In today’s Globe and Mail: Big signal for Canada’s food resilience. Wittington (the Weston family office) is launching a $100M fund to help Canadians buy local and help producers scale.
Key points:
- $5–10M per deal, equity or debt, typically minority stakes
- Focus on everyday essentials and real infrastructure (greenhouses, ranching capacity, not “sexy” stuff)
- Circular model: reinvest profits back into the fund, indefinitely
- Retailer-agnostic, even with Loblaw proximity
- First investments expected by end of October
Context: roughly 65 percent of produce on Canadian shelves is imported, so there’s room to displace.
My take: This is the right kind of capital at the right time.
If we combine it with modern operating systems (better data, smarter logistics, AI-driven forecasting), Canada can shorten supply lines and keep more value onshore.
The problem hasn’t been lack of demand. It’s been lack of infrastructure and capital to scale. This fund addresses both.
Kudos to Jim Orlando and the Wittington team for putting real weight behind food security.
Now we need the rest of the ecosystem to match that ambition.