There have been several attempts at Agribusiness/Innovation Centers in VA and a lot of money put towards feasibility studies for physical locations. Few have had the right mix of partners to be successful. We have a good example that has been supported by Cooperative Extension at both land grant universities, but the region it serves is…

Read more

Hi French, I’ve heard that they will most likely be affiliated with land grant universities, but I’m not sure if this is confirmed. I agree that there will be challenges if they are to be centrally located. Some thoughts that we have discussed here include: creating mobile options that move around the state or region to ensure that there…

Read more

Do you anticipate these “Centers” will be in one location or more of a regional network or programs and organizations? Depending on the size of the region and the scope of the projects, it will be difficult to have the Centers be both effective and inclusive in distributing the funding. Is this something you have discussed in your region?

Thanks for starting this conversation Sue!

Hi Nicole, we are doing something like this in NW Indiana. We just concluded our pilot year and are diving head first into year two. You can find more info on our hybrid hub, Region Roots Local Farm and Food Hub here: https://www.regionroots.org/

If this is what you are thinking of, our team would be happy to talk with you. There have…

Read more

Howdy all! I’m starting this discussion so we have a place to discuss the expected USDA funding for Enterprise Centers. This is super important for us here at the Texas Center for Local Food because our mission revolves around catalyzing successful sustainable and organic farm and food enterprises in Texas.

Absolutely, yes, I’d love to talk with you. My email is nicole@homerswcd.org. Please send me an email with a good phone numberto contact you by and we can set up a time to have a good chat.

Hi Nicole

I’m the co-owner and CFO of 100km Foods Inc. – we’re based in Ontario Canada and we act as a wholesaler for a network of about 150 small and medium sized farms in the province and across the country and our primary customers are restaurants, hotels, boutique retailers, pro sports teams, and (since COVID) retail home-delivery customers…

Read more

Help- I am looking for an assist here. I am doing a grant-funded study on distribution models that focus on aggregating and selling small farm products wholesale to larger buyers like restaurants and grocery stores. Where I live on the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska, the farms are REALLY small, but there are many. We have the highest growth…

Read more