Local Food Value Chains:
A Collaborative Conversation
Hosted by the Central Appalachian Network
August 3, 2011
On August 3, 2011, the Central Appalachian Network (CAN) hosted a groundbreaking meeting. Almost 30 representatives of CAN member organizations, CAN partners, and grant-makers from the Appalachia Funders Network gathered in Maxwelton, West Virginia to engage in an open, honest dialogue about some of the most critical issues facing local food systems in Central Appalachia today. The goal of the meeting was to move beyond the conventional conversation between funders and grantees and begin a process of mutual learning and collective problem solving.
Central Appalachian Network - www.cannetwork.org.
Since 1993, the Central Appalachian Network (CAN) has been dedicated to working for a more just and sustainable Appalachia. CAN works to advance the economic transition of the region by fostering the development of enterprises, organizations, and policies that promote and protect the health of our local economies, communities, and environment. For almost 20 years, CAN member organizations have been coming together to learn, build relationships, and collaborate to expand capacity and impact on a regional scale.
CAN is currently supported by the Ford Foundation, the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation, and the Appalachian Regional Commission.
Appalachia Funders Network – www.appalachiafunders.org
The Appalachia Funders Network is a group of public and private grant-makers who envision a regional economy that is based in entrepreneurship and provides opportunity for all, while sustaining the environmental and cultural assets of the region.
Working Together
This meeting is part of an ongoing effort by both networks to increase our understanding of local food systems, identify opportunities and key investments to strengthen those systems, and create stronger linkages between investors and practitioners.
Conversations about local foods, and about the topics contained in this paper, are happening among many different organizations across the region. The innovative aspect of this conversation was the convergence of these conversations; grant-makers of all scales, from local to global, met with regional and local practitioners to engage in an open and honest dialogue. This open dialogue allowed those involved to share best practices and some of the hard lessons learned in order to be on the same page as we move the work of developing value chains forward.
The following paper is a combination of highlights and suggestions from the meeting, along with additional information drawn from CAN’s years of experience supporting and growing local foods systems throughout Central Appalachia.
Local Food Value Chains
CAN works to develop and strengthen local food value chains, which we define as supply chains infused with the triple bottom line values of promoting financial, social, and environmental goals. Local food value chains include producers, processors, aggregators, distributors, farmers markets, wholesale buyers, consumers, and a wide variety of important supporters. In five sub-regions throughout Central Appalachia, CAN works to develop infrastructure, make connections, and build capacity to increase the profitability and sustainability of these value chains.
CAN is comprised of six member organizations which act as “intermediaries” in these chains. Intermediaries:
• Connect producers to markets
• Provide and distribute educational materials • Create and promote marketing and training tools • Coordinate policy work
• Facilitate collaboration among value chain participants
• Some intermediary organizations also play additional roles in the value chain
In addition, CAN itself provides small grants, technical assistance, training, and planning and assessment support to partner organizations and local farm and food businesses.
As a network of intermediaries, CAN has a unique viewpoint, enabling us to comprehend and coordinate local foods work at a systems level, across political and cultural boundaries, while also providing support to individuals and organizations “on the ground.”
Key Elements of Strong Local Food Value Chains
Through CAN’s work to develop local food value chains in five sub-regions of Central Appalachia, we have recognized that while each sub-region is unique, there are common elements that local food value chains need in order to thrive. CAN surveyed practitioners around Central Appalachia in order to determine a set of four key elements necessary for growing value chains and improving rural livelihoods.
The four elements chosen were: • Season Extension
• Aggregation, Distribution and Rural/Urban Connections • Institutional Buying
• Statewide Organizing and Policy Work Discussion Process
We used a “fishbowl” activity (see below) to facilitate in-depth conversations, led by local
practitioners, around key elements of strong local food value chains. Each conversation addressed the following questions:
• What makes this issue important? • What models are currently working?
• Where are the greatest opportunities to expand this work?
• Where are the key investment targets to help accelerate this work?
The fishbowl conversations featured presentations by CAN’s sub regional partners. These partners are working closely with CAN members Center for Economic Options (CEO) and/or Natural Capital Investment Fund (NCIF) to move food systems forward in West Virginia. The following section of this paper consists of overviews and highlights from that discussion series, focusing on examples that bring the work to life and actionable items that participants saw as opportunities to further strengthen and develop local food value chains in the region.
What is a “fishbowl”?
