Research project tackles gaps in Northern Ontario's local food supply chain

A three-year research project aiming to increase access to local food in Northern Ontario has received almost $360 thousand in funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).

Collège Boréal will lead a group of food security agencies including the Northern Ontario Farm Innovation Alliance (NOFIA), the Rural Agri-Innovation Network (RAIN), the Greater Sudbury Food Policy Council (GSFPC) and the Thunder Bay + Area Food Strategy.

The project's goal is to foster a sustainable local food ecosystem by connecting producers, processors and buyers across the region, which faces unique challenges.

"Obviously the issues in the supply chain in southern Ontario, which is heavily studied, are different than what we have here in Northern Ontario," said Sabine Bouchard,  manager of Research and Innovation Boréal at the college.

"We're hoping to be able to come up with some recommendations and maybe share it with supermarkets to try to see if we can address some of the barriers of getting local products in different establishments."

The project will also have an educational element to inform the workforce about food security and combat negative perceptions, like mistrust of larger organizations and wholesalers, and the belief that local food is too expensive.

The group will work to identify supply chain issue in the first year of the project, which will run until 2026. The second and third years will focus on addressing the barriers through workshops, networking events and recommendations.