A food hub is a businesses or organization that actively manages the aggregation, distribution and marketing of source-identified food, primarily from local and regional producers to strengthen their ability to satisfy wholesale, retail and institutional demand. Though they come in many forms, from coops to multi-farm CSAs to big, bustling warehouses, they are a critical component of a viable thriving local food economy.
You can find a library of recent and featured food hub resources here!
Featured Resources
| Title | Author | Summary | Year | Tags |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LFM NWFHN Case Study | LFM NWFHN | How can we create a more vibrant and resilient food system? One emerging idea is the formation of food hub networks. In this model, a group of food hubs partner together to expand opportunities for local food. It’s about collaborating to meet shared goals and expand opportunities for their producers. In the Pacific Northwest, three food hubs are doing just that. In late 2021, Puget Sound Food Hub, LINC Foods, and Western Montana Growers Cooperative officially formed the Northwest Food Hub Network (NWFHN). Now, just one year into their story, the network has seen $1 million in new … | 2023 | Food Hubs |
| Interoperability In Regional Food Systems: A Solution in a Public Blockchain | Tony Coble, Cullen Naumoff | Interoperability, the ability for different and unique softwares to share data, is key to both networking and general ease and efficiency of doing business. At Farm Fare, they endorse a public blockchain as a solution to interoperability. This document provides accessible (ie: non technologist) language to learn more about interoperability and a public blockchain. | 2023 | Food Hubs |
| Data’s Role In Regional Food Systems: A Practitioner’s Guide | Cullen Naumoff | The following provides accessible language to understanding a means to prioritize the use of data at your food hub and why data standards are critical to rolling up your own food hub’s experience in the context of other food hubs across the nation. Also: are you confused what data standards even are? Don’t worry, this resource defines and describes this for the non-technologist. | 2023 | Food Hubs |
| A Practioner’s Guide to Developing and Growing a Food Hub Network | Farm Fare | Developing and sustaining a food hub … | 2023 | Food Hubs |
| Value Chain Guidebook | Value Chain Initiative | A Process for Value Chain Development | 2005 | Collaboration, Community Economic Development, Distribution, Value Chain Coordination |
| The Value Chain Link | The Value Chain Initiative | An overview of the Value Chain Initiative in Alberta, Canada | 2006 | Collaboration, Distribution, Value Chain Coordination |
| Institutional Investment in Praxis | Elliott Smith, Kitchen Sync Strategies | This article highlights examples of institutions investing in their local food systems | 2021 | Community Economic Development, Distribution, Farm To Institution, Finance |
| Delivering More Than Food: Understanding and Operationalizing Racial Equity in Food Hubs | Michigan State University | This report is a look at a how U.S.-based food hubs understand engagement in racial equity work. Through interviews with food hub managers and other roles, we identify common facilitators and inhibitors to food hubs engaging in racial equity … | 2020 | Food Hubs, Racial Equity |
| From Food Hubs to CSAs | Wallace Center | When COVID-19 upended markets in the spring of 2020, many hubs borrowed elements of a Community Supported Agriculture model- which guarantees a market for farmers, provides customers a food box on a regular schedule, and strives to match the needs of farmers and growers. Local food hubs, even those that didn’t run CSAs, were able to collaborate with partners and use these models to manage this massive market … | 2020 | COVID Response, Distribution, Farm to Food Assistance, Food Hubs, Value Chain Coordination |
| USDA Farmers to Families Food Box Program Wallace Center Research Findings and Final Report | Wallace Center | Findings and recommendations from Wallace Center led research into local- and regional- sourcing contractors participating in the USDA Farmers to Families Food Box Program | 2020 | COVID Response, Farm to Food Assistance, Food Access, Food Hubs, Value Chain Coordination |
| Findings of the 2019 National Food Hub Survey Report | Michigan State University, Wallace Center | Findings from the 2019 Food Hub Survey | 2020 | Food Hubs |
| Running a Food Hub Volume 4: Learning from Food Hub Closures | USDA Rural Development | The goal of this study is to examine factors that have led food hubs to close their doors. Many studies have been conducted on successful food hubs, but USDA hopes to fill a knowledge gap by using national data and case studies to draw general lessons from food hub failures. By identifying lessons learned from these cases, we hope this information will assist new and existing food hubs overcome barriers to … | 2016 | Enterprise Development, Food Hubs |
