January 31, 2013
BRINGING THE COLOUR OF LOCAL FOOD TO TRAYS AND TABLES
Eight Public Institutions Participate in the Greenbelt’s Local Food Challenge
Even more local food is coming to Ontario’s schools, universities and health care facilities with a year-long Local Food Challenge.
Led by the Greenbelt Fund, with support from the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, the Challenge helps eight public institutions buy more local food for their menus. They will create even more new recipes, work with local farmers on education, and liaise with distributors on local food suppliers.
“Even in January, Ontario has a wide variety of healthy local food available,” said Burkhard Mausberg, CEO of the Greenbelt Fund. “The Local Food Challenge gives schools and hospitals the opportunity to increase access not only to produce, but to dairy and proteins from Ontario.”
The participating institutions from across the province include:
- Carleton University, Ottawa
- University of Toronto – New College, Toronto
- Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo
- North Bay Regional Hospital, North Bay
- St. Michael’s Hospital, Toronto
- Scarborough Hospital, Scarborough
- Riverside Health Care Facilities, Fort Frances
- Elgin County Homes, St. Thomas
The Local Food Challenge is one of three major initiatives the Greenbelt Fund has led to build market opportunities for farmers and increase the amount of local food available. The other programs include funding to help transform the food value chain, and Ontariofresh.ca, a business-to-business website helping buyers and sellers find and sell Ontario food.
The Greenbelt Fund is a sister organization of the Friends of the Greenbelt Foundation. With funding from the Ontario government, the Fund is helping to increase the amount of Ontario food served in daycares, schools, universities and colleges, hospitals and long-term care homes.
The Fund provides grants to local food industry leaders, producers, distributors, food service providers and public institutions working to serve more Ontario food. Helping to overcome challenges, support economic growth and the sustainability of agriculture in Ontario, the Fund’s goal is to help create systemic change to permanently increase the amount of local food in the province’s public institutions. For more information about the program and grants, please visit Ontariofresh.ca.