Food Hubs

I'll tell you, where there is a will, there is a way. One of the things I love about this job is learning about innovative thinking. You're a small farmer and you love your job but how do you market what you are producing? The big grocery chains are awfully tough to get into, so how about some innovative thinking.

 

Jocelyn Zuckerman, Executive Editor of Modern Farmer Magazine. “Food Hubs - Small and medium size farmers are banding together to take their produce beyond the local community supported agriculture and farmers-market channels to compete with bigger farms and work with aggregating groups to reach a larger market. These are schemes or strategies where consumers find out at the beginning of the season to get produce from the farms. They pay the farmers at the beginning of the season and they get a box, say, every week or two weeks of whatever the farmer is producing. That is great for farmers because they get the money up front at the beginning of the season when they have to buy seeds and what they are going to need for the season. They also get a guaranteed customer on the other end. Is this idea growing nationally? It is growing at an amazing rate both nonprofit organizations and for profit. One woman we profile is named Donna Williams who has an outfit called Field Goods in upstate New York. She has the idea of marketing to human resources departments as a wellness program.