Guelph-Wellington is creating Canada’s first Circular Food Economy.
The SEED is a proud partner with the City of Guelph and Wellington County on Our Food Future – a far-reaching initiative with bold goals to advance circularity in the food sector – including supporting increased access to affordable, nutritious food in our community.
In 2019, the City of Guelph and the County of Wellington were awarded $10 million through Infrastructure Canada’s Smart Cities Challenge to develop Canada’s first circular food economy.
Using data, technology and the deep expertise in this region, this initiative is reinventing how we produce, distribute and consume food—and providing a practical roadmap for others to follow.
Our Food Future envisions a food system driven by a quadruple bottom line:
- Prosperity—economic growth,
- Planet—environmental sustainability,
- People—greater social equity, and
- Purpose—a clear vision of an inclusive green economy of the future, valuing nutrition, health, diversity, equity and dignity.
Our Food Future features nine Pathfinder initiatives and several Living Lab projects that will help us achieve our ambitious goals by 2025:
- Increase access to affordable, nutritious food by 50 per cent.
- Create 50 new circular businesses and collaborations.
- Increase circular economic benefit by 50 per cent by unlocking the value of waste.
To realize these benefits, we’re using nature’s circular approach as our inspiration. This partnership brings together more than 125 core stakeholders including local government, community groups, businesses, industry associations, Non-Government Organizations (NGOs), academia, institutes, public agencies and utilities.
The SEED’s role in this broad collaboration is to ensure that food security remains top of the agenda for Our Food Future. We believe that Guelph can be the first community in Canada where there are no barriers to healthy food. Food justice is an essential ingredient of the Circular Food Economy.
Visit FoodFuture.ca for the latest on this fast moving initiative.