Very briefly, a fishbowl is a conversation facilitation tool that involves two concentric rings of people; an inner ring of conversation participants, and an outer ring of listeners. The conversation starts with a brief presentation by someone with knowledge of the topic being addressed. The conversation then opens up to include the entire inner circle. Members of the outer circle can join the inner circle at any time; whenever someone joins, one member of the inner circle volunteers to leave, so there is always an empty chair available.
Topic 1: Season Extension
What makes this issue important?
Season extension techniques, including low and high tunnel technologies, allow producers to grow both earlier in the spring and later in the fall, reduce the need for chemical inputs, and offer producers greater control over their growing environments. Extending the growing season allows for more opportunities for year-round employment and stronger, more long-term relationships with institutional buyers and retail consumers. Featured Model
Ben Nemeth and the WesMonTy RC&D have been supporting growers in the North-Central region of West Virginia through organizing and
technical support. They helped members of the Tygart Valley Growers Association (TVGA) get Environmental Quality Incentives Program
(EQIP) grants from the National Resource Conservation Service to build high- and low-tunnel hoophouses (greenhouses.) The environmental benefits of the greenhouses include reducing the need for soil inputs (like fertilizer) and helping with pest control.
These effective, inexpensive tools are assets to growers interested in selling to institutional and wholesale customers, as they allow growers to continue providing buyers with fresh foods well outside of the boundaries of the traditional harvest season. Producers in the TVGA will work together to construct the greenhouses, and to share best practices on how to best use them. This work, and the work of forming an association, is already paying dividends; local news channels have taken notice of the Association’s growers, as have major local buyers.
What else is working?
Restaurant Casa Nueva, in Athens, OH, has been buying local and practicing season extension in its own way for decades. They preserve literally tons of food a year, flash-freezing berries, corn and other produce, and putting up tomatoes, tomatillos, roasted peppers and pumpkins, and applesauce. It’s worth noting that season extension is not just for produce; hoophouses are also great for keeping animals such as laying hens and lambs warm and productive in the wintertime, and animals can be rotated through greenhouses to provide natural fertilizer. Finally, season extension and food preservation are also keys to creating wintertime CSA programs and farmer’s markets.
Effective Strategies Greatest Opportunities Key Investment Targets
•Mixing financial support in conjunction with training and education
•Low and high tunnel greenhouses
•Food preservation (freezing, canning, etc.)
•Partnerships with and between nonprofits, farm bureau, extension and producer groups to provide education and financial support
•Encouraging growers to cooperate, not just compete
•Training and information sharing tools, both in print and online
•Mapping infrastructure needs and availability •Business education for
farmers
Ben Nemeth, Program Manager: WesMonTy Resource Conservation & Development Project Inc.
Topic 2:Aggregation, Distribution, and Rural-Urban Connections What makes this issue important?
Aggregation and distribution infrastructure are crucial for producers to access higher volume, higher priced markets, such as those offered by urban areas. Connections with urban areas allow more financial wealth to flow to rural areas, but also offer access to larger labor pools, increased political influence, and to urban residents who may currently lack connections to their food and to the rural areas around them. These connections offer the potential for benefits beyond just increased income to rural producers.
Featured Model
Tootie Jones and Jill Young are instrumental in running the Monroe Farm Market, a farmers market that combines both a local market serving the Union, WV community, and an online market serving the city of Charleston, WV. This online market, built on a platform offered by LocallyGrown.net, is a clever twist on the classic consumer supported agriculture (CSA) model; consumers place orders with individual producers on Mondays and Tuesdays, and pick up their baskets from one of two Charleston locations on Thursday afternoons. This innovative approach allows producers in Monroe County (population 13,000) to effectively access markets in Charleston, a city of 50,000 just over two hours away.
What else is working?
Localorb.it is an online platform like the Monroe Farm Market’s, with an additional focus on wholesale markets. ASD’s Appalachian Harvest is a groundbreaking processing, aggregation and distribution (PAD) business that connects rural producers with local and national wholesale clients, like grocery chains Ingles and Whole Foods. Rural Action’s Fresh Stops get local foods into rural and urban convenience stores and community centers. CAN partner Rural Resources sells local foods to urban communities of all income levels via a “Mobile Market”, a farmer’s market on wheels. Urban nonprofit d.c. central kitchen uses “seconds” from regional farmers as inputs for a nonprofit community kitchen, catering program and culinary school, and is also starting up a wholesale delivery service, bringing fresh produce and healthy snacks to urban corner stores and other small retailers.
Effective Strategies Greatest Opportunities Key Investment Targets
•Farmer’s markets as aggregators and distributors, via traditional and online ordering systems •PAD enterprises
•Producer co-ops that sell directly to wholesale buyers •“Food hubs” as aggregation/
distribution nodes
•Distribution systems that serve low-income communities and food deserts.
