Tag: Stories from the Field: A RARE AmeriCorps Perspective

The Food Hub that Wasn’t…But One Day Might Be

Posted on by vbinnin2

By Abigail Blinn, Procurement Coordinator, Rogue Valley Food System Network and Rogue Valley Farm to School

Photo of a Southern Oregon farm during the winter. An old barn sits behind a field of defoliated vines.

There has been increased attention on access to quality food in the past 10-15 years, and especially this past year with a global pandemic. What has followed is an increase in resources, capacity, and funding opportunities. This trend is surely evident in the state of Oregon, with a particular interest in food hubs.

 

“A food hub provides the mechanism to get more healthy, locally raised food into conventional markets, making it more convenient for consumers, while also returning a larger share of the ‘food dollar’ to participating farmers,” says Anthony Flaccavento, SCALE, Inc. consultant contracted to conduct the SW Oregon Food Hub Feasibility Study.

 

Little pockets of the state have formed collaborations with farmers, food businesses, and eaters to streamline production and marketing. Southern Oregon wanted to see if it were possible to do so. The Ford Family Foundation, NeighborWorks Umpqua, Blue Zones Project-Umpqua (now Thrive Umpqua), and City of Roseburg funded the food hub feasibility study that started in March 2020. Over 100 farmers, buyers, and food system leaders from southwest Oregon participated. From that assessment, an analysis of production and marketing was completed and recommendations were made to address barriers in access and growth. As a RARE member with the Rogue Valley Food System Network, I was able to chime into this study in late September.

 

Though loosely defined, this region consists of Coos, Curry, Douglas, Josephine, and Jackson counties. There are a few assets that make a food hub in the region promising. Agricultural products in the region are vast; the coastal cranberry bogs and fish and seafood, orchard fruits, berries, and grapes for wine production, and cattle and range animals. And, the produce staples are grown throughout the five counties such as carrots, beets, potatoes, brassicas, and grains. The current market for local products serves as another asset to the region. There is a growth of the direct to the consumer market through Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) and purchasing of local products offered in retail settings has gotten much easier with more grocery stores, farm markets, and farm stands offering local products. There is even a rise in institutional purchases, spearheaded by the farm to school movement. A food hub seems like a natural fit for the area, however, a few barriers exist to have a flow regionally.

 

Among these barriers, the one that is not changing, are mountain passes creating geographical sub-regions that make transportation routes and physical distribution of products difficult. There are also infrastructure shortcomings, difficultly streamlining marketing efforts, and a challenge managing the flow of food regionally. Additionally, there are barriers to land access and local product affordability, being the most prominent barriers to establishing a food hub. These challenges also influence each other, making solutions that much more complicated. This is where RARE arrives to move mountains and save the day! Just kidding, that’s where the incredibly dedicated food system movers and shakers of the region once again show up to address these challenges. It just so happens that southern Oregon has a food system RARE member to be a part of the effort.

 

Several recommendations were made following the food hub feasibility study. One is to form working groups around the recommendations. The study recommended setting up a regional implementation team to guide the study’s seven primary recommendations. In consultation with the Food Hub Study Core Team, a few organizations were approached to help lead this effort based on their level of staff capacity including Rogue Valley Food System Network (RVFSN), Otterbee’s Market, Umpqua Valley Farm to School and Blue Zones Project-Umpqua (now Thrive Umpqua). Thus, the Southern Oregon Food Alliance (SOFA) was formed as the regional implementation team with RVFSN serving in the role of convener for the team. The network connects the community to local producers, facilitates the sharing of resources, communicates local events and happenings on the web, and advocates for a local and resilient food system in many other ways. It was a perfect fit for RVFSN to take on something to help our region and the bordering counties of Jackson and Josephine with local food access.

 

With RVFSN having a bit of added capacity, they, along with Otterbee’s Market, and Umpqua Farm to School, were able to form an implementation team. As of now, we are forming the working groups and collaborating with other regions about the feasibility study itself. Many organizations and individuals have raised their hands to collaborate and leverage each other to address these recommendations. Stay tuned as we move forward as the Southern Oregon Food Alliance (SOFA)!

