Community Food Bank program to bridge producers to buyers

“Much of the grant is about increasing the capacity of the regional food supply in a way that benefits for low-income families to receive healthy food,” said Kara Jones, the farmer’s market manager at the community food bank.

The proposal, titled “Building Capacity in the Regional Food Supply Chain,” was accepted in September for a two-year period.

The grant will be used to build a cooperative of producers, vendors and consigners and connect them directly to institutional buyers, Jones said.

“The institutional buyers that we’re looking to partner with are basically the institutions that serve the same populations that the food bank does,” she said. That includes hospitals, clinics, schools and public service organizations.

The food bank will initially use its existing farmer’s market structure and relationships with local producers to facilitate a co-op, Jones said. It will also use the food bank staff’s experience with distribution and marketing to enhance its connection with potential buyers.

The Community Food Bank has two main goals: to address the emergency hunger needs of our community by making food resources available and also to address the root cause of hunger by creating opportunities, said Robert Ojeda, vice president of the Community Food Resource Center at the community food bank.

The farmer’s market is one of the programs aimed at addressing the latter, he said. Creating a network of producers and connecting them with large-scale buyers would be an extension of the farmer’s market program.

The project is still in an early stage, he said.

“First phase is to engage with a lot of producers, consigners, vendors that we work with at the farmer’s market,” he said. “At the same time, we’re looking at potential institutional buyers.”

The Community Food Bank is currently conducting an assessment of what the producers need, Ojeda said.

It will likely begin with a pilot program to facilitate a working cooperative, he added.