Why Food Infrastructure Matters as Much as Food Access

A child cannot learn on an empty stomach. But a nutritious meal does not reach a school simply because food exists: or because a donation has been made.

It must be purchased, stored, transported, prepared, portioned and delivered safely. It must arrive on time. It must meet dietary, cultural and nutritional needs. The people doing the work must have the training, equipment and wages required to sustain the system.

That is why food security depends on infrastructure as much as access.

Canada has taken an important step forward. The federal National School Food Policy recognizes that school food programs can reduce hunger, improve health and learning, support local economies and strengthen regional food systems. The policy also acknowledges a difficult reality: many existing programs rely heavily on volunteers, donations and community organizations already working beyond capacity.

We cannot build a dependable, inclusive food system on emergency relief alone.

We need the infrastructure to make nutritious food reliable, scalable and local: NOW.

Food access is the outcome. Infrastructure is what makes it possible.

When we talk about food insecurity, the conversation often focuses on whether food is available. That question matters. But it is only the beginning.

A school may be located near productive farms, yet still lack:

• A commercial kitchen capable of preparing hundreds or thousands of meals
• Refrigerated storage for fresh ingredients
• Cold-chain transportation
• Staff trained in food safety and volume production
• A procurement process that works for local farmers
• Reliable delivery routes between facilities and schools
• Data systems to track meals, costs, participation and outcomes
• Stable institutional partnerships and long-term funding

Without these elements, local food remains disconnected from local need.

The National School Food Policy states that investment is needed to grow, procure, deliver, store, prepare and serve safe and healthy food. That sequence is important. Every link must work.

If one link fails, children feel the impact.

The scale of the need is immediate

According to the federal policy, one in four children in Canada does not get enough food. Statistics cited in the same policy indicate that more than 2.1 million children under 18 experienced some level of food insecurity in 2022.

These are not distant or abstract figures. They represent students sitting in classrooms today: students trying to concentrate while hungry, families choosing between groceries and other essential expenses, and educators carrying responsibilities that should never rest on their shoulders alone.

The opportunity is also significant. Canada committed $1 billion over five years to establish a National School Food Program. The federal government expects the program to provide meals for up to 400,000 children each year and estimates that a participating family with two children could save as much as $800 annually in grocery costs.

That investment can help change lives.

But funding meals without strengthening the systems behind them will limit what that investment can achieve. We must use this moment to build capacity that lasts beyond a single grant cycle, school year or emergency campaign.

What food infrastructure looks like in practice

Food infrastructure is not one building or one piece of equipment. It is a connected regional system.

1. Commercial and community kitchens

A properly designed kitchen can transform local ingredients into thousands of nutritious meals while maintaining consistent quality and food safety.

Central kitchens and community kitchens can provide:

• Volume preparation
• Standardized food-safety procedures
• Nutrition-focused menu planning
• Efficient use of equipment and staff
• Better purchasing power
• More consistent service across multiple schools

This does not mean every community needs the same model. Some schools may cook on site. Others may work with a commissary kitchen, local nonprofit, caterer or shared-use facility.

The essential question is: What model can serve children reliably while strengthening the local food economy?

2. Cold-chain storage and transportation

Fresh food is only useful if it can move safely from the farm to the kitchen and from the kitchen to the school.

That requires coordinated cold-chain logistics, including:

• Refrigerated storage
• Insulated containers
• Temperature monitoring
• Appropriate loading and unloading procedures
• Reliable delivery schedules
• Routes designed around school operations and regional geography

A strong cold chain reduces waste, protects food quality and makes it possible for schools to purchase more seasonal and perishable products from local farmers.

3. Local procurement systems

Farmers need more than goodwill. They need predictable demand, fair purchasing arrangements and practical ordering systems.

Schools and food programs need suppliers who can provide the right volume, specifications and delivery schedule. Bridging that gap may require food hubs, aggregators, distributors or cooperative purchasing models.

