The Food Action Hub seeks to promote local food action (production), through sustainable agriculture. Supporting the individual in their food action journey, the producer as they seek to create a viable food product, and ultimately the distribution chain as we seek to create (or promote) a viable local food system that helps local producers develop a viable business.

Basically, we want everyone to grow food, and we want those who grow or raise food for a living, to have a profitable enterprise- something that is far too rare in Northern Canada.

We want to disrupt the current paradigm and archaic food distribution networks and decentralize food production. Tear down the old order and rebuild in a way that incorporates food systems into every aspect of our lives, our very being, our “raison d’être”. Lets start a food revolution!  

Why are we dependent on food networks that span thousands of kilometers? Why are we not growing and raising all of our food locally? If we are serious about climate change, and lowering our carbon footprint, the first step is to stop being reliant on monocultural farming practices and shipping food vast distances. Let’s create holistic farms with regenerative permacultural elements. Let’s heal our land and our take control of our diet and health! Let’s take away the means of food production from the mega-corporations, and the hands of the few.

Every local food producer should have a competitive advantage against imported food, because of their proximity to the local market. This local connection should be celebrated and championed by the local people and their leaders. Barriers to monopolistic enterprises should be created, as they burden the earth with their very being and business model that they perpetuate. Energy should not be expended in transporting food far distances, rather it should be used to create food locally.

The goal of the food action hub then should be to foster and cultivate small, local producers. It should work opposite to a tariff system, where the goal is not to impose restrictions, rather to create local advantages. People should learn to recognize and support local brands, companies that employ and engage their own people and children, and their very future- enterprises that truly trickle down into the local economy.

The food hub model should ensure that food is efficiently collected and utilized, from small hobby farms to big local farming enterprises, in a manner that allows the food producer to create a viable, and profitable, product (because why else would you go into business, labour all hours of the day- if you can’t make a profit?).

We need a food hub that purchases food from farmers and pays them retail prices, with no markup, no commission, no “middle man.” Only when the accumulated product is delivered to a market in a competitive and strategic manner will the local producers be successful. Only when farmers can focus on their true passion of farming, and not the stress of selling and marketing their products, can they compete with the “big guy.”

Why do local farmers face such hurdles to have their food sold in grocery stores- especially the bigger chains? Yes, there are safety considerations, and that’s why we have local health authorities that inspect and permit food processing facilities. Depending on the type of food- there can be massive processing costs, especially when it comes to meat products such as chicken, pork & cattle.

In fact, in the Yukon- the slaughter and processing of meat products is not feasible in a business sense. How do I know this? I was part of a group that purchased a local abattoir and tried to create a food supply chain from farmer to distributor, and ultimately this endeavour failed, as it was highly unprofitable.

Other food products also have their hurdles, with limited shelf life of most vegetables. Solutions to this obstacle include long term cold storage for root vegetables such as potatoes and carrots, and strategic “just in time” product aggregation and distribution for leafy greens and berries. This needs to be performed by a centralized food hub- selling to institutions, grocers, and direct to consumer.

The greatest strength of the food hub concept is the ability to divert waste in the form of spoiled products, and prevent them from spoiling altogether. A traditional business model requires all food to be sold or disposed of, if not fit for consumption. But a community food hub can go so much farther than that! With a social component, we can prevent food from ever spoiling! By working very closely with the local food bank, strategic food donations can be made before produce goes bad. This is ground-breaking when you consider that as much as 30% of produce in northern grocery stores spoils and is disposed of before it can be sold. This kind of model can change the world!