In order for local food initiatives (LFIs) to have a transformative effect on the larger food system, greater levels of economic, organizational and physical scale are needed. One way for LFIs to reach the scale necessary to generate a more significant impact is through increased institutional procurement of local foods. But how do people and organizations come together to generate the social infrastructure required to shift food purchasing practices and processes? This field report shares the story of an innovative community of practice consisting of institutional food buyers, large-scale distributors, regional retailers, processors, producers, researchers, municipal and provincial government representatives within the Edmonton city-region that formed for the express purpose of “creating a positive community impact by getting more local foods on more local plates”. In describing the formation and first three years of the Alberta Flavour Learning Lab we examine the unique characteristics of this community of practice that has aided the development of a common framework for learning, understanding and joint action. In addition to the accomplishments to date, we also discuss the challenges faced by the Learning Lab and the strategies used to overcome them.  

Researchers should cite this work as follows:

• Beckie, M. A., Hedberg, L., Radies, J., (2025), "Creating a local food procurement community of practice: The Alberta Flavour Learning Lab", HSSCommons: (DOI: 10.15353/cfs-rcea.v6i1.267)

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1. community of practice
2. institutional procurement
3. local food
4. social infrastructure

Original publication: Beckie, Mary Anne; Hedberg, Leanne; Radies, Jessie. "Creating a local food procurement community of practice: The Alberta Flavour Learning Lab." Canadian Food Studies / La Revue canadienne des études sur l'alimentation, vol. 6, no. 1, 2019, pp. 155-169. DOI: 10.15353/cfs-rcea.v6i1.267. This material has been re-published in an unmodified form on the Canadian HSS Commons with the permission of Canadian Food Studies / La Revue canadienne des études sur l'alimentation. Copyright © the author(s). Work published in CFS/RCÉA prior to and including Vol. 8, No. 3 (2021) is licensed under the Creative Commons CC BY license. Work published in Vol. 8, No. 4 (2021) and after is licensed under the Creative Commons CC BY-SA license. For details, see creativecommons.org/licenses/.