Food Hub Center

2016 National Food Hub Conference

Visit the conference page for slides and recordings of sessions

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Food Hub Benchmarking Study

New financial data from the emerging local food sector provides an in-depth look at the growth—and growing pains—of wholesale intermediaries called food hubs. These social enterprises combine food aggregation/distribution business services with programs that strengthen farmer capacity to supply nearby markets 

The COUNTING VALUES: Food Hub Financial Benchmarking Study draws on financial and operational data from 48 of the more than 300 regional food hubs in the nation.such as restaurants, grocery stores, schools, universities and hospitals.

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Visit the Food Hub Community of Practice discussion group

(you must be a member of the community of practice - register here)

Are you a food hub?

LET US KNOW!

Please fill out this very short form so we know about your great work. 
Click here for the form.

Featured Resources

Regional Food Hub Resource Guide	Findings of the 2013 National Food Hub Survey	Wholesome Wave's Food Hub Business Assessment Toolkit

What is a food hub?

A regional food hub is a business or organization that actively manages the aggregation, distribution, and marketing of source-identified food products primarily from local and regional producers to strengthen their ability to satisfy wholesale, retail, and institutional demand.

Red Tomato created this informative video on what a food hub does:

The NGFN Food Hub Collaboration supports the success of existing and developing hubs. Read a summary of our approach.

Research & Resources

• Look in the left sidebar for a list of some of the best papers and presentations on food hubs. Or click here for titles and descriptions.

• USDA's Food Hub Page

• The Making Good Food Work conference website has a great set of resources here and here.
• The Sustainable Agriculture and Research Program (SAREP) at UC Davis has many resources on food hubs and values-based supply chains.
  
• Financing Healthy Food Options Resource Bank from the US Treasury CDFI Fund
  
• 2013 Food Hub Benchmarking Report

Study Hubs

The NGFN Food Hub Collaboration has selected nine Study Hubs from across the country to broadly inform the strategies and activities of food hubs nationwide. We will work closely with these food hubs and report extensively on their progress so that we may all learn from their models, challenges, and successes. As a group, the Study Hubs represent a balance of model and legal structure, age of enterprise, scale, markets served, and region of the country. Learn more about these innovators.

NGFN Webinars

Some webinars we've hosted relevant to food hubs.

>>> See our UPCOMING free webinar topics  >>>

• Production Planning to Increase Market Efficiency: Reducing Financial Risk Through Food Hubs 
• Food Systems Networks That Work - Accelerating Learning and Increasing Commerce
• 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
  

Excellent Partner Webinars

• Food Hubs: What are They? Why do They Matter to the Northeast? from Farm Credit East

Assistance for Food Hubs: Consultant Database

The Wallace Center maintains a database of technical assistance providers to help us facilitate technical assistance to community based businesses and organizations. 

Are you a consultant? You can submit your most recent CV for our Professional Register through this announcement.

Are you in need of technical assistance or food systems consulting? Please contact us for more information about our consultant matchmaking assistance.

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!

NGFN Food Hub Collaboration

The NGFN Food Hub Collaboration is a partnership between Wallace Center at Winrock International, USDA, National Good Food Network, and others including Wholesome Wave, Farm Credit Council, Michigan State University, National Farm to School Network and School Food FOCUS. The Collaboration is working to ensure the success of existing and emerging food hubs in the US by building capacity through connection, outreach, research, technical assistance and partnerships. By supporting this crucial player in the value chain we aim to accelerate the growth of regional food systems that make healthy and affordable food available to all communities while fostering viable markets of scale for regionally focused producers.