Op-Ed World Food Day: Collaboration is key to building Canada’s future food system This World Food Day, farmers across Canada are wrapping up a season marked by drought and low yields. Producers are increasingly facing extreme weather conditions fluctuating between droughts and flood, with a fivefold surge in crop insurance claims over the past…
International Day of Rural Women: The Women Behind Quebec’s Oils Quebec’s oilseed production is still nascent, yet the sector is remarkably diverse. In a province with only a handful of oil mills, three women have chosen a bold path: producing healthy, environmentally responsible oils deeply rooted in Quebec’s terroir. Chantal, Audrey, and Joany…
Diversifying Ontario grains from field to fork From native switchgrass to table-ready barley, Ontario farmers and processors are proving that crop diversification strengthens not only soils and biodiversity, but also the resilience of entire value chains. They were also both stops on the 2025 Road Trip (organized by FoodBridge partner the Ontario Soil Network)…
Veiller au grain: pilot projects taking root The Veiller au grain pour un avenir durable (Guarding the Grain for a Sustainable Future) initiative is entering a new phase, thanks to the commitment of agricultural and agri-food stakeholders in three pilot projects aiming to diversify crops. Work is progressing in Montérégie and other parts of Quebec,…
Partner spotlight: Ontario Soil Network At FoodBridge, we believe that trust, collaboration, and on-the-ground wisdom are the foundation of real agricultural change. Few organizations embody these values more fully than the Ontario Soil Network (OSN) — a farmer-led initiative dedicated to advancing soil health, peer learning, and systems transformation across Ontario. We’re proud to work…
Sustainable and profitable? FoodBridge equips agricultural advisors to better support farmers What if adopting sustainable farming practices could also be good for the bottom line? That’s exactly what FoodBridge aims to document with its newest project, carried out in partnership with Groupe ProConseil and Forest Lavoie Conseil, and supported by the MAPAQ. This project, part…
Sourcing with purpose: What food SMEs told us By Emily Nanne, Agri-food Advisory Services Earlier this month, I had the pleasure of attending SIAL Canada in Toronto, one of the country’s largest agri-food trade shows. With hundreds of food innovators under one roof, it was a prime opportunity to meet with small and medium-sized enterprises…
Building resilient food chains – insights from SIAL Canada 2025 At SIAL Canada 2025 in Toronto, Beth Hunter of FoodBridge joined Tori Waugh from the Ontario Soil Network and regenerative farmer Norm Lamothe of Woodleigh Farms to spotlight a powerful truth: transforming our food systems requires deep collaboration across the value chain. In this video,…
Montérégie Producers: Join the new regional cohort for brewing barley! FoodBridge is proud to announce the launch of a regional cohort dedicated to microbrewing-quality barley in Montérégie, supported by MAPAQ. This two-year initiative (2025-2026) aims to support agricultural producers in integrating and optimizing this key crop. By promoting sustainable agri-environmental practices and strengthening ties with…
Baseline for sustainable practices: a snapshot of Quebec’s agricultural transition The Portrait of sustainable farming practices in Quebec Farms (2022), conducted by the Union des producteurs agricoles (UPA) and the Quebec Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food (MAPAQ), provides an overview of sustainable farming practices at a pivotal moment: the beginning of the rollout of…
Measure, Collabore, Act: Concrete Solutions for a More Sustainable Agri-Food Chain Over a hundred actors from the agri-food sector — producers, processors, consultants, financiers, and researchers — gathered for our first webinar last December to discuss a central issue: how collaboration can accelerate the transition to sustainable farming practices in the context of increased ESG…
Quebec agriculture is transforming, Montérégie crops are diversifying In Montérégie, FoodBridge’s projects are gradually taking shape to support sustainable agricultural practices and diversify the landscape of large-scale crops. Through a series of pilot projects, producers and partners are collaborating to advance the production of malting barley, local oils, pumpkin seeds and winter hybrid rye. Each…
Ripe for transition: four qualities of agri-food regions Canada’s journey toward advancing sustainable agriculture highlights the importance of diverse stakeholder collaboration in transitions. Adopting practices such as diverse crop rotations, cover cropping, reduced tillage, minimized synthetic inputs, and integrated livestock management enhance soil health, water quality and biodiversity—all while building resilience to climate change. Forming…
The deep roots of the “Veiller au grain” project for a sustainable future The following text is an adaptation of Beth Hunter’s speech at the launch of “Veiller au grain pour un avenir durable” on April 3, 2024, in Saint-Charles-sur-Richelieu, Quebec. Today, Quebec’s agri-food sector faces several harsh realities: the collapse of net farm income,…
A participatory launch for the “Veiller au grain” project in Montérégie On April 3rd in Saint-Charles-sur-Richelieu, about fifty farmers, agronomists, researchers, and representatives of food processing companies, agri-food associations and federations participated in the launch workshop of the “Veiller au grain” project for a sustainable future, which aims to support active collaborations throughout the agri-food…
A New Project for FoodBridge in Montérégie, Québec: Veiller au grain pour un avenir durable By Beth Hunter The accelerating pace of climate change, combined with the current global social and economic pressures, is driving industries across all sectors to reconsider the way they do business – and the agri-food industry is no exception. Despite…
Veiller au grain pour un avenir durable: a field of possibilities for agricultural diversification By Nadine Bachand Imagine that your morning cereal and bread came from Quebec-based processing and manufacturing companies committed to supporting the regeneration of agricultural soils. That dairy cows, beef cattle, and pigs are fed grains from local companies that promote biodiversity in…
by Beth Hunter In July 2023, the Ontario Soil Network, FoodBridge and Valley Bio farm in Cobden, Ontario hosted a farm visit and panel discussion called Monetizing Soil Health. The event sparked a great discussion about the challenges and opportunities of supply chain collaborations. On a recent visit to friends in Toronto’s hip Leslieville neighbourhood,…
by Beth Hunter I spent three days last week prowling the aisles of the SIAL international food salon in Toronto, meeting dozens of food companies and talking about the potential of regenerative agriculture. I came to speak on a panel at called Regenerative Practices: Are you ready for the next revolution in the food Industry?,…
We have lots of news to share and we’ve decided to present our quarterly newsletter early, just before the start of summer. Happy reading and thank you for joining us on this adventure!
We are delighted to introduce the new format of our newsletter, now scheduled for publication every quarter. We hope that you will find these updates both informative and inspiring. Happy reading and thank you for joining us on this journey!
It has been six months since the last newsletter and much has changed at FoodBridge, even though it feels incremental in the thick of it. This season of combined wildfires and excessive rain, depending on where you live or farm, has been extraordinary and difficult…
The past few months have been filled with research and development. The research has been grounded in conversations with a wide range of farm, business, research/agronomy, government and non-profit leaders…..
