About LFFC

LFFC grew rapidly, and incorporated as a non-profit co-operative in 2017. In 2014, with Ontario Ministry of Agriculture support, LFFC managed the Regional Food Hub Project with business and feasibility planning for four co-op food hubs, two in the north. In 2017, LFFC launched the Co-op Field Schools (training and development for sector co-ops and enterprises), the Peer2Peer Mentoring program and the Trade Routes North Project to develop regional infrastructure for the local food sector in northern Ontario. The programs generated hundreds of online resources and supported enterprises across northern Ontario. LFFC has engaged women leaders, Indigenous and marginalized groups in the sector; an above average number of women and marginalized groups are the owners and operators of new forms of co-operative farming, processing and markets. As new entrepreneurs, the support that LFFC offers through training, mentorship and exchanges among co-ops at different stages is invaluable to their success.

Through mentorships, regional forums, workshops, one on one meetings and planning sessions, the LFFC has also connected with northern communities in the development of a Regional Distribution Centre, including Sioux Lookout and KI. Discussions have been undertaken with Waubetek, NAN, and Red Lake. In 2018, discussions for a food distribution hub in the Aroland area, involving 14 communities, began.

Requests from new communities (remote, Indigenous and Francophone) guided the current planning to expand the demographic and geographic reach of LFFC's successful programs.

Since LFFC's work began, there has been increasing need for these activities in the north, sometimes stretching LFFC's current resources beyond capacity or forcing opportunities to be missed. In 2018, LFFC completed a "Keys to Success" report to help retail food co-ops manage increasing pressure in an intensely competitive environment, as transnationals compete for grocery share from Canadian grocery corporations, driving prices down, and online sales entice retail customers to armchair shopping. In 2018-2019, LFFC undertook research to track trends and challenges in the current food system, aggregating this material in a report and presentations at the winter Assembly entitled "The State of the Local Food System". 2020 brought about a plethora of new challenges and opportunities as the pandemic impacted local food in every facet, and LFFC supported our members through their various challenges and successes as they navigated how to support their own members.

In 2021, our Annual Assembly: RESILIENCE brought together over 200+ participants and speakers that reached further than ever before in our first online Assembly. We were inspired and learned from speakers from co-ops and food sovereignty initiatives from Indigenous food sovereignty in Coast Salish territory on the West coast to alternative economic social finance models in Nova Scotia on the East coast; from food security in the Yukon to a network of growing worker co-ops working towards Black self-determination in Mississippi.

The research showed challenges across the industry as well as important innovations in a rapidly changing Canadian foodscape. LFFC's mandate provides the infrastructure to support local food and farm enterprises in preparing for and benefiting from these changes and opportunities. In addition, the need for specific collaborative solutions such as the Northern Food Distribution Network, support for new northern farm groups and co-ops, and flexible food hubs or depots for distribution outside urban centres was identified as a significant need, and an important collaborative solution to the various changes underway in the industry.