW SPACES FOR EXPERIMENTATION NEW WAYS TO SCALE PROMISING SOLUTIONS

Our Future Matters

Define the challenge Develop a common change strategy Design interventions Prototype interventions and plan for action

Building an Innovation Agenda

T H E S O C I A L I N N O V A T I O N L A B A P P R O A C H

Our Future Matters

Creating an agenda for change

Types of Innovation: 1.

• 1. Po

Policy

Improve collaboration with government, to effect policy not just in government, but also through entrepreneurship & consumer education

2.

• 2. Pr

Product

Opportunity to create new markets, such as through new varieties such as white peaches or pluots, or for organic fruit

3.

• 3. Pr

Process

Improving efficiencies in process (eg. storage and handling) for such a quickly- depreciating fruit is critical: need to innovate across the whole value network

O N T A R I O T E N D E R F R U I T L A B

Our Future Matters

Over 70 stakeholders & experts interviewed:

Phase I: Research

O N T A R I O T E N D E R F R U I T L A B

De Desk & Da Data Research Ex Examples of Barriers:

Fr Fruit Production

• Cost of production (high labour cost)
• Time required to develop new varieties (10-

15 years) Di Distribution and processing

• Small processors have difficulty scaling
• Access to/ lack of capital investment

Re Retail

• Consistency of fruit quality differs
• Consumer expectations are difficult to

maintain

Design Brief: Published on MaRS Solutions Lab website here

Our Future Matters

38 38 lab participants:

• Growers
• Processors
• Distributors
• Retailers
• Academics in agriculture
• Innovators
• NGOs
• Provincial and local

government

Phase II: Convening

O N T A R I O T E N D E R F R U I T L A B

Convening question:

How can we create a resilient tender fruit economy in Ontario, in a way that provides economic, environmental and social benefits?

Convening stakeholders to develop a common change strategy and new solutions in 3 workshops. Wo Workshop 1: Seeing the System Wo Workshop 2: Designing Interventions Wo Workshop 3: Prototyping & Action Planning

Our Future Matters

Issues Mapping

Our Future Matters

Phase III: Action

O N T A R I O T E N D E R F R U I T L A B

The first change interventions are being implemented:

• A new standardized fruit basket that is eco-friendly
• A new marketing campaign on so-called ‘inglorious fruit and

vegetables’

• A new program on cold-storage chain management
• Redesigning the process for introducing new varieties on the

market

• New varieties tree-planting scheme for 130,000 tender fruit

trees Final Report: Published on MaRS Solutions Lab website here

Our Future Matters

What did we learn?

Sc Scoping the challenge: It takes time and effort to scope the problem at the right level Ti Timing: A lab must accommodate the timing of convening to participants Pa Partners: We needed to first build key partners in the sector in order to convince others to participate Pa Participants: Despite having great participation, can never have everyone in the room Ag Agenda: Everyone has an agenda. Be ready to acknowledge it, so you can create from where there IS alignment. Fo Focus: Don’t place too much focus on research over action. Take the time to support and learn from action. Ne Network building: The value of new connections and gained trust between key industry players, stakeholders and foundations cannot be underestimated. In Influence: Simply participating in a new process can influence strategy of participating organizations.

O N T A R I O T E N D E R F R U I T L A B

Visit us at marsdd.com

Claire Buré

P r o g r a m M a n a g e r , M a R S S o l u t i o n s L a b c b u r e @ m a r s d d . c o m @ C l a i r e B u r e

Our Future Matters

A staged process for innovation

T H E S O C I A L I N N O V A T I O N L A B A P P R O A C H

H

Hypothesis

R

Research

T

Test

M

Market

I

Ideation

Our Future Matters

Po

Policy

F

Frame

Ev

Evidence

PC

Policy Change

V

Vision

So

Solutions

U

Understand

PR

Prototype

SC

Scale

Co

Co-create

CA

Capacity

ST

Stakeholder

EA

Early Adopter

EM

Early Majority

I

Innovator

H

Hypothesis

R

Research

T

Test

M

Market

I

Ideation

Periodic Table of Systems Change DE DEVELOPING NEW SOLUTIONS CH CHANGING POLICY CY BU BUILDING CA CAPACI CITY

27 June 2016