Growing together: Co-producing actionable knowledge for food and farm co-operatives in Ontario

Lead Applicant: Derya Tarhan

Research Priority: Trade, Market & Targeted Sector Growth Opportunities

Program Type: Knowledge Translation and Transfer – Research

Funding Cycle: 2025

Research Centre: NA

Research Summary: Growing Together is a community-based research project that will generate and mobilize actionable knowledge for local food and farm co-operatives in Ontario. The project was designed collaboratively with Local Food and Farm Co-operatives (LFFC), a provincial collective of food and farm co-operatives, and the Ontario Co-operative Association, the provincial support and advocacy organization for all co-operative businesses. Growing Together will engage local food practitioners across Ontario in co-generating knowledge through a community advisory circle, regional working groups, as well as surveys, interviews, and focus groups with key informants. These methods will involve and inform the development of: (1) practical toolkits for local co-operative food actors; (2) written and audiovisual outputs for sectoral KTT, popular education, and policy advocacy; (3) one province-wide and five regional workshops that will bring together food actors, the co-operative sector, and policy-makers; and (4) academic outputs that explore participatory action research (PAR) as a KTT strategy.