On Wednesday, May 7th participants heard from Fred LaForge from The Farmers’ Truck and Dr. Pam Farrell from GROW Community Food Literacy Centre on bringing food access to vulnerable communities and lowering the barriers to healthy foods and low waste solutions to community mobile markets.
The question-and-answer format of the discussion between Fred and Dr. Farrell covered a range of important topics including:
🧏♀️ Listening to Community – How the community shaped the idea for GROW
🏘️ Building Something Local and Lasting – What GROW is today, and how it is more than just a market
⚖️ Food Justice in Practice – What real food justice looks like, and how GROW limits food waste in its programs
💡 What Others Can Learn – Advice for those interested in starting their own mobile market
Slides Coming Soon! Check back here in a few days.
Visit our YouTube page to watch the webinar recording.
Read the recap Blog Post here.
If you have any questions, please reach out to us at ofc@ontariofoodcollaborative.ca
SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES
Fred Laforge, founder and CEO of The Farmers’ Truck, will share the story behind launching one of North America’s leading mobile market manufacturers. Inspired by his upbringing on a farm and a deep commitment to food justice, Fred designed a scalable solution to help organizations bring fresh food into underserved communities. His presentation will cover the early challenges of launching mobile markets, lessons learned from over 50 deployments across North America, and how local partnerships and innovation have shaped The Farmers’ Truck model and drive real, lasting change in food access.
Dr. Pamela Farrell is a Professor of Education at the University of Calgary and the founder of GROW, Canada’s first community food literacy centre, which features a full teaching kitchen and a low-cost grocery store. In 2024, building on this work, she launched the innovative GROW-on-the-Go – Canada’s first electric mobile market truck. Developed with the support of The Farmers’ Truck, community partners, private donors, and with a grant from the Public Health Agency of Canada, this initiative delivers affordable fresh fruits and vegetables directly to vulnerable communities living in food deserts, aiming to improve health outcomes and tackle food security.