May 2014 – NC Growing Together and project partners Cooperative Extension and NC Farm Bureau hosted over 50 participants at the NC Food Hub Info Exchange on May 6, 2014. (See the agenda.) The event was a draw for individuals and organizations considering the food hub model — where a private or non-profit organization aggregates and distributes source-identified product with the intention of developing local food systems — as a community economic development strategy.
NCGT Research Coordinator Rebecca Dunning facilitated the program and a Q&A session with a panel of eight North Carolina food hub managers representing Feast Down East, TRACTOR, Pilot Mountain Pride, Polk Farm Fresh, Madison Family Farms, Sandhills Farm to Table, Firsthand Foods, and Eastern Carolina Organics.
Independent consultant Smithson Mills gave a presentation on the Economics of Food Hubs, Steve Virgil of the Wake Forest Law School discussed the implications of adopting various legal structures for food hubs, and Roland McReynolds of the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association discussed Food Safety and introduced a new food “Group GAPs” model under development.
This article originally appeared in the May 2014 NC Growing Together Newsletter.