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Imagine a living lab that promotes collaboration between food entrepreneurs, farmers, researchers and social innovators — and a rural-urban partnership that leverages smart technology to make it all possible.


In January 2020, Our Food Future was officially launched— Guelph-Wellington’s ambitious initiative to create Canada’s first circular food economy. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted and made worse many of the challenges Our Food Future aims to resolve.

Grow Back Better is Our Food Future’s 10-point recovery plan in response to COVID-19. By reprioritizing and restructuring existing elements of Our Food Future, the City of Guelph and Wellington County are providing immediate support to our local food economy.

As part of the plan to promote green economic recovery from the COVID-19 crisis, we are proud to have launched two new “Resiliency with Purpose” support programs, R-Purpose and R-Purpose MICRO. The programs aim to help food and beverage companies increase efficiency, circularity and profits while reducing operating costs and waste.

 
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Opportunities for Food & Beverage Businesses

R-Purpose

R-Purpose (Resiliency through Purpose), is a high-impact comprehensive pathway to help you take instability and turn it into confidence and growth. Provision has selected eight local food or beverage manufacturing/processing companies to work with over an 18-month period. Those selected will have access to award-winning tools and a team of experts who will help them emerge from this stronger, more resilient and will be among those who help shape the future of the food and beverage industry.

R-Purpose MICRO

R-Purpose MICRO is an intensive 12-week high-impact program to help micro-sized companies accelerate their growth and build resiliency through purpose, sustainability and circularity. It is structured as a virtual 12-week program with weekly interactive sessions through our training vault, and designed so that participants can move at their own pace through a combination of online training, 1:1 coaching, and weekly assignments. As part of Our Food Future's response to COVID-19 and the plan to support an inclusive green, social and economic recovery, this program was offered free of charge for the first 50 small food and beverage businesses based in Guelph-Wellington to register. There were three cohorts of R-Purpose MICRO dedicated to 50 Seeding Our Food Future Grant Recipients and other food and beverage companies in the City of Guelph and Wellington County that took place in the Spring 2020, Fall 2020, and Winter 2021. 

How R-Purpose and R-Purpose MICRO Will Help You

Take care of and engage your employees and customers to ensure success

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Increase your output and efficiency (through sustainability and circularity)

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Lower your operating costs

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Differentiate your brand and help you open up new markets

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Why Circular?

Designing Out Waste & Pollution

The current system is no longer working for businesses, people or the environment. The linear food system (take-make-dispose) that exists today is wasteful and is ripe for disruption. Changing our food system is one of the most impactful things we can do to address climate change. The circular food economy is based on the principles of designing out waste and pollution, keeping products and materials in use, and regenerating natural systems.


Have Questions?

Contact Us

We're here to help! If you have questions about the Our Food Future Project or would like a little more information, get in touch with us today. 


Contact Us