By Steph Simko and Sarah Jensen, Food Action Network of Northwestern Ontario
The Food Action Network has been doing a lot lately to celebrate local food in action! On March 19th, we were excited to follow our February Local Food Procurement Event with a Food & Farm Co-op event. This lunch-and-learn style educational event was hosted at the Castlegreen Housing Co-Op’s community Centre; we partnered with the Finlandia Co-operative, who generously provided a Hoito pancake breakfast buffet, to offer a breakfast-for-dinner townhall event to feed minds and bellies.
Over 70 participants registered and took part in this community gathering. Our audience included folks from all walks of life: we welcomed farmers, restaurant and food business owners, students, researchers, local food organizations and not-for-profits, and members of the public. Our featured speakers Paula Haapanen (past Board member for the Finlandia Co-operative) and Darren Fisk (General Manager for Thunder Bay Co-op Farm Supply) shared their thoughts with participants on how food and farm co-ops can benefit the food system here in Northwestern Ontario.
Photos of participants at the Food and Farm Co-Op Event at Castlegreen Community Centre
What are Co-Ops?
Co-operatives are businesses or organizations owned and democratically controlled by their membership of people with shared, similar needs. Co-operatives can be found in a number of diverse sectors, such as food, healthcare, education, and housing. This model is based on the key principle that each member gets one equal vote in decision-making, an opportunity to shape how profits are used, how the business operates, and how the co-op contributes to its community. Food and farm co-ops can take many forms, including food hubs, aggregation and distribution centres, farming supply stores, grocery stores, farmers networks, and much more.
The Food & Farm Co-op event was a fantastic opportunity for the community to gather and discuss what it means to create community around food in Northwestern Ontario. We heard from our attendees about how co-ops could help address generational gaps and facilitate succession planning for local food producers & processors, as well as give the community an opportunity to address infrastructure gaps, such as food hubs, storage, distribution, processing, packaging, and marketing. Other attendees shared their hopes that co-ops could help address food education gaps, like how to grow your own food, how to store and process food, and how to be an active part of your local food systems. These themes echoed from our previous events around local food (like the Think Local Food Procurement event highlighted in last month’s Walleye article) and data gathering initiatives (like our on-going TBayInSeason update consultations).
What is most clear is that there is a big appetite for local food initiatives and infrastructure in the region, and that co-ops, with their community-based, by-and-for-the-people-they-serve approach, may be the opportunity to put these ideas into action.
We’re looking forward to continuing celebrating local food in Northwestern Ontario – stay tuned because Local Food Week is coming up next month from June 1st to 8th. Make sure you follow us on social media (@nwofood) and check out our website as we will be hosting some great events and initiatives to celebrate local food in Northwestern Ontario.
If you want to have your say about our local food initiatives, visit our website tbayinseason.ca and tell us how we can update and expand our local food directory and connected programs by filling out our brief (5 minutes or less) survey! If you are interested in being a part of discussions surrounding local food, or food and farm co-ops, please email us at info@tbayinseason.ca.
We are also looking forward to going back to our roots this fall and hosting the first Food Summit since 2013! Stay tuned for more information about these incredible events and more.
