Food hubs are an antidote to Canada’s grocery oligarchy
Food hubs need to be well resourced if they are to become centres of local food systems
Funded properly, food hubs could be socially just and sustainable alternatives to large grocery stores. This past summer, the government announced the launch of a new $1 billion Food-Link Fund, through the National Food Security Strategy (NFSS), $450 million of which will be used to support food hubs across the country over the next 10 years. The National Farmers Union (NFU) believes the government’s commitment to regional food hubs falls short. $450 million is less than seven percent of total net profits of the Canadian retail grocery sector in 2025. The Food-Link Fund should be used to cultivate a stable marketplace for farmers who do direct-to-consumer sales, and strengthen alternatives to large corporate grocery retailers.
Food hubs can be the centrepiece of regional food systems by increasing access to local food, expanding choice for public institutions and grocers, and decentralizing food distribution. To be successful, the NFU believes that food hubs should incorporate processing infrastructure, provide farmers with a guaranteed market and the opportunity to capture added value, and deliver regional processing enterprises a stable supply of fresh, local food.
The Food-Link Fund is an opportunity to rebuild missing food infrastructure that suits the needs of regional farms and food processors. Well-funded food hubs can build farmer autonomy and power, while revitalizing rural communities. For example, food hubs can supplement direct market sales, reduce food waste, and simplify and expand fresh food procurement for local restaurants and government institutions.
Food hubs can also provide an environmentally and socially sustainable option to Canada’s highly concentrated food processing sector. Processing infrastructure at or surrounding hubs can support new, small-scale processors of local and regional food. Processing at food hubs could include egg grading, milling, baking, butchering, packaging, canning, and cold storage. Regional food hubs are also a natural home for essential skills training for liveable wage jobs , including food safety, butchering, and processing.
“In Nova Scotia, we see the opportunity to connect more local producers with wholesale buyers and institutions. But making those connections work takes staff, storage, transportation, and time. Food hubs need sustained support beyond start-up infrastructure funding so they can build a dependable service for producers and buyers,” says Eli Milton, NFU member and Executive Director of the Halifax Regional Food Hub Co-operative.
Only $450 million of the $1 billion Food-Link Fund will be allocated to 20-40 food hubs across the country. The NFU is concerned that the Food-Link Fund will only generate a series of pilot food hub projects in Canada that will be left without public support once the Fund has dried up. “Start up funding alone will not suffice to establish a network of financially self-sustaining food hubs. Rather, food hubs will need secure and sustained funding to help cover operational costs while they develop capacity, adapt to region-specific conditions, and increase in scale and complexity,” says Katie Sardinha, NFU Member and Vice President of the LocalMotive Farmers Network Cooperative.
Food hubs could be part of the solution to rampant food inflation by providing local food at market, or below-market costs. Food hubs can also provide the missing link between regional farms and institutions—such as prisons, schools, hospitals and universities. Mandating that publicly-funded programs—like the National School Food Program—purchase a fixed proportion of their food from local hubs would create a stable demand for farmer goods.
The NFU maintains that new food hubs should be publicly owned, co-operatively owned, or farmer owned-and-operated. For example, in British Columbia, the Summerland Food Hub will operate as a partnership between a non-profit producer cooperative (the LocalMotive Farmers Network Cooperative) and a non-profit processing organization (the Okanagan Food and Innovation Centre).
The government needs to be clear about who will receive money from the Food-Link Fund. We cannot rely on private food distributors and wholesalers that have an established market share to run food hubs in the public interest. Established companies, broadline distributors like Sysco and Gordon Food Services, or tech start ups that have delivery divisions, like Uber and DoorDash, will not deliver on food security.
As it stands, the Food-Link Fund is a gesture rather than a commitment to reinvestment in domestic food production and distribution. The Food-Link Fund must dedicate more resources to create successful and sustainable food hubs, defined by their ability to stimulate and maintain reliable support for a growing regional food economy. Sustained investment in food hubs is an opportunity to create community-based, fair food distribution systems in Canada, that will support the establishment and growth of the next generation of farmers in this country.