Photo of the author with long auburn hair blowing in the wind. She is wearing a bright read sweater and standing in front of a lush green field.About the Author, Abigail Blinn: Abigail grew up in the rolling hills outside of Gettysburg, PA, having an interest in food, nutrition, and agriculture early on. She attended Penn State University, went on to pursue a dietetic internship at the University of New Hampshire, and received her Registered Dietitian Credentials. After dabbling in various focus areas of nutrition including hospitals, food banks and pantries, extension services, food service management sites, and research settings, she felt compelled to address the root cause of many nutrition-related illnesses and its relation to food security. Abigail is thrilled to contribute to regional solutions identified by Southern Oregon community members who know this local food system best. She is also an outdoor enthusiast – taking any chance she gets to climb rocks, ski mountains, and exist in the forest.

Meeting the Moment

Posted on by vbinnin2

By Jane Allen, Project Coordinator, Mid-Columbia Economic Development District

We all knew when signing up for the 20-21 RARE term of service, that this year would be different. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to rage on in our country, it is hard to count all the ways in which our lives have changed since that virus first presented itself in the US and lockdowns began in mid-March of last year. For many RAREs, what is normally a service marked by in-person community development and fostering connections, this service year has been mostly serving behind a screen — not unlike many other people around the world who are navigating a Covid-ridden landscape. But what do you do when times are tough, and conditions change? You adjust, recalibrate, and move forward with the new set of circumstances.

One of the first projects I was tasked with as an incoming RARE working for the Mid-Columbia Economic Development District, was to coordinate their annual Columbia Gorge Economic Symposium. As someone who has had little experience with event planning, this was a daunting task. For the first time ever, this event would be held virtually, and not surprisingly, the main focus would be recent impacts to our economy and how we, as a region, begin to move forward and recover from this crisis.

Presentation slide from the Ford Family Foundation at MCEDD’s 2020 Economic Symposium.

Diving into this work was a great opportunity for me to learn about the new community I had just moved to. I found ways to build on the partnerships that were already in place in the Columbia Gorge, inviting industry leaders to speak about their experiences, how they pivoted in the face of uncertainty, and what their hopes are for the future. I am happy to say that the event was a success — we had over 200 people register, and many commented that they appreciated the discussions centered around resilience, recovery, and what the future holds for their communities.

This event solidified one of the most important lessons my service has taught me thus far — that getting things done in rural Oregon requires extensive collaboration and relationships that are built on trust and communication. I have seen it as I have joined the monthly calls of our economic resilience team — a cohort of stakeholders representing all facets of life in the Gorge, from health care professionals, teachers, workforce agencies, tourism representatives, tribal members, and more — who have been gathering since early March to meet this moment and share vital information back to their communities. I have seen it as I have listened to community members in Wasco County share the projects they have been working on, sometimes for years, to enhance their towns, and the relentless effort it takes to finally break ground. And I have seen it as MCEDD helped local counties develop a grant program to disperse over $1.5 million in funds to small businesses just weeks before the funds were set to expire. This work cannot occur without the strong foundation of partnerships built and coalitions formed, which have been critical for the Gorge region to navigate the COVID-19 crisis. I feel lucky to have been witness to this, and to play a small role in ensuring those relationships are strong, vibrant, and sustainable.

Photo of the author, a young woman with long hair in an orange sweaterAbout the author, Jane Allen: Jane majored in Environmental Studies and Geography at the University of Northern Colorado and got her Masters in Climate Change & Society at North Carolina State University. Having lived all over the country, Jane has seen the impacts of a changing climate coast to coast and wants to help communities be more resilient to these changes. In the future, Jane hopes to work on natural hazards planning and climate adaptation and is excited to apply her skills to economic development in rural Oregon. In her free time you will most likely find her exploring the outdoors with her husky in tow, listening to live music, or hanging out at a local brewery.