Local Food Hub Supports Area Farmers

By Joanne DiMaggio

This June marks the first anniversary of the Local Food Hub, a community-supported nonprofit service organization that is making a difference in the way local farms operate and educating the public about the importance of supporting local food efforts. 

The Local Food Hub’s mission is to strengthen and secure the future of a healthy regional food supply by providing small, local farmers with services that support and advance their economic vitality and promote stewardship of the land. It recognizes that the best way to preserve farmland is to help make it profitable. With the Local Food Hub, farmers save time and money through access to reliable, on-the-ground production, transportation, storage, and marketing services that strengthen the competitiveness and profitability of small farms. 

Emily Manley, Manager, Communications & Outreach for the organization, said the Local Food Hub was the brainchild of Kate Collier, who owns Feast! in Charlottesville and works with a number of local farmers and producers. 

“One of the things that came out of her day-to-day work was these farmers were struggling with sales, distribution, accounting, and planning. We were expecting them to till the earth, plant, weed, harvest, clean, make deliveries and sales calls, and handle their own accounting,” said Manley. “That was limiting to a lot of farmers, because they couldn’t scale up their production. It was taking them away from what they do best—farming.”

Manley said the need was great. She cited statistics showing Virginia lost 520,000 acres of farmland between 2002-2007. 

“Virginia has a long history of being an agricultural community, but a lot is being lost to development, or folding because they don’t have the funds to keep them running,” said Manley. “We decided to step in.”

Collier and co-founder Marisa Vrooman developed a business plan and obtained the initial funding to get the organization up and running. The organization has two arms. One is an educational farm. The other is a distribution warehouse in Ivy that operates like a traditional produce distribution warehouse, but only for local food. The Local Food Hub purchases produce from 35 partner producers and then sells it to markets, restaurants, institutions, schools, and hospitals. They also donate a good percentage to food banks, soup kitchens, and homeless shelters. 

“We see the 520,000 acre statistic alarming,” said Manley. “We hate to see good, productive land being given up to development. Local food is important. There is security in knowing where your food comes from. The less hands that food passes through, the better the peace of mind. That’s why people go to farmers markets—they like to interact with people who grow their food. Local food tastes better, gathers more nutrients, stays on the vine longer, and is fresher and healthier.” 

To develop a support plan for growers, at the beginning of each season representatives from Local Food Hub hold meetings with buyers and growers. From these meetings, the organization develops a record of buyer demand, which informs growers of planting and pricing requirements. This guidance helps small farmers develop a working business model. 

Manley said this idea came out of the Local Food Hub’s first growing season. Because it entered the picture late in the growing season, the Hub was doing reactionary buying—that is, they were purchasing overages of vegetables and fruit. They never knew what to expect each week and sometimes had to contend with a glut of a particular crop. As a result, this winter organizers went through a planning process to avoid this reactionary buying. 

“We sat down with our buyers to see if they could project their demand into this year,” said Manley. “For some restaurants it’s difficult, but for institutional buyers like Martha Jefferson Hospital, the University, and the 45 public schools that we provide fruits and vegetables for lunches and snacks, those buyers are consistent and large and know what they’re going to need every week. We made a grid of core crops that we knew we’d have consistent demand for, so we could project what they were going to need going into spring and summer. Then we had a big meeting with our partner producers and said we knew we’d need this many tomatoes—who could take on the first planting and the second planting? This had never been done before. Farmers were growing what they thought they could sell or what they thought they’d try out, so we provided planning assistance matching up demand with supplies. Now they’re growing specifically for a market and for us, rather than our buying it from them and hoping we can find a way to sell it. It’s eased a lot of stress on everyone’s part and provided a lot of guidance going into the growing season.”

Networking

One of the many things that the Local Food Hub does well is bringing people together, matching needs with services and keeping all parties connected for the greater good of all. To that end, they have compiled a database of organizations and citizens involved in food system issues. 

“We work with individuals at farmers markets, schoolyard gardens, food banks, school groups, shelters, at-risk youth, etc.,” said Manley. “We found there’s a big community interested in farming and local food issues. We work to connect all of these players in different ways for information sharing and community building. We also work with government agencies who come to us and we to them for information—and then share what everyone knows.” 

The Local Food Hub works with local professionals and small farmers to develop sustainable business plans. In addition, the organization matches up landowners with those interested in farming. 

“We can connect landowners who want to see their land productive, but don’t have the time or knowledge to farm it, with beginning farmers who are anxious to do just that,” said Manley. 

The Hub is also getting farms to be proactive about their planning in terms of what they’re growing so they can be efficient. “A lot of farmers want their farm to grow, but without the right resources, time, and skills that they need to do that, it’s not really a reality,” said Manley.

Educational Farm

The Local Food Hub’s Educational Farm at Maple Hill is a 70-acre certified organic farm near Scottsville. There are a number of operations going on at the farm. About six acres is in active production of vegetables. Part of that cultivation is for testing both varietals and different farming methods. 

