Canada's New Local Food Infrastructure Fund: What Community Kitchens and Food Banks Need to Know

The Local Food Infrastructure Fund (LFIF) is an Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada program for community food security. Its newest part, the $20-million Community Support Stream, was launched on June 19, 2026 by Heath MacDonald, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food. It funds food banks and other nonprofits, but only through national and provincial networks.

That last point is the one most community kitchens and food banks need to hear first. The stream does not take applications from individual local organisations: its intake was open only to large nonprofit networks, and it closed on July 9, 2026. Local groups receive the money second-hand. Here is how the program works, who could apply, what the funding can pay for, and what a local organisation can realistically do now.

Key takeaways

• The Community Support Stream is a $20-million program that runs until March 31, 2027 and is meant primarily for buying and distributing food.
• Only nonprofits with national or provincial/territorial reach — including Indigenous nonprofits — could apply, and requests had to be at least $3 million. Intake closed July 9, 2026.
• Local food banks and community organisations are "ultimate recipients" chosen by those networks. Up to 25% of a network's funding can go to storage and distribution equipment; new construction is not eligible.
• The wider Local Food Infrastructure Fund, which funds infrastructure projects directly, has committed up to $101 million to 1,425 approved projects to date, according to AAFC.

What is the Local Food Infrastructure Fund: Community Support Stream?

The Local Food Infrastructure Fund itself funds infrastructure that improves community access to local, nutritious and culturally appropriate food. According to AAFC's March 2026 announcement, the fund has committed up to $101 million to 1,425 approved projects to date — community gardens and kitchens, refrigerated trucks and storage units for donated food, and greenhouses in remote and Northern communities among them.

That same announcement added up to $30 million for 235 approved projects through two components: Large Scale Projects, with funding between $150,000 and $500,000 for projects with multiple infrastructure or equipment needs, and Small Scale Projects, with grants between $25,000 and $100,000. One example: the Community Food Sharing Association in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, received up to $46,107 for a greenhouse, seeds, soil, compost and a root cellar to grow more food for food banks and shelters.

The Community Support Stream is different in kind. It was first announced as a commitment on January 26, 2026 and formally launched on June 19, 2026 at Moisson Outaouais in Gatineau, Quebec, as a complement to the National Food Security Strategy. Rather than funding a single organisation's building or equipment, it is designed to help food banks and other organisations acquire and distribute nutritious food to families in need — and it does that through what AAFC calls a further distribution of funds model.

Who qualifies and what can the money be used for?

The stream has two tiers of recipient, and only the first tier ever dealt with AAFC. The details below come from the official program guide.

AAFC says priority goes to national organisations with national networks of community-based nonprofits, and that it can fund up to 100% of eligible costs. Networks must pass the money on between fall 2026 and March 31, 2027.

What the funding can pay for

• Food. The funding is expected to be used primarily to purchase food.
• Storage and distribution equipment. Up to 25% of an initial recipient's overall funding can be allocated to ultimate recipients for storage and distribution equipment.
• Not construction. Projects involving new building construction or structural changes to an existing building are not eligible, so the stream will not pay to build or renovate a community kitchen.

How is this different from Nova Scotia's provincial food-security grant?

Nova Scotia organisations have a second, very different option. The province's Local Food Security Initiatives program, run by the Department of Communities, Culture, Tourism and Heritage, funds non-profits, community organisations and Mi'kmaw bands directly — our guide to food security grant funding in Nova Scotia covers its eligibility and deadline.

In Nova Scotia there is a third route for turning grant money into something practical: Food Web's kitchen credit partnership with Feed Nova Scotia puts funding in the hands of food entrepreneurs and community cooks as credits toward licensed kitchen time.

How should a community kitchen or food bank apply?

For this stream, you do not apply to AAFC — and the intake is closed. What a local organisation can do is get in front of the networks that are distributing the money, and keep an eye on the wider Local Food Infrastructure Fund:

1. Talk to your networks. Ask the provincial food bank association or national network you belong to whether it applied as an initial recipient and how it will choose ultimate recipients.
2. Prepare a short brief. Set out your food purchasing needs and any storage or distribution equipment you would buy, in plain numbers, so a network can move quickly when it selects recipients.
3. Plan for the timeline. Funds move between fall 2026 and March 31, 2027, with each network given a maximum of six months to distribute them.
4. Watch the wider fund. The Large Scale and Small Scale Projects components are the parts of the LFIF that fund infrastructure directly. AAFC posts program details and intake information on its programs pages.
5. Ask AAFC directly. The program team is reachable at aafc.communitysupport-soutiencommunautaire.aac@agr.gc.ca, and the AAFC call centre at 1-877-246-4682, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Central Time, Monday to Friday.

AAFC does not publish how many local organisations will be funded or how selections will be weighted beyond its assessment criteria, so treat any claim about approval odds with caution.

Turn food funding into kitchen access

Food and equipment are two constraints on community food work; licensed kitchen space is often the third. Food Web helps organisations find it: browse commercial kitchens available by the hour, see the community kitchens and food assets near you on the Asset Map, and — in Nova Scotia — learn how partners fund kitchen time for food entrepreneurs through the Kitchen Rental Grant Program.