Media Release: Open Food Network Canada Helps Ontario Farmers and Local Eaters Connect Online

For Immediate Release

WATERLOO, ON – Local Food Week is a chance to celebrate and strengthen the connection between farmers and local consumers. With funding support from the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, the non-profit software provider Open Food Network (OFN) Canada recently wrapped up a project aimed at helping farmers bring this connection online.  

“Local Food Week is a time to recognize all the amazing products grown and produced in Ontario,” said Lisa Thompson, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. “Investing in initiatives like the Open Food Network creates opportunities for Ontario farmers to promote and grow their business that strengthens the local food supply chain and communities, while contributing to the province’s economy.”

Thanks to the Government of Ontario, Open Food Network Canada launched an initiative to help small farms enhance their online presence and leverage digital tools to build authentic and lasting relationships with consumers. The project included the creation of online co-selling hubs for local farms; e-commerce ‘tune-ups’ to correct and optimize shopfronts; digital marketing resources, tools and content templates; and one-to-one guidance on digital marketing strategies.  

A key finding of the initiative was that the biggest source of growth for individual farms and producers came through selling through one or more online co-selling hubs. Farms often have little additional time to commit to marketing and do not always have the budget to hire a marketing assistant. For farms in this position, selling through established online marketplaces can be a very efficient approach to establishing new sales channels. In addition to creating growth for farms, the project was also successful in enhancing supply chain transparency for consumers. Unlike grocery stores, co-selling hubs on the OFN platform emphasize transparency, clearly displaying each product’s source and the farmer’s share of the price, so consumers always know exactly where their money is going and can easily connect with the local farms that produce their food. 

“We are very grateful for the financial support we received from the Government of Ontario. This project showed us that there is a tremendous opportunity to help small farms and local food systems overall by coordinating and supporting online marketplaces. The urgent transition to online sales brought on by the pandemic has now subsided, but support for selling online—long-term and effectively—is still very much a need for small farms and producers,” said David Thomas, Executive Director of Open Food Network Canada. “As this project demonstrates, we may achieve the greatest gains for the local food system overall by extending our focus beyond individual farmers operating independent online e-stores, toward training and mentoring local food systems coordinators, leaders, and volunteers. For Open Food Network Canada, the next steps will be to use our learnings from this project and our expertise in local food systems to research best practices for starting and running hubs, and beyond that, work to establish new hubs following this model.”

Open Food Network Canada is a non-profit software provider dedicated to building food and farming systems that are fair, local, and transparent. The organization works to advance regenerative agriculture and food sovereignty, collaborating with academic institutions to conduct research and partnering with local entrepreneurs and grassroots change-makers on community development initiatives. 

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Media contact:

David Thomas, Executive Director
Open Food Network Canada

613-322-8400