Event Recap – Food Hubs: Increasing Market Opportunities for Farmers, Ranchers, and Food Producers
On July 16th, the USDA Southwest Regional Food Business Center hosted a webinar on “Food Hubs: Increasing Market Opportunities for Farmers, Ranchers, and Food Producers”. The event included presentations from two Center partners Alicia Baddorf, of University of California Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education Program (UC SAREP) and Sabina Malik, of University of Nevada, Reno Extension (UNR Extension). Speakers presented on the development and planning process of food hubs, its impact in fulfilling market gaps, and collaborative learning through food hubs networks. The webinar is part of the Center’s quarterly webinar series, where Center partners share best practices and innovative projects on essential topics related to business development and capacity assistance for local producers, farmers, and ranchers.
Alicia discussed the work of UC SAREP’s California Food Hub Network as a learning network, supported by the Southwest Regional Food Business Center, to coordinate technical assistance, collaborative learning and information sharing for and among food hubs in California. Alicia exemplified these efforts by the Food Hub Network’s work with the Transitions to Organic Partnership Program, in which food hubs were paired with a food hub mentor and to receive support about the steps for obtaining organic certification for their facilities. Sabina discussed UNR Extension’s planning process for the first food hub in the greater Las Vegas area. Sabina provided the audience with a multitude of background research that informed the need for the food hub and described how UNR’s research community assessment research, such as the Healthy Food Access Map, can serve as a model to support best practices for equitable development of food hubs across unique geographies, alongside specific resource guides including USDA Regional Food Hub Resource Guide and Michigan State University National Food Hub Survey.
Attendees, representing a wide variety of organizations and businesses, were actively engaged throughout the webinar, as many sought to learn of the outcomes of a network-based approach to food hub collaboration and understand research-based planning processes for food hub development.
About Valley Vision and the Southwest Regional Food Business Center
Valley Vision leads coordination, communication, and network development efforts for the Southwest Regional Food Business Center. The quarterly webinar series is part of Valley Vision’s efforts to share best practices and to foster a collaborative network among Center partners and other participants.
The Southwest Regional Food Business Center, representing Arizona, California, Nevada, and Utah, is one of twelve USDA Regional Food Business Centers nationwide developed in 2023 to provide coordination, technical assistance, and capacity building to help farmers, ranchers, and other food businesses access new markets and initiatives, as well as navigate federal, state and local funding and resources. With an extensive network of partners from academic, government, and community-based organizations, the Southwest RFBC is dedicated to prioritizing historically underrepresented communities and small to mid-tier businesses.
For more information about the USDA Southwest Regional Food Business Center and its initiatives, visit www.swfoodbiz.org. To stay updated on future webinars and events, be sure to subscribe to the Center’s newsletter: http://bit.ly/SWRFBC-Newsletter.
USDA disclosures and guidance can be found at https://bit.ly/USDAdisclosures.
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