Manitoulin Mobile Community Food Hub
Our relationship with Noojmowin Teg Health Centre has ensured Local Food Manitoulin is in position to improve and expand the project for public benefit through development of infrastructure and revenue generation, creating a social enterprise that impacts all communities in the district. LFM is an existing community asset that supports economic stability and growth of local food systems for public benefit and community impact. We will create a new community space that will transform the existing project into a sustainable and permanent feature of the local food landscape.
Our team has designed a Mobile Community Food Hub model to increase accessibility and affordability of local foods in an area that is disproportionately affected by commercialized food systems and furthermore, by COVID-19. The design addresses shared barriers by creating safe public space through a permanent facility and mobile food distribution and processing units for essential food services.
The proposed design includes a facility featuring a commercial 4 bay garage, greenhouse, training space, and food storage area. The garage will store three (3) cargo trailers that serve specific purposes: (1) mobile market and food transportation unit; (2) mobile kitchen and food service unit; and (3) mobile licensed butchery.
Market
The Mobile Food Market increases accessibility of the freshest cultivated foods from local producers and our own farming for community project here on Manitoulin through a donation-based, sliding scale system.
Butchery
The Mobile Butchery will address the barrier of limited licensed resources in the district, encourage youth connections to experienced hunters and increase contributions to our Harvest to Share program through safe processing.
Kitchen
The Mobile Community Kitchen will enhance food processing and cooking demos, financially support LFM programs through value-added products and increase capacity to contribute to feasts and special events.
Project Planning
Our Priorities
Put Down Roots
Continue to grow Local Food Manitoulin partnerships, workshops, programs and knowledge sharing.
Enrich the Ground
Secure the financial sustainability to support Local Food Manitoulin programs and initiatives.
Expand our Harvest
Build the necessary infrastructure to support the achievement of Local Food Manitoulin goals.
Conceptual drawings and a project schedule have been developed and can be summarized by a phased-in approach:
Phase 1 – Site Works and Greenhouse
Phase 2 – Main Building Construction Drawings
Phase 3 – Main Building Construction
The organization has acquired $255,000.00 to complete Phase 1 of the project schedule in partnership with Community Foundations of Canada and the Northern Ontario Indigenous Food Sovereignty Collaborative. The results of improving LFM's program logistics through infrastructure development will not only improve food access for the Manitoulin community but also, people's experience and knowledge transfer pertaining to local foods. Through increased food production and value-added products, revenue generation will support sustainability of the project so that we can continue moving forward together. We expect that by adapting and re-envisioning the way in which LFM operates, our ability to support future community planning efforts will improve and we will see substantial rejuvenation of the local food system.
