Federal government announces nearly $10M in funding to address national food insecurity

The Federal government has announced it will provide $9.8 million in funding to strengthen food security across the country.

“As we continue our efforts to stabilize food prices and bring relief to Canadians, this new funding through the Local Food Infrastructure Fund will help put more healthy, local food on tables right across the country,” states Lawrence MacAulay, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food

The funding will address local food security needs and aim to increase access to healthy food for those in need. The funding will support up to 192 new community-led projects across the country through investments in equipment and infrastructure needs to help improve the accessibility of nutritious, local food.

The support is the fifth phae of the government’s Local Food Infrastructure Fund (LFIF), a key component of the first-ever food policy for Canada.

Since it first launched in August 2019, LFIF has committed $64.8 million to support more than 1,100 projects to improve food security across Canada, including community gardens and kitchens, refrigerated trucks and storage units for donate d food, and greenhouses in remote and Northern communities.

The announcement on January 17 took place at the Wilmot Family Resource Centre in New Hamburg, Ont. The Centre received support through the first phase of LFIF in 2020 that allowed the organization to purchase a cargo van. This has helped the organization significantly increase their food hamper program by providing delivery services, and to increase the variety of local healthy foods from farmer donations.