“We did some research on some varietals that we thought might work well here, so we’re trying out different varieties of fruits and vegetables. We’re doing market research to determine if they really will sell and answering questions such as, are these the best varieties for our climate? We’re testing farming methods and organic pest control so we can provide this information at the end of the season to say yes or no —i.e. this is the best cantaloupe or watermelon that people will buy. We can communicate that to our partner producers so they can include that crop. They’re depending on farming as their livelihood, so we’re using the farm as a testing ground.”

Manley added that they are also planting what she called “gap crops”—those foods that will be in demand, but which the farms cannot sufficiently produce. “We fill in the gaps where there is demand but not supply, but we don’t want to be competing with our partner producers. That’s why we don’t sell to the public or participate in farmers markets. Our goal is to support our partner producers as much as possible.”

The Educational Farm is home for the Hub’s educational programming. Workshops are open to partner producers, community members, and other farms who aren’t working with the Hub yet. The workshops cover a wide range of topics, from technical issues such as farm planning, implement usage and big equipment, to issues such as pest management that can be applied to a farm or a backyard gardener.

In addition, the farm has a number of community outreach programs hosting at-risk youth from Charlottesville who come once a week for about an hour. They do whatever tasks are on the list for that day, such as weeding, mulching, pruning, and planting. 

“It gets them out of the city and into a place where they can feel comfortable,” said Manley. “It exposes them to nature and the outdoors and what’s involved in living and working on a farm.”

In addition, the Local Food Hub sponsors an apprenticeship program that starts in March and runs for eight months. Three individuals live and work at the farm full-time during that period, learning the ins and outs of organic farming. 

There is also an internship program for at-risk high school students who work three days a week throughout the summer. These are paid, supervised jobs where teens can get real-life experience, as well as some much-needed job skills.

Volunteers

Five full-time staff run the Local Food Hub, so the organization depends on volunteers to make things happen. 

“We have many volunteer opportunities,” said Manley. “The need at the farm is greater, but we have opportunities at the warehouse, too.”

Volunteer hours at the farm are Wednesdays from 8–11 a.m. and every first and third Saturday from 8–11 a.m. 

“People come and do a wide range of things,” said Manley. “They primarily work with the apprentices doing mulching, harvesting, planting—it ranges. We basically can use volunteers whenever they can come, so if they want to volunteer other times I’m happy to work with them.” 

Growing in Size and Outreach

In just one year, the Local Food Hub has acquired 35 partner producers. “When we started this organization last year, our goal was to work with 10, and now we’re working with 35,” said Manley. “The interest from the farming community has been outstanding. We’re currently looking to expand that number. We’ve seen more demand for local produce than we can supply, so the more we can support the better.” 

The Local Food Hub’s Web site lists places where people can find local produce. “A lot of people like the idea of supporting their local farms and making the connection between their food and who grew it,” said Manley. “There’s no set definition of what ‘local’ means. For our purposes, we define local within 60 miles of Charlottesville, so when people see produce that comes from Local Food Hub, they are assured it’s from a 60-mile radius. They can find out what farm the food comes from, as all our food is traceable back to an individual farmer. It provides assurance to people that this food is local. This also supports the local economy. If every household spent $10 on local food, it would invest more than $165 billion a year into the local economy. If you buy food outside the community, the dollar is lost.”

For and By the Community

The Local Food Hub is a community-supported organization and owes its success to its dedicated group of supporters and volunteers. “We are excited to see such broad community support,” said Manley. “We know that what we eat and where it comes from is important to our environmental, physical, and economic health. By supporting our small farmers and food producers, we are helping to secure the future of our food, our culture, and our agricultural heritage. We’re happy to be here and look forward to a long future.”

For more information on the Local Food Hub, visit  HYPERLINK "http://www.localfoodhub.org" www.localfoodhub.org.

[SIDEBAR]

Farmers Markets

A good source of local food is through farmers markets, scattered throughout Central Virginia. In Albemarle County alone, there are Farmers Markets in Crozet, Earlysville, Forest Lakes, Scottsville, and Charlottesville, as well as Farmers in the Park (Meade Park and Pen Park). 

Fluvanna hosts a farmers market at Pleasant Grove in Palmyra; in Greene there are farmers markets at the Greene County Technical Education Center and in Ruckersville at the intersection of Routes 33 and 29. 

Over in Louisa, the Louisa County Farmers Market is held at the Glen Marye Shopping Center, and there is also the Mineral Farmers Market and the Zion Crossroads Farmers Market and Flea Market. 

Nelson County hosts a farmers market in Lovingston, Nellysford, and Schuyler. 

You can find details about all local farmers markets, as well as a list of farms, orchards, wineries/breweries/cideries and more at  HYPERLINK "http://www.buylocalvirginia.org" www.buylocalvirginia.org.