Efforts to grow Thunder Bay's local food supply are a mixed bag for farmers and customers

The Thunder Bay Food Strategy is hoping to grow local food production by getting large, public sector institutions to buy more local food – but so far, their efforts have met with mixed results.

This week, the Food Strategy released its second ever report card on the state of the Thunder Bay food system.

The organization wants to grow local food production to increase the region's resilience as climate change, COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine play havoc with the global food supply. In 2014, it estimated that broader public sector institutions in Thunder Bay spend $10 million a year on food.

"There's a lot of buying power and a lot of opportunity to influence the local food system," said Karen Kerk, the Food Strategy coordinator.

Kerk points to agreements between the City of Thunder Bay and local farms and greenhouses as the kinds of deals she'd like to see more of.

The city currently purchases 26 per cent of the food for the Pioneer Ridge long-term care home from northwestern Ontario producers, according to Dan Munshaw, the city's manager of supply management. Another eight per cent comes from elsewhere in Ontario.

Pioneer Ridge only receives around $11 per resident per day from the Ontario government to cover the cost of meals and snacks, and Munshaw said buying local food ends up being no more expensive than buying from a major supplier, and they often waste less than if they'd purchased food from a major distributor. 

"We look at the total cost of the food," he said. "When we buy lettuce … through a broad-line distributor, our waste on lettuce is 20 per cent. When we're buying local lettuce, our waste is near zero. So it's competitively priced, plus we're getting 20 per cent better yield."

When the supply of local salad vegetables dries up in December, the home sees an increase in complaints about the quality of its salads, Munshaw said. 

Local veal producer My Pride Farm is one of the city's suppliers for Pioneer Ridge. Owner Mike Visser said he appreciated the opportunity to diversify his customer base.

The city purchases most of its food for Pioneer Ridge through the healthcare procurement company HealthPRO, Munshaw said. But the contract does not include fresh vegetables and meats, leaving Munshaw free to purchase from local suppliers.

He is not obligated to tender contracts worth less than $60,000, he added. 

A spokesperson for Lakehead Public Schools told CBC News, it feels more constrained by its procurement arrangements.

It is required to tender its contract to provide more than $100,000 in groceries each year to its school cafeterias, said Jim Desaulniers, the manager of property services.