Effective local procurement can include:

• Seasonal menu planning
• Bulk purchasing
• Coordinated ordering across schools
• Flexible product specifications
• Relationships with farmers and processors
• Transparent tracking of purchases and outcomes

The goal is not to create unnecessary administrative work. The goal is to make local food easier to buy, easier to move and easier to serve.

Community Regenerative Hubs: infrastructure with a wider purpose

This is where the Community Regenerative Hub model becomes practical.

A hub can connect several functions that are too often treated separately:

Local agriculture → aggregation and storage → commercial food preparation → school delivery → workforce development

The result is more than a meal distribution point. It is a regional platform that can strengthen food security, create employment and generate measurable local impact.

Our Connected Model for a Stronger Agri-Food Future is built around this shift: from fragmented, reactive production to a coordinated system that connects local agriculture with institutional demand.

A Community Regenerative Hub can help:

• Create stable markets for local producers
• Aggregate food from multiple farms
• Prepare nutritious meals at scale
• Improve transportation and delivery coordination
• Create Living Wage jobs in culinary, logistics, agriculture and skilled trades
• Support training and advancement pathways
• Reduce food loss and waste
• Give schools a reliable regional partner
• Track outcomes for funders, policymakers and communities

This integrated approach matters because food insecurity is connected to other pressures: household costs, employment instability, health, education and local economic resilience.

A meal at school addresses immediate hunger. A connected food system helps address the conditions that make communities vulnerable in the first place.

The infrastructure gap is already visible

British Columbia offers a useful example of both progress and remaining need.

According to the province’s 2025–2027 National School Food Program Action Plan, approximately 88% of B.C. public schools operated a school food program during the 2024–2025 school year. An estimated 236,000 students, or about 40% of enrolled public-school students, received breakfast, lunch or snacks through those programs.

The same action plan identifies inadequate staffing, kitchen space, food storage, preparation and delivery capacity as barriers to serving more students.

It also reports that 29% of National School Food Program expenditures in 2024–2025 went toward equipment and infrastructure, compared with 62% for food. That is a clear signal: infrastructure is not an optional extra. It is a core part of delivering meals sustainably.

The question is no longer whether infrastructure matters.

The question is whether we will invest in the right infrastructure quickly enough.

What this means for every partner

For policymakers

Fund the full system: not only food purchases. Support kitchens, refrigeration, transportation, staffing, procurement capacity and transparent measurement. Create policies that make local purchasing feasible for schools and public institutions.

For funders and philanthropists

Provide multi-year, flexible funding for the assets and people that make programs durable. A kitchen upgrade, refrigerated vehicle or food-systems coordinator may not be as visible as a meal, but each one can help deliver thousands of meals over time.

For schools and school boards

Assess your current capacity. What can be prepared on site? What must be delivered? Where are the gaps in storage, staffing and transportation? Work with regional partners to design a model that is inclusive, stigma-free and appropriate for your students.

For farmers and food producers

Participate in conversations about volume, seasonality, specifications, pricing and delivery. Institutional demand can become a dependable market when the relationships and systems are designed properly.

For community partners

Bring local knowledge, cultural leadership, workforce connections and operational expertise. Strong food systems are built through collaboration: not isolated programs competing for limited resources.

We can build the system children deserve

Food access is essential. But access without infrastructure is fragile.

A donation may fill a gap today. A dependable kitchen, cold chain, procurement network and trained workforce can keep nourishing children for years.

We Are One is working toward a future where regional food systems connect farmers, schools, workers, community organizations and institutional partners through practical infrastructure. Our partners and pilot projects reflect the importance of collaboration in turning this vision into action.

The work cannot wait.

Every school year brings another set of lunches, another set of families under pressure and another opportunity to build something stronger.

Let’s invest in the kitchens. Build the logistics. Support the workers. Connect local farms to local schools.

Let’s create food infrastructure that makes dignity, nourishment and opportunity available to every child.

The third article in this series will explore the model at the centre of this work: What Is a Community Regenerative Hub?