The California Department of Food and Agriculture Office of Farm to Fork announces that it is awarding $13.75 million through its new Farm to Community Food Hubs Grant Program to 12 nonprofits, Tribal-led organizations, farmers, and other organizations to plan for or implement and expand community food hubs throughout the state.
According to a news release, a food hub is a business or organization that aggregates, distributes, and markets food products from local and regional producers to meet demand from wholesale, retail, and institutional buyers.
Food hubs provide a business and logistics structure that helps small- and mid-scale farmers reach larger markets, improving healthy food access and supporting the local economy.
The grant program received one-time funding for investments in organizations to develop new and expand existing community food hubs to support local farming and indigenous food production, to accelerate climate adaptation and resilience, and to employ food system workers with fair wages and working conditions.
Five planning grants will support organizations to develop feasibility studies, business strategies, logistics and distribution systems, as well as plans to evaluate new food hubs while scaling up emerging operations.
These projects will examine opportunities in Colusa, Fresno, Modoc, Los Angeles, Santa Cruz, Sacramento, Tuolumne and Yolo counties.
