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Ontariofresh Buy Local Challenge

The goal of this Challenge is to put more fresh, Ontario food on the plates of institutions across the Province.

We have been working hard getting Ontariofresh.ca ready to help you access many of Ontario’s outstanding farmers and producers, and their amazing products. We are eager to see how your cafeteria or food service integrates and promotes fresh local food into your menu. 

 

 

How will the Buy Local Challenge work?

The first step is to create a profile on Ontariofresh.ca and source at least one item through the site. Sourcing local ingredients is made easy through this site, use it to gain additional points toward the grand prize. 

During the Buy Local Challenge week, from Sunday, November 27, 2011 to Saturday, December 3, 2011, participants will incorporate Ontario local food into their menus and promote the Challenge to those working, visiting and/or eating at your institution. 

Following the Challenge week participants must submit the Post-Challenge Submission Form no later than 5pm on Monday, December 12th, 2011.

The winner of the Ontariofresh.ca Buy Local Challenge will be announced during the week of December 19, 2011. 

With a grand prize of a $2,000 gift certificate to a commercial kitchen supplier of the winner's choice, the prize will go a long way to helping the their kitchen secure the equipment they need to keep serving local food. 

The winner will be determined by the Challenge Review Committee, composed of a panel of external judges, and announced during the week of December 19th, 2011. 

To see the official rules, enter the Buy Local Challenge or to get more information, please visit Ontariofresh.ca 

 

Important Dates

Buy Local Challenge Entry Deadline

Friday, November 25, 2011

 

Buy Local Challenge Week

Sunday, November 27, 2011 to Saturday, December 3, 2011

 

Post-Challenge Submission Form Deadline

Monday, December 12, 2011

 

Announcement of Buy Local Challenge Winner

Week of December 19, 2011

 

 

 

The Greenbelt Foundation is

  • Creating a network of Farmer’s Markets to help improve our local food economy

  • Engaging with over 170 million Ontarians directly through our marketing, events and communications activities

  • Hosting the successful Tour de Greenbelt to promote Ontario’s Greenbelt as a tourism destination

  • Participating strategically in growing the Greenbelt by working with Toronto, Peel, Halton, and Guelph

  • Supporting the creation of new multi-cultural crops and development of ethnic local food guides in Toronto and York Region

  • Convincing Peel school boards to buy Greenbelt food for students

  • Bringing thousands of Ontarians out into the Greenbelt each year through grantee activities and the Annual Tour de Greenbelt cycling event

  • Bridging farming and hiking interests to acknowledge environmental progress by farmers

  • Partnering with Harbourfront Centre to tell the story of Ontario’s Greenbelt to 12 million people via a year-long, outdoor photography exhibit

  • Securing local food procurement commitments for Peel schools, City of Toronto, City of Markham and others

  • Identifying barriers to opening markets for Greenbelt farmers and proposing solutions

  • Assisting in designing new policies to protect Lake Simcoe through timely research

  • Supporting changing the City of Toronto policy to adopt a local food purchasing bylaw for city facilities

  • Supporting the Credit Valley Conservation Authority to protect and restore wetlands

  • Developing a successful culinary tourism platform for Niagara

  • Funding research and analysis on greenbelts around the globe which concluded that Ontario’s Greenbelt is the most robust in the world, with a strong legal and policy framework

  • Providing grants and support to significantly increase sales at farmers’ markets

  • Supporting the Ontario Greenbelt Alliance to foster strong Greenbelt Plan implementation at the municipal level

  • Engaged Hamilton schools to switch to Greenbelt food for their students

  • Successfully merging social welfare initiatives with environmental concerns

  • Supporting development of action plans for a variety of agricultural areas and commodities

  • Enhancing Farmers’ Markets, increasing sales for farmers in the Greenbelt and beyond

  • Creating Greenbeltfresh.ca, the leading electronic marketplace to source local, Greenbelt foods from over 600 producers

  • Contributing $2.65 million to Greenbelt farmers to improve their operations (leveraging millions of dollars from federal sources), and to employ the opportunities of the Green Energy Act

  • Supporting food policy council in Durham to create food charter

  • Supporting the development of multi-cultural crops and training new Canadian Farmers

  • Building a local food economy from developing new markets to enhancing distribution channels

  • Hosted the first ever Global Greenbelts Conference in Toronto in March 2011 with speakers and delegates from over nine countries

  • Funding visionary planning processes such as the new Cootes to Escarpment Park Management Plan, and a massive reforestation plan in Rouge Park

  • Securing local food procurement commitments for Peel, U of T. City of Toronto Facilities and Markham

  • Reaching over 75 million by placing 220 permanent highway and regional road signs to ensure Ontarians and visitors know about this valuable protected area

  • Funding policy changes to encourage more local food to be sold in Durham

  • Funding the Holland Marsh Growers’ transition from an export, commodity focus to one that serves the local market with value- added products

  • Supporting the creation of an award-winning Greenbelt granola bar

  • Increasing amount of Greenbelt food in food share program 140%

  • Supporting interested Greenbelt Farmers to Go Organic

  • Contributing to greater sales of Greenbelt wines at the LCBO

  • Supporting tourism initiatives including in the Niagara and Caledon areas

 
Learn more about what the Greenbelt Foundation has done for you »

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