BELLOWS FALLS — With the announcement that it is to receive a $25,000 Rural Business Enterprise Grant (RBEG) from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Great Falls Food Hub is now prepared to move forward on one of its major goals for 2010, the hiring of a project coordinator.
Interviews of prospective candidates are currently being held, with the anticipation that the hiring of the coordinator will be made later this summer.
Together with the $30,000 received in grant funding earlier this year - $15,000 from the Holt Fund (of which the Bank of America is a trustee) and $15,000 from Northeast SARE - the Food Hub will also be conducting a comprehensive feasibility study.
This information and data, coupled with what has been already learned through the the surveys and focus groups that the project's research committee has conducted, will help to ground the Hub's effort around such matters as to how best to serve farmers, support the increased production of local food for the local market and where to locate the various components of the Food Hub.
A project of Post Oil Solutions, in partnership with Southeastern Vermont Community Action (SEVCA), the mission of the Food Hub is intended to make local food accessible and affordable to everyone, while providing a fair return for farmers.
The Hub's purpose is to support local agriculture in Windham and Windsor counties in Vermont, as well as Sullivan and Cheshire counties in New Hampshire, through the creation of services and facilities that will support farmers and food producers.
This will include a licensed, commercial-sized processing kitchen that will accommodate value-added, incubator, commercial and educational activities; dry, cold and frozen storage facilities for ingredients and retail-ready products; a regional distribution system for fresh, stored and value added local food products and a retail outlet of its own.
Additionally, the Food Hub's business plan will make provision for in-depth marketing services for farmers. It is also considering an option that would allow the Hub to generate funds for the creation of an incubator farm in the region.
“One of the ways the project might accomplish this purpose, as well as sustain the Hub itself, is for the latter to become one of its anchor businesses, selling product under its own label, or under a joint label with individual farmers,” said Meg Lucas, chair of the Hub's business plan committee.
Through this variety of services and facilities, the Food Hub hopes to provide locally and regionally produced food to institutions, such as schools and hospitals, as well as retail stores (including the Hub's), food co-ops and restaurants.
The Food Hub's infrastructure committee is presently seeking a viable location, and has already begun exploring a number of options in the region. No decisions have been made about locations, and won't be until the potential sites have been evaluated, and the feasibility study completed.
According to committee chair Gary Fox, “Though the hope is to locate the Hub in the greater Bellows Falls area, neither this, or whether all components will all be in the same location, has been decided at this point."
The Food Hub is actively reaching out to the community through films and forums, and sponsoring classes and workshops around gardening, cooking, storing and preserving food.
Through its education committee, it is focused upon creating community awareness about the importance and value of local food and, hence, developing a solid market presence for the region's farmers.
“One of the things we've learned through our focus groups and surveys,” said Kathy Martin, a member of the education committee, “is that area farmers consider a strong awareness of and commitment to local food amongst the general population to be one of their top priorities. The Food Hub will play a significant role in helping to meet this need by working to brand local food throughout the region.”
Post Oil Solutions executive director Tim Stevenson notes that “The Food Hub is one of five components of Post Oil's Regional Food Sustainability Campaign, a strategic plan that envisions how our region can become food secure and food just, populated with a citizenry who are able to increasingly feed themselves through the production and consumption of local food."
The Food Hub seeks people with relevant expertise and background to serve on its Board of Directors and Advisory Board. Interested parties should contact the Food Hub's Interim Working Committee at iwc@greatfallsfoodhub.com.
For anyone who would like to be become involved in the Food Hub, or who would like further information, contact them at outreach@greatfallsfoodhub.com or visit www.greatfallsfoodhub.com. For information about Post Oil Solutions, contact them at info@postoilsolutions.org, or visit www.postoilsolutions.org. For information about SEVCA, call 802-722-4575 or visit www.sevca.org.