Just Food is proposing to establish a Community Food and Sustainable Agriculture Hub in Ottawa, to provide training, partnerships, infrastructure and access to land to promote and celebrate a sustainable and just local food system.   It will be a special place that:

• shows that ecological agriculture can exist (and be productive) beside native habitat and fragile ecosystems with over 75 acres of land for a demonstration farm;
• encourages more people (youth, new Canadians, second careerists) to fulfill their dream of becoming a farmer through access to land and markets, internships, mentoring and workshops, a resource library of books and tools;
• supports local farmers by providing infrastructure (internet-based order system, cold storage and freezer, sorting and packing facilities, egg-grading station, possible a cooperative delivery service, to enable extension of production and more coordinated distribution of product to restaurants, caterers, grocers, hotels, schools, long-term care facilities etc;
• facilitates the development of local food-based businesses with a commercial kitchen and greenhouses, and increased access to local produce;
• supports the community with farm, garden and food-based programming such as courses, workshops, kids’ after-four and summer camps, accessible demonstration community gardens, and a children’s garden;
• ensures access to local, fresh foods with food bank plots to promote the Plant-a-Row, Donate-a-Row program, and providing food for community services such as the “Good Food Box,” and has a volunteer-run community garden and community kitchen that enables communities to grows and preserve fruit and vegetables;
• is a model of energy efficient building (grey water recycling, solar/geothermal heat, wind power…);
• preserves and protects our local agricultural biodiversity with a community seedbank and heirloom gardens (in-situ and ex-situ conservation);
• is a beautiful place to visit, with gardens, orchards, flowerbeds and a wonderful big red barn;
• hosts events both public and private, educational and fun -festivals, school field trips, tours, local food and wine tastings;
• enables us all to learn about our agricultural heritage while learning skills that will sustain our families and communities in the future;
• provides office and inspirational space for Just Food.

We aim to inspire everyone from farmers to eaters to scale-up our local food system while maintaining our values of opportunity, equity and sustainability.  Follow our blog to the right of this page for updates and to find out how you can get involved in this exciting project.