gorge grown mobile farmers market with farmer holding a green bin of rhubarb — Food Hub Network

**Coordinator:** Sydney DeLuna
**Co-coordinator:** Lauren Gwin

What is a food hub?

Food hubs are businesses or organizations that aggregate, distribute, and market locally grown and made food products. Hubs connect local and regional agricultural producers to wholesale, retail, and institutional buyers they can’t reach on their own.

Hubs tend to focus on producers who use sustainable, regenerative, humane agricultural practices to grow healthy, nutritious food.

Hubs also often have goals related to food security, equity and inclusion, and local economic development. These values and goals are often not “profitable,” given the structure and inequities within the dominant, mainstream food system. Hubs require support to stay true to their missions and visions.

What is the Food Hub Network?

The Oregon Food Hub Club is a peer learning community of local food hub projects around the state, primarily in rural areas. These projects include nonprofit organizations, farmers, ranchers, and fishermen, small food businesses, rural economic development agencies, and others. The network began convening in February 2019 and includes both established and developing hub projects.

How to join the Food Hub Network Google Group and Meetings

You can join the Food Hub Network email listserv (aka Google Group) by simply sending an email to food-hub+subscribe@ocfsn.org. Sending this email will automatically ask you to opt-into the Google Group. Once you have joined the Google Group you will receive meeting calendar invitations, resources and other communications from network members and you can send emails to the list.

Did you know? We have a new Shared Kitchen Google Group!

Our Oregon Food Hub Network Shared Kitchen group is a dedicated space for shared kitchen operators to share resources and experience. Once you have joined the Google Group you will receive meeting calendar invitations, resources and other communications from network members and you can send emails to the list.

You can join the Shared Kitchen email listserv (aka Google Group) by simply sending an email to sharedkitchens+subscribe@ocfsn.org. Sending this email will automatically ask you to opt-into the Google Group. Once you have joined the Google Group you will receive meeting calendar invitations, resources and other communications from network members and you can send emails to the list.

Resources

OCFSN Food Hub Working Group Resource Folder

- What is a food hub anyway? At the 2024 OSU Small Farms Conference a panel of representatives from Oregon Food Hubs delivered this presentation, focused on explaining what food hubs are, what they do, and highlighting several of the food hubs across the state.
- Read this 2021 publication to learn more about the established and emerging food hubs in Oregon. [Prepared by Kiara Kashuba and published by Oregon State University’s Center for Small Farms & Community Food Systems]
- Check out this MAP that shows the Oregon Food Hubs that are part of our network.
- Oregon Food Hub Feasibility Studies
  - Southwest Oregon Food Hub Feasibility Assessment
    Assessment year: 2020
    Area of focus: 5 SW counties - Douglas, Coos, Curry, Jackson, Josephine
    Assessment was funded by Neighborworks Umpqua, Ford Family Foundation, City of Roseburg and Blue Zones Project-Umpqua and done by consultant Anthony Flaccavento, SCALE.
    Source: presentation given by Erin Maidlow, at Food Hub Club meeting, Dec. 2020
  - North Coast Food Hub Feasibility Report
    Assessment year: 2020
    Area of focus: Tillamook and Clatsop County with the intent to serve the entire North Coast region, including Columbia County and parts of Southern Washington. Report funded by 2020 Business Oregon Rural Opportunity Initiative grant awarded to Visit Tillamook Coast
  - Klamath County Food Hub Feasibility Study
    Assessment year: 2019
    Area of focus: Klamath County
    Assessment was conducted by the South Central Oregon Economic Development District
  - Wallowa County (NE Oregon) Food Hub Feasibility Study
    Published Deceember 2017
- How to write a feasibility study
- Published in 2020 by Michigan State University Center for Regional Food Systems & Wallace Center at Winrock International.
- Download and read the report.
1. Financial Management for Food Hub Success by Wallace Center
2. A Racial Equity Implementation Guide for Food Hubs by Tamara Jones, Dara Cooper, Simran Noor, & Alsie Parks
3. How to Wholesale: Post-Harvest Handling Best Practices for the Wholesale Market
4. ATTRA Post-Harvest Handling of Fruits and Vegetables
5. Post-Harvest Handling Guide for Wholesale Suppliers
6. Production Planning for Aggregators: A Guide to Aggregating Crop Production from Multiple Producers to Serve Volume Buyers by the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University
7. Delivery Cost Calculator
8. Food Safety Modernization Act’s (FMSA) Preventive Controls Rule is the section most likely to pertain to food hubs. Download Standard operating procedure templates and watch the series of webinars hosted by Dr. Erin DiCaprio of the Cooperative Extension in Community Food Safety at the UC Davis Department of Food Science and Technology.
9. Memorandum of Understanding for Combination Establishments
10. SNAP/EBT Resources:
  1. The CSA Farmer’s Nationwide Guide to Accepting SNAP/EBT Payments by Zenger Farm
  2. Farm Direct Incentives Guide Resource Library on SNAP/EBT and Nutrition Incentives Technology
11. Retail Food Box Programs:
  1. Sample Box Program Tool
  2. Retail Box Toolkit from Iowa State University
12. THE MARKETSIZER® AND HUBSIZER® TOOLSITE BY NEW VENTURE ADVISORS!
The PNW F&B is at its simplest, a google group. With over hundreds of members it has become a central communication point for regional food businesses. The group contains 3 years of rich data full of resources and answers to problems. We sell equipment to each other, collaborate on marketing campaigns, trade contacts, and support each other’s success. Each month community catalyst and connector, Hannah Kullberg, hosts Community Conversations and Office Hours to deepen the support and community connections.

The PNW F&B is a sliding scale membership model with scholarships available and free for farmers with code “FARMERLIFE”.

As OFSCN is a Community Partner, there are 8 memberships available for OFSCN members with code “OFSCN25”.

We are stronger together.