| Food Hub Common Chart of Accounts | Farm Credit East | This is a sample chart of accounts for a food hub to help you ensure you are tracking the right financial measures for your … | 2017 | Finance, Food Hubs |
| Running a Food Hub Volume 3: Assessing Financial Viability | USDA Rural Development | This is the third volume in a series on the fundamentals of running a food hub. The purpose of this report is to provide benchmarks for established and emerging food hubs to use as a comparison for assessing their own financial viability and for making strategic business … | 2016 | Finance, Food Hubs |
| Financial Management for Food Hub Success – The 2018 Food Hub Finanical Benchmark Study Findings | Wallace Center | Findings From the 2018 Food Hub Financial Benchmarking … | 2019 | Finance, Food Hubs |
| A Manager’s Guide to Food Hub Finances – Companion Resource | Iowa State University | A Manager’s Guide to Food Hub Finances – Companion Resource Companion Resource to the Manager’s Guide for Food Hub … | 2017 | Food Hubs |
| A Manager’s Guide to Food Hub Finances | Iowa State University | Finances for food … | 2017 | Food Hubs |
| Overcoming Obstacles to Frozen Local Produce | Common Market | This case study traces Common Market’s exploratory process, product trials, and relationship building that ultimately led to its first branded, source-identified local frozen … | 2014 | Business Operations, Distribution, Enterprise Development |
| Moving Food Along the Value Chain | USDA Agricultural Marketing Service | This report examines the aggregation, distribution, and marketing of eight diverse food value chains to glean practical lessons about how they operate, the challenges they face, and how they take advantage of emerging opportunities for marketing differentiated food … | 2012 | Distribution, Food Hubs, Value Chain Coordination |
| Managing Cash Flow for a Low-Capital Food Hub Start-up | USDA | Managing Cash Flow for a Low-Capital Food Hub Start-up For food hubs, or businesses that aggregate and distribute local food, limited funds can be a barrier to growth. This publication explains the idea of cash flow and how food hub managers can use it to their advantage, drawing on the real-world experiences of the Iowa Food Hub, which collaborated with the Leopold Center and ISU Extension and Outreach to compile this information. … | 2015 | Business Operations, Food Hubs |
| Running a Food Hub Volume 1: Lessons Learned from the Field | USDA Rural Development | Running a Food Hub Volume 1: Lessons Learned from the Field The first in a multi-volume series on food hubs, the USDA released a 2015 report that includes best practices and in-depth profiles of food hub … | 2015 | Food Hubs |
| Running a Food Hub Volume 2: Business Operations Guide | USDA Rural Development | Running a Food Hub Volume 2: Business Operations Guide The report’s main focus is on the operational issues faced by food hubs, including choosing an organizational structure, choosing a location, deciding on infrastructure and equipment, logistics and transportation, human resources, and risks. … | 2015 | Food Hubs |
| Findings of the 2017 National Food Hub Survey | Michigan State University, Wallace Center | Findings of the 2017 National Food Hub Survey Findings of the third biennial National Food Hub Survey finds that Food hubs—businesses that actively manage the aggregation and distribution of source-identified food products—are an essential component of scaling up local food systems and a flagship model of socially conscious … | 2018 | Distribution, Food Hubs |
| Value Chain Strategies for Source-Identified Minimally Processed Produce for the School Market | Washington State Department of Agriculture | Value Chain Strategies for Source-Identified Minimally Processed Produce for the School Market WSDA analyzed minimally processed fruits & vegetable supply chains in Washington State in order to identify strategies for developing the “value chain” infrastructure and relationships that might help local farms meet the demand for those products from K-12 schools and other institutional buyers. Year … | 2018 | Distribution, Enterprise Development, Farm To Institution, Processing, Supply Chain Logistics, Value Chain Coordination, Wholesale |
| Reframing Food Hubs – Food Hubs, Racial Equity, and Self-Determination in the South | Center for Social Inclusion | Reframing Food Hubs – Food Hubs, Racial Equity, and Self-Determination in the South This paper is not an exhaustive overview of food hub and co-op work, rather it is intended to amplify and make visible some of the voices, concerns, histories, and work of communities of color to offer a new narrative of good food work for the broader field — one that paves a way forward that is rooted in racial equity. Year … | 2018 | Food Hubs, Racial Equity |