Agricultural Infrastructure - The Backbone Of Local Food Systems

If you think there's a lot of hard work involved in growing and raising food, you're not wrong. But it can take even more time and money to get that food to your plate.

In order for local food systems to work for both consumers and producers, we need infrastructure to help get food from the field to your table. That includes things like warehouse space, cold storage, packing space, and distribution points, all of which are necessary, and often don't make sense for each farm to have just for themselves. 

Organizations like the Southwest Washington Food Hub provide the infrastructure that helps make it more efficient for smaller local producers to get their products to the homes of more people. The food hub is a farmer-owned cooperative food aggregation, distribution, and marketing service that serves Pierce, Thurston, Lewis, Grays Harbor, Mason, and Pacific counties. 

As a farmer-owned cooperative, the participation of farmer members, and the support provided by the Northwest Agricultural Business Center and WSU Extension has been key to helping the hub get established, secure warehouse space, expand the multi-farm produce CSA, and provide locally grown food to school districts. 

If you're a person who eats food, one of the easiest things you can do to support your local farmer is sign up for the hub's multi-farm CSA box. When you sign up, you get a 8-10 different produce items per week that you can customize. Everything is fresh and local, and you can choose your pickup location. 

If you're a farmer who grows food, one of the benefits of being part of the food hub is that you can reach a large number of customers through the hub without having to manage your own CSA or pack individual orders. See the new member application for more details.