Our mission
To build a sustainable local food system by connecting local farms and processors with consumers and building community around sustainable food choices.
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NOWBC is a small co-op formed in the fall of 2008, an idea spawned out of what was originally a buying club.
The primary focus for NOWBC Co-op’s on-line market is seasonal, local, organic foods sourced directly from small farms and processors. In addition, we source additional local organic grocery items from several local independent wholesalers. This allows us to offer our customers a greater selection and includes items such as Anita’s Organic grains, Nature’s Path cereals, and New World’s peanut butter. We also source fairly traded foods that are not available locally, and earth-friendly household items.
Our model is a challenging one. In a world where it is cheaper and more efficient to buy foods from faraway through one large wholesaler, to coordinate buying from dozens of small, local, organic farms requires a large volunteer contingent and staff who are extremely dedicated to the cause. We do this because we believe that the ability to know your local farmer and preserve sustainable farming knowledge and farmland is extremely important. We do this because we believe in delicious, naturally grown food cultivated with a focus on nutrients, flavour, and healthy sustainable farmland. We do this to make a good supply of healthy local organic food accessible to people in as many Vancouver neighbourhoods as we can. We do this to make small farms and processors a priority in the hope of encouraging more farming in our region. And finally, we do this because we all just love our food!
At NOWBC, we are about:
1. Making it simple: NOWBC is a place to shop where you can buy local, sustainable, and ethically traded socially conscious groceries without having to search for them.
2. Building the change we want to see: By preferentially supporting local producers we strengthen our local food system. By buying fair trade we support small socially and environmentally responsible producers of foods that can not be produced locally.
3. Making it fun: There is nothing lonelier than trying to make change in the world when you are the only one you see working on it. Through our grass roots system built on neighbours helping neighbours, along with some pot-lucks and impromptu food pick-up parties, we’re building community around sustainable local food, sharing knowledge and spreading the secret about how delicious it is! Eat food, have fun, be part of the sustainable local food movement!
To quote our friends at Get Local, “The average North American meal travels 2,400 km from farm to plate. Food transportation has a significant and growing impact on climate change, road congestion and air pollution . . . Over 5,000 farms in the Lower Mainland are growing fresher, tastier, and often more nutritious food than imported produce . . . Supporting BC’s food and beverage producers means strengthening our local food system and ensuring a supply of fresh, healthy food for your family–now and for future generations.”
