This July, The SEED rebooted our relationship with the Elmira Produce Auction Cooperative through an amazing partnership with Two Rivers Neighbourhood Group, allowing us to get more local food to our community.
Auction Day!
At 9am every Wednesday, Nat and Leks hop into our SEED van and hit the road. Windows down, they drive down 86th line, passing fields of crops. They pull onto the dirt road where the auction sits, with a huge sign out front that says, “Elmira Produce Auction Cooperative”.
They park up behind the building and head inside, where there are hundreds of skids of food grown by local farmers in the area – all within a 120 km radius of the market, to be exact. Bidders gather around the auctioneer as he calls the bids. Alisha, our buyer who collaborates with us from the GNSC, coolly lifts her clipboard to indicate she’ll take a few cases of big beautiful green peppers, or maybe a few flats of juicy Ontario strawberries on our behalf.
Nat and Leks start to pick out our order as vans back up to the loading doc to claim their goods. They soon hit the road for the return trip, but not before popping by the food stand to get a hot dog and an order of the crispiest French fries you can imagine.
Before the end of the day, all these fresh, exciting, local, yummy, good food items will be added to our online sliding scale grocery store, Groceries from The SEED, so customers can add them to their carts. It won’t be long until those orders are processed, packed, and delivered by an amazing group of volunteers, and shoppers enjoy the fruits of all this labour- bon appetit!
Why local options are important to The SEED
A better food system includes a healthy rural economy, circularity, opportunities for smaller growers, and more connection between the land, our food and our community.
The SEED prioritizes affordability and access to good food. We believe that everyone should be able to make choices about the food they eat. By offering local food, we expand the options customers can access.
What’s next?
We will continue to source food through the Auction this growing season, bringing you lots of delicious food options as the season progresses.
As part of Our Food Future, we will continue to look for more ways to make food that’s grown here accessible to everyone who lives in Guelph-Wellington.
This is awesome! I love being able to purchase local produce through the SEED. Thank you for all that you do!
Vikki