About Canadian Foodgrains Bank

Since 1983, our members, supporters and project partners have been devoted to our mission to end world hunger—but the story starts long before that. It begins in the mid-1970s when Canadian farmers were looking for a way to share their abundance with people facing hunger around the world.

From these rural roots, our network now provides emergency food assistance and long-term development support in over 30 countries annually through over 100 international partners.

During a time of famine in Bangladesh, farmers in western Canada are enjoying bumper crops. They want to share their excess food with people who are hungry, but government policies at the time do not make this easy. They call on Mennonite Central Committee Canada to find a way, who propose the creation of a food bank that can receive grain from Canadian farmers.

The MCC Food Bank is created. It is based on the “Joseph principle” from the Old Testament—storing up grain in good years for use in bad times. The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), now Global Affairs Canada, agrees to provide matching funds, a partnership that continues to this day.

After issuing its first appeal for grain in 1976 to farmers in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, the first shipment of 660 tonnes of grain is sent to India. Two years later, the Canadian Wheat Board partners with the Food Bank to facilitate the handling and shipping of grain, a partnership that lasts until the Board is dissolved in 2015.

With encouragement from the Government of Canada, MCC invites other churches to join, and Canadian Foodgrains Bank is born. The first members represent Mennonite, Baptist, Lutheran, Christian Reformed, and Christian and Missionary Alliance churches in Canada. Foodgrains Bank member churches respond to famine in Ethiopia the next year, marking the network’s first major response to global hunger.

Membership of the Foodgrains Bank reaches 15, becoming the largest Canadian ecumenical organization and representing most of the main Christian denominations in Canada. Adventist, Catholic, Pentecostal, Evangelical Missionary, Nazarene, Presbyterian, Anglican, Salvation Army, United and Evangelical Fellowship churches are now also represented.

Following advocacy efforts led by the Foodgrains Bank, the Canadian government no longer requires food for aid overseas to be purchased in Canada. This allows the Foodgrains Bank to use all funds provided by the government to buy food in developing countries. This policy change saves money, time and provides support for farmers in developing countries. Grain donated by farmers in Canada is sold in the Canadian market and the proceeds are used to purchase food closer to the area of need.

The Foodgrains Bank provides over $1 billion of assistance for tens of millions of people in over 70 countries. Canadians from all walks of life—rural, urban, farmers, non-farmers—join these collective efforts to end global hunger.