New Market Opportunities for Ecological Farmers in Ontario, Guelph $14,000

Ecological Farmers Association of Ontario will increase small to mid-scale ecological farmers in Ontario’s access to new market channels through increased knowledge of supply chain requirements, value added opportunities, and best practices for producing new in-demand products. They will provide over 60 hours of training through 12 workshops and 8 farm tours, to over 360 farmers and local food system stakeholders.

Increasing Local Food Procurement in the City of Toronto's Long-Term Care Homes and Services, Toronto $37,500

The City of Toronto's Long-Term Care Homes and Services division will undertake a comprehensive review of its use of local food in its 10 long-term care homes, with a plan to increase the amount of local food purchased by $350,000-$420,000 annually or from 19% to 25% of their total food spend -  through a combination of menu substitutions, new recipes, and equipment and staff training for in-house scratch cooking.

Good Grains Grow in Ontario, Fergus $28,000

The purchase of a delivery truck and other equipment will allow 1847 Stone Milling to pilot providing their flour in bulk to the University of Guelph Foodservices, who has agreed to purchase and showcase the product. To capitalize on the increased exposure and to prepare for possible sales to other institutions, 1847 Stone Milling will produce a short documentary video on their flour’s unique production process.

Cross-Regional Co-operative Value Chain Coordination Project, Warren $40,000

Local Food and Farm Co-ops (LFFC) will strengthen ties between northern producers and food hubs to better access markets in northern and southern Ontario. LFFC will facilitate connections amongst 3 distribution partners, 2-3 processing partners, 10 market partners, and 5 food hubs/coops; promote training materials and engage northwestern Ontario partners in a regional beef branding initiative.

Scaling Up Year-Round Greenhouse Grown Ontario Strawberries: Automating Packaging, Langton $57,000

EZ Grow Farms will purchase packaging equipment to reduce a production bottleneck and meet the growing demand for strawberries year round. EZ grow projects a local food sales increase of $7 million based on the retail value of greenhouse grown year-round Ontario strawberries.

Fresh and Frozen Local Meals for the Social Service Sector, Milton $36,600

Community Living North Halton will extend their commercial kitchen capacity to provide fresh and frozen packaged meals utilizing local ingredients to the social service sector.

Distilling Culled Tender Fruit Into Fruit-Based Spirits, Niagara-on-the-Lake $103,000

A.J. Lepp Orchards will turn the problem of waste fruit in the Niagara Region into a value-added opportunity by distilling 150 tonnes of culled tender fruit from five local Niagara tender fruit operations into fruit-based spirits. The investment in distillation equipment is projected to result in $1.3 million in annual local food salesA.J. Lepp Orchards will turn the problem of waste fruit in the Niagara Region into a value-added opportunity by distilling 150 tonnes of culled tender fruit from five local Niagara tender fruit operations into fruit-based spirits. The investment in distillation equipment is projected to result in $1.3 million in annual local food sales

Sliced Organic Pickles, Thamesville $30,000

Sunshine Pickles will purchase processing equipment that enables them to expand their value-added product offerings and access new markets in the foodservice sector, particularly for high demand spear cut and sliced Ontario-grown pickles.  With the new equipment they expect to increase sales by $200,000 immediately, with further increases expected in the longer term.

UTSC Campus Farm, Scarborough $10,000

University of Toronto Scarborough Campus will operationalize a campus farm and outdoor permaculture space to increase student knowledge of urban agriculture and local food production. The farm will be a permanent permaculture space and central feature of the campus agriculture strategy. 

Get Fresh Café Expansion, Thunder Bay $35,000

Roots to Harvest will partner with the Lakehead District School Board scale up its “Get Fresh Café” to two area high schools in Thunder Bay, reaching over 2,500 students. The project is a complete overhaul of the schools’ cafeteria offerings from pre-packaged food to sourcing all fresh and from-scratch ingredients, sourcing as much as possible from Ontario growers.