A whole new group of people have an appreciation for seasonal produce thanks to a South Island FarmHub and its Farmbucks subsidy program.
Funded by grants and donations, in 2022, Farmbucks paid for over $110,000 of locally grown, fished and made foods to feed more than 15,000 people in Greater Victoria.
“What it allows is for charities like Our Place and Cool-Aid to have access to fresh, nutritious local food,” said sales and marketing coordinator Heather Vandenengel.
Since the start in June 2020, more than 30 community organizations and six school programs have used Farmbucks to purchase fresh, local produce. Started in part as a pandemic response, grant funding has started to wither for the Esquimalt-based food gathering and distribution centre.
Billed as an online farmers’ market, the South Island Food Hub started as a farm box program when farmers had an excess of food and no way to sell it.
“Now we work with over 85 local farmers, fishers and food producers,” Vandenengel said. “It’s grown tremendously, especially with variety of products and kinds of subscriptions you can get.”
Mary Garden of Agua Dulce Farm is among the small cultivators that finds the program freeing, allowing her to focus on growing, and even experimenting.
“I was looking for someone who could help with distribution of our fruits and vegetables we were growing. Their model fits a small guy like us perfectly,” Garden said. “It’s great because much of the time we need to spend on things is the actual picking, harvesting and packing.”
They post what’s available and the qualities on the website, then customers both retail and wholesale click through to shop. The producers deliver to a central location, and the hub distributes and collects payment.
It frees folks like Garden up for experimentation.
“South Island Farm Hub is great at encouraging farmers to explore new offerings, so we can really diversify the choice of selection people have that they may not see in a local grocery store,” she said.
This year Agua Dulce dabbled in golden raspberries and pink lemonade blueberries.
Beyond that, farmers continue to be paid fairly, while Farmbucks open up quality local food to non-profit organizations and high school culinary programs, Garden said.
“It’s exciting for us to see much of our produce go into the school system with teachers working with students.”
The Cool-Aid Society is among the organizations benefiting from the start, using Farmbucks to fit locally-sourced products into its finite budget.
“It’s really efficient and good for everyone. There are a lot of wins along the way,” said Paul Steward, food services manager for Cool-Aid. “I work in health care and I have a static budget. I have to feed a lot of people.”
With the knowledge funding is dwindling, Cool-Aid is also trying to gather its own funding to boost its Farmbucks account. Stewart sees both the benefit of pumping that funding back into the local food economy and the value to clients.
“It’s really nice to be able to introduce people who, to be honest, haven’t really eaten regionally (sourced food) because they live on a limited income,” Stewart said. “Most of the people we serve are struggling with various health issues and food really is medicine.”
The 78 residents of Mount Edwards place are developing a local palate and learning to love seasons. Summer, for example, means fresh berries, and folks are excited, Stewart said. They’re generally less excited about fall, and squash.
“To have clients asking about the seasonality about the food they’re getting is special.”
Anyone can donate online at sifarmhub.ca.
Now through Sept. 2, the South Island FarmHub also hosts a 50/50 raffle campaign to fund the Farmbucks program.
