This evaluation documents how, with support from the Ontario Trillium Foundation, Open Food Network Canada (OFN) used the Design Thinking process to tech-enable food and farming entrepreneurship in three different Ontario communities: a mid sized urban/rural community, a large urban community, and a primarily rural community. We helped 12 women develop and launch social enterprises that focus on sourcing and distributing local food and farming products. We worked closely with these women to evolve a gender-sensitive entrepreneurship approach. The tools and methodologies of design thinking (or ‘human-centred design,’ as it is also known) were originally developed to achieve better problem-solving outcomes in industry and big business. However, we’ve learned that the same tools can be adapted to suit the needs of women entrepreneurs who are starting community food initiatives like food hubs, farmers’ markets, community-owned shops and stores, community supported agriculture projects, and cooperatives. We conclude that this method, when combined with OFN’s open source digital tools, creates on-line enterprises which catalyze the formation of regional food and farming networks. The 12 women entrepreneurs we worked with mobilized 160 other enterprises to amplify impact in their communities. Together, these on-line initiatives are improving access to 8,519 different local food and farming products through these networks and returning $1M to the pockets of local, small scale, ecological growers and artisans annually.

As communities and governments attempt to reinforce local food security, we think it is vital for all stakeholders to understand that digital platforms – far from a novel and optional ‘add-on’ to existing marketing methods – actually represent a critical ‘public infrastructure.‘ Without this, local food systems will struggle to overcome the economic and public health challenges that the post-COVID era presents. Further, our work with community partners has also led to the insight that even with the advantage of robust and affordable tech support, few local food systems really flourish without the anchor of committed, organised, and community-supported ‘hub coordinators,’ social entrepreneurs who are ‘mission’ rather than ‘profit’ motivated.

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