[Sara Cross]

Jessie – I am curious about the outcome of this question, as I am starting to thing about this. I also wanted to connect with you for a different question/comment. I am at Oregon Food Bank and co-facilitate a group within the Feeding America Network where we talk about how to purchase from Local/BIPOC producers. I know there are people in the Cohort that are having this discussion too. If there is a way to connect with you I would love to hear more about your programming. Here is my email. [email protected]

[Jessie Lumpkins]

Thanks Sara – I’ll shoot you an email so you have my contact info. We luckily have a diverse population of producers in the area so we’re always working to do better at connecting with them!

[Jacob Clark]

I use the Iowa pricing guidance in Nebraska. I have my food hubs/pantries submit a copy of their receipt from the producer alongside the invoice so I can see what price they are getting at market. Often times (especially for meat) they are getting prices near the price floor. However, since aggregator fees are allowed and a lot of our hubs need help covering their costs I allow (within reason, as defined by the USDA) an increase in the price reimbursed to cover those aggregation. Example, beef max is $15/lb, the hub finds it for $10/lb, I allow them to claim $5/lb for admin expenses, keeping the total cost under market price. I can expand more if this isn’t clear.

[Jessie Lumpkins]

Very interesting. Aggregator is a new term (in this context) for me. In TN, our Dept of Ag received the funds then distributed to the 5 food banks in the state. I’m the program coordinator for the largest food bank of the 5, out of Nashville. I buy directly from the producers, and we have them deliver to their agency. All that to say, learning how this works in other places is great! It’s helpful to know that others are adding fees along the way when fair and necessary.

[Makala Bach]

Hi Jessie!

We’ve been using a price guide in Illinois, which you can view here: https://www.dhs.state.il.us/page.aspx?item=160699

Each product has a range of an acceptable price. Farmers must receive at least the minimum value in the range but can be paid higher to offset their costs associated with transportation, organic/regenerative/humane production practices, packaging, processing, and aggregating.

To answer your questions:

1. Our list is completely transparent to everyone in the program and is posted publicly on our website.

2. The final price is negotiated between the farmer and the purchasing organization (we call them our lead agencies). The assumption is that the purchasing organization will not want to pay the highest price for every product to maximize the quantities they can distribute, and thus will need to negotiate with the farmer.

3. We use other quantities. Price per lb. didn’t make sense for us to use for some items, such as microgreens and herbs.

4. The price guide has been in place since before we officially launched the program. There were some price changes after a month or so of the program, but we received pushback. Going forward, we will not be lowering the minimum value of the price range for the duration of the program.

Hopefully that helps! If you have more questions reach out at [email protected] and I can direct you to our price master 🙂

dhs.state.il.us

IDHS: IL-EATS - Fair Market Value (FMV) List

IDHS: IL-EATS - Fair Market Value (FMV) List

[Jessie Lumpkins]

Thank you, Makala! All very helpful information. As for full transparency, that was my goal, but I wasn’t sure if that would complicate the negotiations. I also wonder, do the negotiations start by viewing a price list the producer uses to the public? That’s my instinct – to request their public list, compare to our list, and decide on a fair price together.

And your list is stellar both in content and formatting – already printed it off as a reference!

You may get an email from me sometime, thank you again! 🙂