July 13, 2021 – Wilmot, ON – Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
Today, Tim Louis, Member of Parliament for Kitchener – Conestoga announced that the Government of Canada is investing u to $71,368 under the Local Food Infrastructure Fund for St. Agatha company Open Food Network Canada.
The Local Food Infrastructure Fund, a five-year, $50-million program under the Food Policy for Canada, is aimed at community-based, not-for-profit organizations. The mission of the program is to reduce food insecurity by establishing and/or strengthening local food systems in the medium to longer term. The first phase of the program was launched mid-summer of 2019 and closed in November 2019, with 362 projects receiving funding valued at up to $25,000 per project, for a total of $6.6 million.
The second phase of the program aims to support community-based, not-for-profit organizations to improve their food systems through investments in infrastructure that are directly related to addressing food insecurities and increasing the accessibility of healthy, nutritious and local foods within their community.
Today’s announcement supports updates to Open Food Network Canada’s digital platform by adding several new features to make food affordable, adequate, available, and accessible to food insecure populations.
Open Food Network Canada is a non-profit building digital tools to support regenerative and inclusive agri-food systems. Their core offering is an open-source software platform that is designed to help local communities create and coordinate independent, community food initiatives, and to secure access to sustainably produced food.
In addition to the Local Food Infrastructure Fund, the Government of Canada is investing $200 million under the Emergency Food Security Fund, which provides funding to national and regional organizations, who then support food banks and local food organizations across Canada to help reach people experiencing food insecurity.
Quotes
“COVID-19 has intensified food insecurity of the most vulnerable people, but it is also having an impact on the operation of organizations working to improve food security. Today’s investment will help Open Food Network Canada reach people and communities in Kitchener-Conestoga and across Canada. Not only are we supporting the Canadians who rely on these programs, but we are supporting our local heroes working tirelessly to address food insecurity.”
“This is great news for Open Food Network Canada, and the community food enterprises that we support across the country. During the COVID-19 crisis, communities across Canada have used the Open Food Network platform to coordinate agile and responsive community food projects that have helped to secure regional food security in a time of widespread supply chain disruption. With this infusion of new funding from LFIF, we’ll be able to develop a new suite of platform features and short supply chain programs tailored to the needs of food-insecure Canadians across the country.”
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