•Urban buyer investment into farm capacity, i.e. Whole Foods Local Producer Loan Program
• Effective marketing as to benefits of local foods to nearby urban centers • Streamlined distribution
systems
•Investment from urban people and businesses into increased farm capacity and expanded value chains • Encouraging growth of
service businesses for producers – grading, processing, storage, finances, marketing, etc.
• PAD infrastructure, and studies on various PAD business models
• Publications and trainings on health and safety standards and requirements
• Regional branding/marketing • EBT, SNAP and other ways
to increase access to fresh, local foods for low-wealth communities
• Grocery stores and markets in food deserts
Tootie Jones, President (right) and Jill Young, VISTA Volunteer
Topic 3: Institutional Buying What makes this issue important?
Because they pre-plan menus weeks or months in advance, and serve set quantities of people and meals, institutional buyers can be a stable source of producer revenue. Moreover, with advance knowledge of buyers’ needs, producers can more easily and confidently plan for the upcoming season.
Purchasing fresh, local food provides institutions with an opportunity to increase the nutritional quality of the food they serve as well as educate consumers and encourage healthier lifestyles. Direct
relationships between buyers and producers allow institutions to work with their suppliers to meet nutritional mandates and ensure that food safety guidelines are met.
Featured Model
Bekki Leigh has been a statewide leader in efforts to get local foods into schools in West Virginia. She coordinates both the Department of Education’s Fresh Fruit and Vegetable program, which is designed to get fresh fruits and vegetables into snacks for students, and a Farm to School program from the USDA which allows school districts to preferentially purchase local foods.
Her work to get local foods into schools also includes creating deeper connections between schools and farmers, encouraging schools to “adopt” farmers, and to get students aware of and involved in the places where their food comes from.
What else is working?
Other institutions buying direct from local producers include Ohio University, which works with local produce aggregator the Chesterhill Produce Auction to source local foods for its dining hall. Foodservice corporation Sodexo, one of the largest foodservice providers in the world, has been changing its purchasing policies in recent years, and has incorporated local products into many of its clients’ menus, including colleges and universities. This shift has been demand driven, and shows the impacts that local foods marketing and outreach can have on institutional buying.
Effective Strategies Greatest Opportunities Key Investment Targets
• Government and corporate preferential purchasing policies for local foods • Adopt-a-farmer program • Starting small (farmers
selling one product to one institutional buyer)
• Training for farmers
• Creating deeper connections between buyers and producers, so that they understand one another’s needs and constraints • Institutional purchasing policy
changes
• Get consumer groups and media involved in marketing
• Increasing buyer/ producer connectivity • Toolkits and trainings:
o For institutions on how to use/buy/integrate local products
o For producers on food safety requirements, specific challenges of
Bekki Leigh, Coordinator
West Virginia Department of Education, Office of
Topic 4: Statewide Organizing and Policy Work What makes this issue important?
Organizing, policy education, and outreach are needed in order to allow value chain partners to have a voice in policy conversations and access to federal resources, and to understand how current policies affect them. Coalitions of diverse participants in the food system increase the political influence of each member, enabling the membership as a whole to effectively influence legislation where uncoordinated individuals might have failed.
Featured Model
The West Virginia Food and Farm Coalition, an initiative of the WV Community Development Hub, recently led a collaborative effort to convene a series of six regional roundtables bringing together farmers, restaurants, government representatives, students, and others interested in local foods issues in West Virginia. Just the simple act of getting people into the same room and talking about mutual opportunities was a major step.
These roundtables were the first of four phases of a larger effort towards a West
Virginia Food Charter. The Charter will identify the five or six local foods issues that matter most to WV citizens, and bring those issues forward for public commentary, then to governments,
organizations and the media as part of a larger organizing effort. What else is working?
The WV Farm and Food Coalition is basing much of their work on the example of the Michigan Good Food Charter, which presents a vision of a healthy, green, fair and affordable food system, and outlines policy priorities for the next ten years. The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition
organizes sustainable agriculture value chain participants nationwide to develop policy initiatives, lobby for political support, and get engaged and represented in the political system. In addition, CAN has funded the creation of policy training materials and brochures, such as a brochure from the WesMonTy RC&D Project on current and upcoming food safety policies for produce growers.
