Sudbury food co-op poised for expansion
…The goal is to make Eat Local Sudbury a regional hub for local food distribution with the added offshoots of increasing awareness of local food production, supporting local farmers, and boosting the economy. The funding will be used to develop a three-part business plan to expand both its retail facilities and its programming to accommodate a much larger volume of food. Read more…
The need to ‘grow’ more topsoil
from the Guelph Mercury, Ralph C. Martin:
When I hear a big, hairy audacious goal, I expect drum rolls and trumpets, or if it’s really big, tubas. There was not even a piccolo adagio when Abe Collins, a Vermont farmer, educator and consultant shared his passion for topsoil formation and grazing at the Ecological Farmers of Ontario Conference, held earlier this month in Guelph. Nevertheless, the audience was all ears. His big, hairy goal? He expects a community, near Lake Champlain, to blanket their watershed in deep topsoil in a decade. Read more…
CED Net National Jobs Postings include many food jobs
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Communications and Marketing Manager, Community Food Centres Canada
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Nova Scotia Organic Market Research Assistant
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Entrepreneurship and Marketing Coordinator, Le Santropol Roulant
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Farm Co-Manager, Le Santropol Roulant
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McQuesten Urban Farm Community Animator
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Social Planning and Research Council of Hamilton
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CSI’s Desk Exchange Animator Program, Centre for Social Innovation
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Ecological Gardening Internship, Harvest Moon Society, Clearwater Manitoba
NGFN Food Hub Benchmarking Study 2014
Food Hubs are delivering on their promise of enabling identity-preserved, primarily local and regional food to enter the wholesale market, enabling small and mid-sized farms access to buyers that would otherwise be unattainable.
But aggregation and distribution of food is a very thin-margin business, and hubs take on additional expense working with smaller farmers, providing technical assistance, and other grower and community services. Are food hubs able to support themselves with their operations? What are industry-standard financial and operational benchmarks for food hub businesses?