Greenbelt Fund Announces Support of 23 Local Food Projects During Local Food Week
Posted: June 8, 2016
Categories: Edible Education Network / Edible Education Project Profiles / Featured Edible Education Network Members / GoodFoodBites / News from Sustain Ontario / Schools
On June 7, 2016 Sustain Ontario was invited by the Greenbelt Fund to attend a major announcement as part of Ontario Local Food Week 2016. The event marked the announcement of $100,000 in funding for our project, Say Yes! To Local Food Literacy In Schools, that will be coordinated by Sustain Ontario’s Edible Education Network in partnership with Ecosource, FoodShare Toronto, Roots to Harvest, and Farm to Cafeteria Canada.
The event was held at a Subway restaurant on Bay Street in Toronto where funding for 23 other local food projects where announced, through the Local Food Investment Fund. A total of $1.5 million in funding across the province.
Over the next year our partnership will be working to support, inspire, connect and engage school communities that want to build their capacity to provide local food literacy education. Stay tuned for webinars and tipsheets, stories and resources, and tools for celebrating Local Food Week, Ontario Agriculture Week, and National Farm to School month. As a first set of tools, visit our Ontario Local Food Week Celebration – Resources for Schools website.
The funding announcement took place at a Subway, as one of the major announcements made was of the project, Stop at Subway for Ontario Grown, being funded in partnership between the Greenbelt Fund and the Ontario Government. The project will see Burmac Produce supply the 1300 Subway outlets in Ontario with locally grown tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and onions during the 2016 harvest season. A promotional campaign using Foodland Ontario point-of-sale materials will help highlight the availability of local produce at SUBWAY® restaurants.
“Burmac and SUBWAY® Canada’s leadership to help increase Ontario food sales is just the type of change we look for at the Greenbelt Fund,” said Burkhard Mausberg, CEO of the Greenbelt Fund. “As the biggest restaurant chain in the world, SUBWAY® Restaurants will be a leader in taking the local food movement to a whole new scale.”
“Through the Local Food Investment Fund, our government is helping expose people across this province to the great foods grown, harvested and made right here in Ontario while helping create new opportunities for our local agri-food producers,” said Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Jeff Leal. “With investments across the province, this funding is leveraging private-sector funding to provide the people of Ontario with more access to local food options while building a strong agri-food sector and growing our economy.”