CAPI and the Arrell Food Institute collaborating on an in-depth look at what happened.Ottawa—The Canadian agrifood system has come in for a lot of attention during the COVID-19 pandemic and what that means long term will be the focus of a joint examination by the Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute (CAPI) and the Arrell Food Institute at the University of Guelph.Called Growing Stronger, the project will have two parts, says CAPI President and CEO Don Buckingham. One will be an online portal where anyone—consumer, farmer or processor-can contribute their thoughts and ideas on what the food system needs to do differently in the future.The other component will be a series of virtual consultations within the agrifood sector during the summer and the fall.These sessions will produce policy recommendations, questions for future research projects and the creation of a learning network for participants, he said.The conclusions drawn from the sessions and portal will be debated at the Arrell Food Summit later this year and presented in their final form next year at CAPI's Big Solutions Forum.From the earliest hints COVID-19 would sweep the country, the food system has attracted plenty of public attention and has delivered quite well despite panic buying, rising food bank use, excess food being dumped, fields left unplanted because of a lack of temporary foreign workers, farmer financial problems and meat packing plants becoming disease hotspots.While the country has managed fairly well so far, Buckingham said it has to prepare for another wave of the pandemic and other possible crises. He will co-chair Growing Stronger with Arrell Director Evan Fraser and Deb Stark, a former deputy Ontario agriculture minister.Buckingham said, “Whether you are a producer, processor or retailer, a member of an indigenous community or a migrant farm worker, an urban consumer with job security or someone who depends on a foodbank, we'd like your advice on the food system.“We must listen and learn what rural, urban and remote communities faced during the lockdown and then use these learnings to inform our future policy directions for greater sustainability and resilience for Canada's food system.”Fraser said, “In the post-COVID-19 world, seeking answers to the key question of how to build a resilient Canadian agrifood system will become more urgent than ever, as this crisis brings to light both where we successfully adapted as well as revealing hidden vulnerabilities in the Canadian agrifood system.”Stark said the project wants to find out, “What went well? What did not? Where do we go from here? If we can answer these questions, Canada's food system will be even stronger. And that's better for us all.”Buckingham said the pandemic could lead to a “deep dive structural rethink” of the food system including looking at more value-added food processing in Canada and more innovation in food production and processing.The pandemic has also shown the need to restructure the food system so it is resilient enough to survive future challenges, which will be a key focus of the Growing Stronger review, he said.Alex Binkley is a freelance journalist and writes for domestic and international publications about agriculture, food and transportation issues. He's also the author of two science fiction novels with more in the works.