Open Food Network Canada

About OFN Canada

OFN Canada is the Canadian ‘node’ in a global network of organizations working to turn the food system on its head and put greater control in the hands of sustainable food farmers, purveyors and eaters. Using this open source platform as a starting point, we are a registered not-for-profit working to connect, enable, and ignite Canada’s local, green, healthy and fair food initiatives, connect them to eaters, and contribute to a global food commons that connects such initiatives around the world.

Where we’re at- November 2016

We’ve come a long way in a few months!! We are an incorporated not-for-profit and are now looking for funding partners to help us link together sustainable food initiatives in Canada. Our plan is to start in Ontario and grow organically from there.

We are able to offer support to help your farm, firm or foodhub setup a profile and store front. Or, if you are part of a food network in your local community, we’ll work with you to host a workshop that brings all the players together to explore how OFN can enable your regional food system.

We’ll chat by phone or skype (or meet with you in person if possible), advise you on a plan, do a ‘skeleton’ set up for you and mentor someone in your organization/community. We’ll help you run a ‘trial’ order cycle and get you ready to go ‘live’. We’ll monitor it all and help you solve any issues that arise.

We find that with this support, most farms, firms and foodhubs are great to ‘fly solo’ after a couple of months. BUT – if you are a particularly large or more complex hub, we can offer you a fee for service support package that provides more service if you wish.

How much does it cost?

Profiles are FREE: Anyone (a producer, food artisan, food hub, community food organization…) can set up a profile on OFN free. In fact – drop us an email and we’ll set it up for you. We are trying to build a directory of sustainable food initiatives telling their stories. These will be searchable by location as well as by a number of other criteria (ie by organic status, or by product, ….). So tell your story so others can find you!!

If you move beyond your profile (now or in the future), you pay by how much you sell.

Sell nothing – pay nothing.
Sell $500 or less in a given month – pay nothing
Sell $500 and over – 4 months free to try and learn, then pay 2% of sales to end consumers to a maximum of $50 per calendar month.

Note – if you prefer to be ‘hands off’ and want us to manage your on-line cycles and sales for you and just send you the packing lists each week etc., we can provide a quote.