We've been hearing buzz lately about food hubs. Have you heard of them? Like the name suggests, a food hub provides makers, growers, and other food producers with a central structure of some sort in which to process, distribute, and market their locally or regionally produced food goods. It's becoming quite common in many states, and farmers are now looking at it as a new way to distribute food among their members. Think it of as CSA 2.0.
One example of this newer food hub model is the Capay Valley Farm Shop, a multi-farm CSA group in the Bay Area. They qualify as a Food Hub because the farmers have banned together to compile their offerings and distribute them all at once to community members and retail locations—a system that's more efficient than a traditional CSA structure. As it was described to us, "30 farms plus one truck means more variety of local foods for urban subscribers. Instead of making deliveries themselves farmers spend time doing what they do best - farming, resulting in less road congestion and freeway emissions."
Last fall Mark Bittman also wrote about food hubs ("a next-generation CSA") and a regional food hub director he interviewed predicted that food hubs are likely to grow 20 percent in both membership and sales within the next year.
Are you a member of a food hub? Tell us your experiences below!
Thanks, Vanessa, for the heads up!
Related: How To Get the Most Out of Your CSA
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I get my produce from a similar set up in the Chicago burbs. They source their organics from many different sources (unfortunately not all local) and deliver a box of assorted items either every week or every other week. I can also order to have meats and other items included. It's door to door organics. While I wish they had more local sources, it seems to be something they are always adding on to, and they are a great service.
please correct me if i am wrong, but isn't this just like taking a step back in time to the way grocery stores USED to be? seems like a great idea, but i hope that these places continue to have the farmers in mind, instead of their own wallets!
Our CSA is like this, although I think they use the term "cooperative." The CSA folks drive around and pick up all the food, then the next day we pick up our bag. The variety is great, and even if growing conditions aren't ideal for one crop, there's always another item to take its place. We are going into our 3rd year getting most of our food from this source, and we love it!
Side note, I think you mean "banded together," not "banned."
I am the Green Team leader for a local medical diagnostic company and found out about Capay Valley. I was already having boxes delievered to my house but when I found out about their company and how much greener they were to others I couldn't resist trying to get them to work with my company. Now we have a good amount of workers who pick up their boxes every Wednesday from the warehouse and have a share box to leave stuff they won't eat. Not only is it cheaper for us, but VERY green for the environment since there is less gas used to bring the boxes to customers. Another benefit is bringing people together to be introduced to new foods and learn new recipes to cook with. I can not be more for the idea of Food Hubs and am proud to be supporting Capay Valley Farms at our company.
Michael Davidson
Green Team Leader
I've been a subscriber to the Capay Valley Farm Shop for about three years now, and it's great! The range of member farmers means more variety of product and a greater impact on farmer livelihoods. But even with a larger group of farmers it remains local, high quality, and tasty. I've occasionally ordered extra products that are delivered with my regular order; with one flat of strawberries I created jam that took First Place at the California State Fair. I eat a lot more vegetables than before, and try more recipes (the Capay Web site has a variety of recipes). It's a thrill to love your food *and* be proud of how it's produced and delivered.
Give me a break! Capay valley scam shop packing shed is full of rats and roaches, Capay Valley Farm Shop offers a "rare" opportunity for families and institutions to buy 100% local, seasonal food direct from 30 small? family farms? no more MBAs seeing customers as numbers