GUELPH – On July 31 the Guelph-Wellington Smart Cities initiative, in collaboration with Innovation Guelph and 10C, announced the 40 recipients of Seeding Our Food Future micro-grants.
There are an equal number of recipients from both Guelph and Wellington County, and the businesses cover all aspects of the food system from farm, processing and distribution, to retail, restaurant, technology, education, hospitality and infrastructure. Eleven of the recipients are new businesses, 25 are existing and four represent collaborations.
Seventy-six applications were received by Innovation Guelph for the grant program. While only 40 grants were available, the organization and partners are looking for ways to help the remaining 36 businesses, where possible.
Seeding Our Food Future is one of 10 projects in Grow Back Better: Our Food Future’s 10-point recovery plan in response to COVID-19. This project also supports the City of Guelph’s and the County of Wellington’s overall COVID-19 economic and social recovery efforts.
Grow Back Better is designed to provide immediate support to our local food economy by supporting new and existing food businesses and strengthening our regional food system resiliency.
The 40 new and existing food system businesses, not-for-profits and social enterprises will receive a $5,000 non-repayable seed funding grant to support their economic recovery efforts while contributing to the creation of Canada’s first tech-enabled circular food economy.
Additionally, the program will provide up to 30 hours of expert advice with guidance from a lead mentor and industry specialists ($4,500 value), and a guaranteed spot in R-Purpose MICRO, a 12-week educational program focused on building sustainable practices, circularity and business resilience, delivered by Provision Coalition, a food industry advisory firm ($1,200 value).
The 40 successful applicants are now eligible to apply for one of 36 interest free loans of up to $10,000 through the Harvest Impact Fund and the Waterloo-Wellington and Saugeen Community Futures offices. The $360,000 in total financing will support businesses shifting their practices in a way that contributes to the circular food economy.
“It’s wonderful to see this support going to businesses across our County,” said Wellington County Warden Kelly Linton. “We know these enterprises are already rooted in being good neighbours, and it’s nice to see them recognized as they continue to embrace sustainability and circularity in their work.”
“COVID-19 has deeply impacted the ways people live, work and care for each other in our community, and has highlighted a number of challenges related to food insecurity and mismatches in food supply and demand,” said Guelph Mayor Cam Guthrie.
“The Seeding Our Food Future grants are another new way to sustain, develop and maintain the robust local food economy by sharing insights across sectors.”
“It’s clear through the number of applications that businesses throughout Guelph-Wellington need support,” said Innovation Guelph CEO Anne Toner Fung. “We’re taking steps to help these businesses recover from COVID-19 by providing immediate, direct support that will help them build capacity and resilience.”
“With an overwhelming response to the Seeding Our Food Future grants, we wanted to find a way to support all 76 applicants,” said 10C Shared Space executive director Julia Grady.
“We’re in the process of matching the 36 businesses who did not receive a grant with other local programs.
“It’s our hope that they will find a collaborator that will help them grow their business in a circular way.”
