This edited volume builds on existing alternative food initiatives and food movements research to explore how a systems approach can bring about health and well-being through enhanced collaboration. Chapters describe the myriad ways community-driven actors work to foster food systems that are socially just, embed food in local economies, regenerate the environment and actively engage citizens. Drawing on case studies, interviews and Participatory Action Research projects, the editors share the stories behind community-driven efforts to develop sustainable food systems, and present a critical assessment of both the tensions and the achievements of these initiatives. 
The volume is unique in its focus on approaches and methodologies that both support and recognize the value of community-based practices. Throughout the book the editors identify success stories, challenges and opportunities that link practitioner experience to critical debates in food studies, practice and policy. By making current practices visible to scholars, the volume speaks to people engaged in the co-creation of knowledge, and documents a crucial point in the evolution of a rapidly expanding and dynamic sustainable food systems movement.
Entrenched food insecurity, climate change induced crop failures, rural-urban migration, escalating rates of malnutrition related diseases, and aging farm populations are increasingly common obstacles for communities around the world. Merging private, public and civil society spheres, the book gives voice to actors from across the sustainable food system movement including small businesses, not-for-profits, eaters, farmers and government. Insights into the potential for market restructuring, knowledge sharing, planning and bridging civic-political divides come from across Canada, the United States and Mexico, making this a key resource for policy-makers, students, citizens, and practitioners.

Nourishing Communities: From Fractured Food Systems to Transformative Pathways is the product of more than a decade of collaborative work by a network of scholars, community-based partners and practitioners interested in constructing more sustainable just food systems. Established in 2007, the Nourishing Communities research network aimed to foster direct connections between university- and community-based actors, and to draw on tools rooted in both theory and practice to support food system transformation. The organization's early work was based primarily in the province of Ontario, Canada, where it explored a wide range of sustainable food systems initiatives in an effort to better understand their successes, innovations and challenges, and make their experiences more accessible to a wider audience. Drawing on the varied backgrounds and areas of expertise of the networks first members, the group has adopted an interdisciplinary approach, and collaborated closely with regionally-anchored community organizations, businesses, and government personnel representing the inter-related actors that comprise a food system.

Preface .- Introduction .- Section I: Need for Transformations .- Chapter 1: Connecting Food Access and Housing Security: Lessons from Peterborough, Ontario.- Chapter 2 : Strengthening the Backbone: Local Food, Foreign Labour and Social Justice.- Chapter 3: Community Food Security in Pictou Landing First Nation.- Chapter 4: The Us Experience in Planning for Community Food Systems: An Era of Advocacy, Awareness, and (Some) Learning.- Section II: Pathways to Transformation .- Chapter 5: Can Community-Based Initiatives Address the Conundrum of Improving Household Food Access While Supporting Local Smallholder Farmer Livelihoods?.- Chapter 6: Nourishing Learning Environments: School Food Gardens and Sustainable Food Systems.- Chapter 7 : Using A Complexity Lens to Address Local Food Dilemmas in Northern Ontario: The Viability of Crowdsourcing And Crowdfunding.- Chapter 8: The Local Food Policy Audit: Spanning the Civic-Political Agrifood Divide.- Chapter 9: Supply Management as Food Sovereignty.- Chapter 10: Navigating Spaces for Political Action: Victories and Compromises for Mexicos Local Organic Movement.- Chapter 11: Communities of Food Practice: Regional Networks As Strategic Tools for Food Systems Transformation.- Postscript.