Food security starts close to home. 

Across British Columbia, demand for locally grown and produced food continues to rise. Yet many farmers and food businesses face a common challenge: limited access to affordable storage, processing, and distribution infrastructure reduces profits and increases food waste.

The Summerland Food Hub is being developed to help address that gap.

Currently under construction in Summerland, the 25,000-square-foot agri-food facility will provide year-round cold storage, food processing, warehousing, and regional distribution services for small and mid-scale producers. By bringing key parts of the food supply chain together under one roof, the Hub will help farmers reduce waste, improve profitability, and connect more local food with local markets.

A Community-Based Approach

The Community Foundation of the South Okanagan Similkameen (CFSOS) believes strong communities are built through innovative partnerships and long-term investments in local solutions. 

To help make the Summerland Food Hub a reality, CFSOS acted as the lead lender and administrator of a $2 million financing package that supports the purchase of land and development of the facility.  

Now, through a new partnership with Goparity, individual Canadians have the opportunity to participate alongside established community finance organizations by investing in a portion of the existing project loan. LEARN MORE

This innovative financing model allows community members to support infrastructure that will generate economic, environmental, and social benefits for years to come. 

Building Resilience Across the Region

The Summerland Food Hub is designed to serve as a shared resource for farmers and food businesses throughout the South Okanagan.

The facility is expected to:

• Support more than 50 local farms
• Create more than 130 full-time equivalent jobs
• Reduce over 11,000 tonnes of food waste annually
• Improve local food security through increased storage and processing capacity
• Strengthen regional supply chains and economic resilience

The Hub has already secured two anchor tenants—the LocalMotive Farmers Network Co-operative and the Okanagan Food Innovation Hub—helping ensure strong utilization and long-term sustainability.

Turning Waste into Opportunity

The impact of the Food Hub can be seen through real-world examples.

Each year, local growers produce significant volumes of fruit that cannot be sold through traditional channels despite being perfectly edible. Without access to processing facilities, much of this surplus can become waste.

The Summerland Food Hub will create new opportunities to transform surplus crops into value-added products such as juices, dried fruit, syrups, pie fillings, and food ingredients. This creates new revenue streams for farmers while reducing waste and making better use of locally grown food.

Investing in Local Impact

The Summerland Food Hub represents more than a building. It is an investment in local agriculture, regional food security, economic resilience, and community well-being.

By combining community investment with innovative financing, the project demonstrates how local capital can be mobilized to support local solutions. We call this Social Finance and invite you to invest alongside us!

Learn More

To learn more about the Summerland Food Hub and the investment opportunity available through Goparity, visit the project page and discover how you can support the future of local food in the South Okanagan.