A Crossdock Consolidation Center for Sourcing Local Foods
Team: Kate Hamilton, Kate Howie, Crista Wagner/Spring 2014
Demand for source-identified local products from small and mid-sized family farms continues to grow. A major challenge is cost-effectively aggregating and distributing properly cooled product from field to market. This project addresses this issue with an applied analysis of a small- scale infrastructure entity, a Crossdock Consolidation Center (CCC). This entity consists of loading docks and coolers for aggregating and storing product, and provides an aggregation/cooling point from which wholesalers can collect product. It does not function as a marketing/distribution center, as typical food hubs do, and thus the cost of building and operating the facility is much lower. A CCC is a distinct type of infrastructure that could be ideal additions to rural areas, allowing small/mid-scale producers to consolidate product without the costs (investment and operating) required by a full scale food hub.