food hub

The pandemic has given the idea of agricultural collectives a boost—in some instances, a gigantic boost. In 2020, when the coronavirus disrupted industrial food systems, causing widespread backlogs and shortages, local co-ops, farm collectives, food hubs, and other distribution projects found fresh relevance. Some food hubs reported revenue increases as high as 500 percent, according to a May 2021 report from the Wallace Center, a nonprofit that supports community food and farming solutions.(No paywall)

Governor Andrew Cuomo unveiled the New York State Grown & Certified program and launched a $20 million food hub in the Bronx to increase access to locally-grown farm produce, the governor’s office said.

Ecotrust, a non-profit based in Portland, Ore., opened phase one of a $23 million, 80,000-square-foot campus that is part food hall, part food hub, designed to connect small- and mid-size farms and ranches with their customers, Fast Company says. The Redd on Salmon Street offers a central warehouse where farmers, ranchers, and other producers can stash their products until they’re ready to be distributed, the magazine said.

Civic leaders in the western Iowa town of Harlan "are designing an economic development strategy around food and farm entrepreneurs," says a Wallace Center article reprinted by the Daily Yonder. The chief executive of the Shelby County Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Todd Valline, says, “Our goal is to establish Shelby County as the hub of the wheel of the local farm-to-table sector in the region."

The proposed 24-acre West Louisville Food Hub, with an expected cost of $45 million, would combine urban renewal in a distressed neighborhood of Louisville, KY, with local food marketing, says Civil Eats.

With 8,268 listings in the National Farmers Markets Directory, USDA is creating three new directories for local food marketing. The new catalogs will cover Community Supported Agriculture projects, food hubs and...