Effective Strategies Greatest Opportunities Key Investment Targets
• Regional round tables to build and leverage political capital
• Collaborative work towards shared metrics and goals, with public engagement • Building farmer coalitions to
lobby for friendly policies and financial support and increase eligibility for federal and state programs
• Creative use of partners (like Economic Development Corporations) to reach out and organize on policy • Statewide Food Charters
• Education and advocacy around the 2012 Farm Bill • Partnerships with national organizations like USDA, National Association of County Commissioners • Multimedia storytelling and
outreach about the powerful impact of local foods on rural communities and families, broadening the dialogue beyond financial measures of wealth • Information-sharing tools
for collaboration and learning
• Education and outreach to producers and other value chain members about current policy issues and ways to get involved
• Farmer fly-ins and other direct policy advocacy • Holistic strategies promoting
producers’ financial stability, allowing them the time and flexibility needed to invest in policy work
• Youth education
• Education about implications of existing policies, and how to comply with them
Savanna Lyons, Program Manager,
West Virginia Food and Farm
Common Themes
Throughout these conversations, a number of recurring themes arose. These included the importance of education, the role of intermediary organizations, and the benefits of and need for true collaboration among value chain partners of all levels and scales.
Education and outreach are critical to the success of local food value chains. Producers and buyers alike need training and information on topics like food safety certification, sustainable farming practices, and policy. Business support and training, including accounting, record-keeping and business planning, would greatly increase the financial stability and sustainability of producers. This type of training is also necessary for the development of new enterprises that could strengthen weak or missing links in the value chain.
Intermediary organizations serve a number of important functions in the development of local food value chains. They connect producers to markets and to the education and resources necessary to serve new markets effectively. The wide range of connections and high levels of trust they have developed over years of working within Central Appalachian communities allow them to effectively organize groups of producers and local foods advocates around policy issues. These connections also help them connect funders to projects in need, and to support new and expanding
entrepreneurs.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, intermediaries are able to see the bigger picture. As “middlemen” by definition, they are able to understand, analyze and coordinate local foods value chains at the systems level while supporting various parts individually. As a network of such intermediaries, CAN and other organizations like it enable local foods work to move forward at a regional scale, crossing political boundaries to ensure that local foods have a voice and impact nationwide.
In order for value chains to be successful and sustainable over the long run, it is crucial to foster collaboration, both among the core links of the value chain and among those working to support value chain development. Some wholesale buyers are already beginning to invest in local producers through preferential buying agreements and financial support; these partnerships clearly demonstrate the mutual gains to be made from strengthening local food systems, and should be encouraged. Strong relationships among practitioners, anchor organizations, and grant-makers will allow for sharing of information and best practices, definition of common goals, and coordination of efforts across geographic and cultural divides.
Conclusions
Developing local food value chains in a region like Central Appalachia is difficult, complicated work. CAN believes that the challenges involved in creating real and systemic changes that improve rural livelihoods are too large for any one organization to solve alone. We find that collaboration, though challenging in its own right, helps to advance this work by providing opportunities to increase our knowledge, develop a shared analysis of critical issues, and begin working toward a shared vision.
Participant List
Appalachia Funders Network: www.appalachiafunders.org
Appalachian Center for Economic Networks: www.acenetworks.org Appalachian Sustainable Development: www.asdevelop.org
Alleghany Foundation: www.alleghanyfoundation.org blue moon fund: www.bluemoonfund.org
Center for Economic Options: www.centerforeconomicoptions.org Central Appalachian Network: www.cannetwork.org
Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation: www.benedum.org Ford Foundation: www.fordfound.org
Greenbrier Valley Economic Development Corporation: www.gvedc.com Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation: www.mrbf.org
Monroe Farm Market: www.monroefarmmarket.locallygrown.net
Mountain Association for Community Economic Development: www.maced.org Natural Capital Investment Fund: www.ncifund.org
Rural Action: www.ruralaction.org
Rural Support Partners: www.ruralsupportpartners.com
United States Department of Agriculture Rural Development, West Virginia State Office: www.rurdev.usda.gov/wv/officestate.htm
WesMonTy Resource Conservation and Development Project, Inc.: www.wesmontyrcd.org West Virginia Department of Education, Office of Child Nutrition:
www.wvde.state.wv.us/nutrition/
West Virginia Food and Farm Coalition: www.wvhub.org/foodandfarmcoalition Yellow Wood Associates: www.yellowwood.org
Special thanks to the Greenbrier Valley Economic Development Corporation, the Monroe Farm Market, Swift Level Farm, and the Stardust Café.
This paper was produced by Rural Support Partners for the Central Appalachian Network.
