The Golden Horseshoe Food and Farming Alliance (GHFFA) project, Serving Up Local, is a partnership with Durham and Halton regions, and the City of Hamilton, to increase the amount of local foods offered in their facilities with a special focus on long-term care homes. To help build the capacity of other regions wanting to take on a similar initiative they have generated case studies, a project manual, and communications pieces which are available on their website.

Mohawk College has created a scalable, transferable toolkit that includes a step-by-step guide, resources, along with tools to increase local food procurement at Ontario’s 24 colleges. While it's focus is on colleges that use third-party foodservices operators the ideas and initiatives described may be applicable to self-operated foodservices and other institutions throughout the public sector.

Read The Local Food Framework for Ontario Colleges: A step-by-step guide to bringing more local food to Ontario colleges

A new report from the Greenbelt Fund details the experience in piloting an integrated regional system in southern Ontario. The project linked producers in the Greater Golden Horseshoe to a large institutional food service buyer through a regional food hub and a broadline distributor.

Read Regional Food Hub Pilot Project Case Study

Read Regional Food Hub Pilot Project Regional Profiles

On Jan 10, we hosted a workshop that connected buyers and sellers through the local food value chain. Furthermore, presentations were given in a number of areas to educate buyers and sellers on the purchasing and selling of local food. Here are the slides of all the presentations given.

In 2015, Halton Healthcare hopped aboard Ontario's Local Food Act and put into writing a Local Food Procurement Statement to promote the use of local food in their hospitals. The statement outlines the steps and criteria in which Halton Healthcare will formulate a Local Food Procurement Strategy, and create a shareable plan and process between the hospitals and local producers to integrate suppliers into the purchasing structure of the hospitals.

Read Halton Healthcare's Local Food Procurement Statement

Additionally, Halton Healthcare had developed six nutritious recipes whose ingredients can be sourced locally.

View The Recipes.

“Getting it There: The Role of New England Food Distributors in Providing Local Food to Institutions” presents in-depth findings and makes specific, data-based recommendations for food distributors – including food hubs – as well as government officials, funders and institutions.

In 2011, City of Toronto adopted a Local Food Procurement Policy that requires that 51% of all products purchased to be grown in Ontario, and 80% of all processing costs to be returned to Ontario. The move helps reduce food miles while supporting local farmers and processors.

Read The City Of Toronto's Local Food Procurement Policy

Sustain Ontario has developed a toolkit geared towards Ontario municipalities and broader public sector institutions looking to initiate sustainable procurement policies and programs in their regions. Learn more about the Local Sustainable Food Procurement For Municipalities and BPS on Sustain Ontario's Website.

St. Joseph’s Heath System created a guide to help organizations and institutions conduct food origin audits. The guide includes steps involved in food origin audits, details, and examples for each of the steps, as well as useful tools, such as a template for a letter of endorsement.

Read Conducting Food Origin Audits: A Step-by-Step Guide 

Here is all the information you need to plan a successful and rewarding farm tour as an engagement and education piece for your local food program. A well-rounded tour includes visiting a produce farm, farm-raised meats shop, a dairy or cheese facility, and providing a meal, showcasing local menu items.

Read Farm Tour 101