Food Hub Center

• Financing Food Hubs: Dozens of Ideas to Access Capital
  
• Clearing the Roadblocks: Market Based Strategies for Getting Good Food to All Communities
• Food Hubs: Viable Regional Distribution Solutions
• Leveraging Existing Infrastructure for Significant Food System Change: Food Hubs, Regional Distribution, Farm to School, and more
• The Business of Food Hubs: Planning Successful Regional Produce Aggregation Facilities
• Community Food Enterprise
• Innovations in Value Chain Infrastructure-Red Tomato
  
• Aggregation/Distribution: Appalachian Sustainable Development
  

News & Events

• New Space Helps D.C. Central Kitchen Step Up its Local Food Hub Operations
  July 19, 2011
  D.C. Central Kitchen, a non-profit which uses donated food to deliver meals to area homeless shelters and social service agencies and runs a profitable catering business providing training and jobs to ex-offenders and former drug addicts, opens a new commercial kitchen to process food from local producers to supply schools and restaurants in the district.

• USDA Supports Local Food Hubs Nationwide
  July 15, 2011
  The Packer discusses the USDA's new Food Hub Webpage and how food hubs help local growers access larger markets.

• USDA NEWS: USDA Launches Online Resource to Help Producers Get Products to Market, Bolster Local and Regional Economies
  July 12, 2011
  The USDA Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) launches a Food Hub Web Page for producers, buyers and others to access a central clearinghouse of resources, news and information related to food hubs and other enterprises that provide infrastructure support for small and mid-size producers. Check out the related USDA Blog Post and Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food Post

• 5 Videos That Will Change How You Think About Food: Part One
  July 6, 2011
  Michael Conrad, Assistant Director of Urban Design Lab, talks about how to make the country healthier by creating regional food hubs in his TEDx Manhattan talk, "Rebuilding Our Food System Infrastructure."

• Vermont Program Awards $88,520 to Ag-Related Businesses
  July 1, 2011
  The St. Louis Food Hub, a proposed 35,000 square foot facility focusing on distribution, processing and aggregation services for local producers to reach area schools, hospitals and day-care centers, as well as a retail and mobile market, hopes to open by end of 2012.

• Vermont Program Awards $88,520 to Ag-Related Businesses
  June 23, 2011
  The Vermont State Government announced $88,520 in grant funding for the Vermont Farm Viability Program funding capital improvements for local food entrepreneurs that process, market, store or distribute Vermont farm products including food hubs and a local butchery.
  

• Rural Commercial Kitchens Form Local Food Network
  June 22, 2011
  Rural Development Directors in four Midwestern states have proposed regional community kitchen clusters to process locally grown food and serve as a base for which a larger network of kitchens could build upon.
  

• Local Foods Distribution Center in the Works in Dane County
  June 17, 2011
  The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) funds study for and potential development of a local food processing and storage site in Wisconsin.
  

• Fresh Moves Mobile Grocery Store An Innovative Solution To Food Deser
  June 16, 2011
  A new mobile grocery store in Chicago works with a local food hub, Goodness Greeness, an organic food supplier to bring fresh groceries into communities that lack access to grocery stores.
  

• USDA NEWS: USDA Targets Food Deserts in Funding for Farmers Market Promotion Program Grants
  June 3, 2011
  USDA Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan announces available funding for the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service's Farmer's Market Nutrition Program saying, "These grants will put resources into rural and urban economies to create and support direct marketing opportunities for farmers" said Merrigan. "Consumer and farmer enthusiasm for direct marketing has never been greater. This year we will place emphasis on food deserts because America's low income and underserved communities need greater access to healthy, fresh food."
  

• USDA NEWS: Farmers Market Promotion Program: Expanding Food Access Through Direct Marketing
  June 3, 2011
  USDA Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan announces this year's Farmers Market Promotion Program, providing $10 million in grant funds to expand direct marketing opportunities and help eliminate food desserts and increase food access in low-income communities.

• Philadelphia's Common Market Wins $1.1 million grant
  June 3, 2011
  The Common Market, a non-profit food distribution business in Philadelphia, receives grant funding from the Kellogg Foundation allowing them to purchase additional equipment and renovate their space to prepare for changes in federal food safety regulations.
• Regional Food Hubs Poised to Become Burgeoning Trend
  June 2011
  The American Farm Bureau Federation's latest issue of Foodie News features food hubs.
  

• Meyer Memorial Trust RFP: Community Food Systems Planning and Implementation Grants
  Planning Grant Proposals due July 1, 2011
  MMT is seeking proposals from nonprofit organizations in Oregon and Clark County, WA, working on community and/or regional food system projects.

• An Increasingly More Common Market: North Philly Group Sets Bar High for Local Food Distribution
  May 24, 2011
  Common Market Philadelphia helps get local food to institutional customers.

• San Diego Regional Food Hub Cultivates Local Markets
  May 10, 2011
  San Diego food producers are establishing a Regional Food Hub, the San Diego Growers, as a way to help overcome local production and distribution gaps.

• Local Food Movement Gets Trucking
  May 10, 2011
  Local food distributors help fill the missing link in the local food movement in Montana by providing producers with distribution and marketing of their products.

