North Bay Value Added Chain, North Bay $15,000

Live Kitchen will undertake a market assessment to identify supply partners and retail customers for the development of a local food hub and distribution strategy to bring more local food to retailers, butcher shops, restaurants and other food outlets in North Bay.

Organic Sector Check Off Feasibility Study and Implementation Plan, Guelph $15,000

Organic Council of Ontario will study the feasibility of a mandatory organic sector funding strategy, similar to those in place for other commodity groups in Ontario. OCO will work with decision makers and sector leaders to investigate the regulatory implications, develop a realistic governance and collection strategy, and create a sector-wide communications and engagement plan.

Developing a Business Plan for a Local Food Hub in Georgina, Brock and East Gwillimbury, Aurora $35,000

Ontario Water Centre will develop a business plan for a local food hub in Georgina, Brock and East Gwillimbury, including the possibility of creating a mobile app to coordinate producer’s crop availability and status with food hub deliveries in real-time.

Ontario's Best Veal Parmigiana Sandwich, Guelph $35,000

Veal Farmers of Ontario will raise the profile of Ontario veal by organizing a contest for retailers, foodservice providers, and consumers in search of the best Veal Parmigiana sandwich. The campaign will share recipes, encouraging Ontarians to test out the recipes at home, and involve a competition event at the Gourmet Food and Wine Expo.

Marketing Poultry to Ontarians, Scarborough $30,000

D&D Poultry will expand their reach to new market channels and the health care market, by improving labelling efficiency, improving food safety, and increasing their presence in the healthcare, wholesale, retail and corporate foodservice community. The project will address a gap in Ontario processed chicken products to increase Ontario food sales.

Food Business Innovation Centre, Peterborough $58,000

The Mount will launch a Food Business Innovation Centre with a commercial kitchen and on-site packing facility to provide space for burgeoning local food entrepreneurs to experiment with new products and develop recipes. This production space will give small-scale food businesses the capacity to produce small batches for retail and foodservice markets.

Expanding Market Channels, Peterborough $40,000

Cross Wind Farm is investing in new equipment to increase production capacity in order to meet growing demand for its artisan goat cheeses. Along with launching two new products and increasing sales, this project will bring new farmers to market by aggregating goat dairy from select Ontario farms in its pasteurization and packaging facility. 

Temiskaming Local Food Hub, Temiskaming $25,000

Northern Harvest is the local food champion for Temiskaming Shores, and will partner with Muskoka North Food Co-op and Eat Local Sudbury to increase the reach of local food in the north. With a $25,000 investment from the Greenbelt Fund through the Local Food Investment Fund, Northern Harvest will expand services to remote communities including Larder Lake and launch a local food hub.

Building a Strong Organic Egg Program in Ontario, Peterborough $45,000

Yorkshire Valley Farms will partner with the 15 family-farms currently operating as Organic Meadow Co-Op to market and sell eggs under the Yorkshire Valley Farms brand, creating scale and providing access to more markets than either partner can achieve independently. Yorkshire Valley Farms will also create new value-added products, such as organic liquid egg, to make use of less popular egg sizes.

Developing a Standard for Selling Local Meats: a process and products, Simcoe $36,000

VG Meats will work with the Ontario Culinary Tourism Alliance and restauranteurs to determine the best mix of cuts to utilize a full carcass in the packaging of beef, am and pork. Through workshops and outreach to restaurant owners, VG Meats will develop best practices in packaging meats for full carcass utilization and offer their learnings to other farmers to increase sales.