Cultivating Change: Local Food Within the Healthcare Sector, Toronto $120,000

George Brown College is partnering with St. Michael’s Hospital to develop a certification course to train St. Michael’s foodservice staff on how to prepare fresh, local foods in healthcare kitchens. St. Michael’s staff will experiment with “from scratch” local food recipes to reveal skill gaps, while George Brown students will test recipes to understand how the healthcare kitchen operates. St. Michael’s will offer internship placements where George Brown students work alongside hospital staff to assist with ongoing menu creation featuring local food. George Brown will then replicate the training program at one additional healthcare facility.

Cafeteria Connects: Bringing Ontario Foods to Secondary School Cafeterias, Mississauga $109,000

Ecosource will partner with Compass Group Canada and Durham District School Board to increase student and cafeteria staff engagement in buy-local programs and drive local food sales in public high schools. This project includes training cafeteria staff on how to purchase, track, and prepare local food. Ecosource will also host local food events and integrate local food education into several curricula including business studies, hospitality, and family studies.

Strengthening Connections, Thunder Bay $80,000

The City of Thunder Bay and partnering institutions look to increase local food procurement in both municipal and regional facilities such as long-term care homes, child care centres, and post-secondary institutions. In order to facilitate an increase in local food purchasing, the City will streamline its procurement models and work with their suppliers. They will also host a series of educational events.

The Business Case for More Local Sustainable Food and Supply Chains $100,000

Aramark Canada Ltd. will establish the business case for supporting local food purchased by university campuses, ultimately changing how large foodservice companies think about local food. Pilot projects at Trent University, University of Toronto, Wilfrid Laurier University, and York University/Glendon College will assess how to increase local food purchases in both residence and cafeteria/food court settings. The pilots will be supported by a mobile app that allows for local food tracking from field to plate.

Local Beef Aggregation and Traceability System, Thunder Bay $45,000

LA Quality Foods is developing public sector market opportunities for beef farmers in Northern Ontario. In partnership with Rainy River Regional Abattoir and the Thunder Bay Cattlemen’s Association, they will work with local farmers to implement a traceability system to enable them to track individual cuts of meat to their originating farm.

Developing the Middle: Creating Economies of Scale for Small Farms in Ontario, Creemore $59,000

New Farm, a well-established organic farm in Creemore, is making operational changes to meet the needs of public sector institutions. From packaging and marketing materials to developing cost-effective irrigation systems, New Farm will find the right tools and technology in order to increase the amount, variety, and seasonal availability of local produce being offered to institutions such as hospitals and colleges. New Farm will expand their capacity and improve their farm safety protocols, and increase their sales by $235,000, almost doubling their current levels. By developing best practices, this project paves the way for other small and medium scale organic farms to make the necessary changes to increase their business.

Ontario Campus Food Systems Project, Toronto $80,000

Meal Exchange will engage students from Carleton University, Ryerson University, and the University of Waterloo in order to increase on-campus demand for local food. Regional student campus representatives will lead student engagement activities to increase the interest in and demand for local food. An industry advisory panel of food service providers and distributors will assist in developing these activities and provide their expertise to student-based research projects that will identify how to best increase the amount of local food in universities. Best practices will be shared through studentfood.ca.

Increasing the Procurement of Local Foods, London $25,325

The University of Western University established a baseline of their annual Ontario food purchases and has set targets for an annual growth rate of Ontario food purchases of 3 percent each year for the next five years. The University developed a strategy to increase their local purchases that included identifying supplier partners that can provide them with locally grown food, working with existing suppliers to identify new opportunities to expand their local purchases, and purchasing an integrated computer software program that would enable them to track local purchases moving forward. They also developed and ran educational and awareness campaigns to increase interest in local food among students and staff such as Chef’s Table events that feature local products, and themed menus.

Serving Local Ontario Food in East Toronto, Toronto $20,000

Toronto East General Hospital developed and tested new recipes using local ingredients for patients as well as customers of their retail café. The chef worked with their primary distributor to source more local food. The project involved the creation and promotion of cafeteria feature meals/menu items and patient menu items that showcased Ontario foods. They also developed a local procurement policy, provided on-site staff training, and developed marketing materials to promote Ontario food to patients, hospital staff, volunteers, and visitors.

Grown in Ontario, Mississauga $35,000

Sysco Ontario created more opportunities for the sale of locally produced products to public sector institutions by improving their internal ordering systems to identify and track local products. They also developed partnerships with suppliers that can offer them more Ontario products. They will develop marketing materials to promote Ontario products and provide educational sessions for staff and customers on the local foods available through Sysco Ontario.