• Food Hub Bid to Boost Wyre Forest Producers
  May 6, 2011
  The Grow with Wyre Landscape Partnership Project is beginning a food hub to support local producers as they develop sustainable enterprises and to boost their rural economy.

• Food Hubs a Potential Boon to Local Growers
  May 5, 2011
  The Phil Lempert, Supermarket Guru report discusses the USDA and the Food Hub Collaboration’s analysis of food hubs seeing it as positive news for farmers and consumers.

• New Partnership Brings Local Food Distribution to Southeastern Massachusetts
  April 27, 2011
  The Southeastern Massachusetts Agricultural Partnership (SEMAP) and Food Ex, will partner to bring local food distribution to southeastern Massachusetts. FoodEx, operated by Organic Renaissance will open a food hub in New Bedford this summer while SEMAP will introduce farmers to the service and provide technical assistance to farmers to transition to selling wholesale.

• USDA NEWS: USDA Identifies Infrastructure and Economic Opportunities for Regional Producers: Food Hubs Emerging as Viable Business Model Supporting Regional Food Systems
  April 19, 2011
  USDA Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan releases the results of a nationwide analysis of food hubs stating that, “This new data clearly demonstrates that small and midsize farmers can work with a variety of players to overcome the infrastructure challenges they face, while creating effective economic opportunities for their communities at the same time."

• USDA NEWS: Food Hubs: Creating Opportunities for Producers Across the Nation
  April 19,2011
  USDA Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan says, “food hubs are not a flash in the pan.  They are incredibly innovative business models specifically addressing some of our producers’ most overwhelming challenges.”
  

• Local Grain Key to Economic Health, Says Corporation
  April 4, 2011
  Skowhegan, Maine has plans for a new food hub which will include the restoration of grain production in central Maine with plans for a 14,000 square foot grist mill and space for baking and selling bread as well as local fruits, vegetable, meats and cheeses. 
  

• Food Hubs—Localizing Food Systems?
  March 28, 2011
  The Institute for Food and Development Policy shows how food hubs are changing our food systems through localization.

• Forget the Gloom-New Ways of Living and Organizing Out Economy Are Flourishing
  March 17, 2011
  Tom Philpott shows ways that communities are creating infrastructure to support mid-size farmers.
  

• Regional Food Hubs Face a Growing Need for Technology
  March 8, 2011
  Many food hubs lack the technology necessary to manage their operations at a large scale; however, many new technology solutions are arising to solve this problem.  This article discusses some of the more promising ones.

• Are Food Hubs the Next Best Thing?
  January 19, 2011
  GoodFood World introduces a new food hub starting in Everett, Washington and discusses what sets food hubs apart from traditional wholesalers.

• USDA NEWS Detroit’s Eastern Market: A Food Hub in a Food Desert
  December 17, 2010
  Eastern Market’s food hub helps coordinate aggregation and distribution for Michigan’s small and mid-size farmers and with a cooperative agreement with the USDA, they will work towards expanding the availability for this food throughout Detroit, a city that that is a food desert.

• USDA NEWS Oklahoma Food Co-Op: From Buying Club to Food Hub
  December 16, 2010
  The Oklahoma Food Co-Op, a member cooperative with an internet ordering program with a distribution system of trucks, drop off locations, warehouse space, and plenty of volunteers, helps bring products from local small ranches and farms to consumers across Oklahoma.

• USDA NEWS Local Food Hub Brings It All Together
  December 15, 2010
  Local Food Hub, a non-profit organization in Charlottesville, Virginia, raised enough money to purchase the necessary infrastructure as well as liability insurance to purchase over $340,000 worth of product from 50 farms bringing a consistent supply of local farm products to over 95 buyers in Charlottesville.

• Map Shows Local Food Hub Scaling Up in SE Minnesota
  December 15, 2010
  USDA coordinated food hub map shows concentration of food hubs between Southeast Minnesota and the Iowa-Wisconsin border as the geology of the land is conducive to small fruits and vegetable farms. Follow up piece with Jim Barham asking for food chain champions found here.

• Restaurateur’s Vision: a Hub for Sustainable Food
  December 14, 2010
  The Washington Post article introduces a new non-profit and food hub being established in the Washington DC Area, Arcadia Center for Sustainable Food and Agriculture. 

• USDA NEWS Getting to Scale with Regional Food Hubs
  December 14, 2010
  Jim Barham explains how food hubs might be one answer to help small and mid-size producers meet the challenges of obtaining the necessary capital investments and infrastructure to develop regional food systems.
  
  

Assistance for Food Hubs: Database of Consultants

The NGFN database contains contact information for many consultants across the country. Hubs, and those looking to assist them should use this as a resource for finding help.

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Funding Sources

USDA’s “Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food” Regional Food Hub Subcommittee created an edited selection of USDA programs that have previously supported regional food hubs, with examples of funded projects.

US Food Hubs - Map

US Food Hubs - Full List

Sorted by state. Are we missing any? Please let us know!

National Food Hub Collaboration

The National Food Hub Collaboration is a partnership between USDA, Wallace Center at Winrock International, National Good Food Network, National Association of Produce Market Managers, and Project for Public Spaces. The Collaboration collects and analyzes the latest developments, research and activity related to food hubs, and is working to ensure the success of existing and emerging food hubs in the US.