Document Type

Book

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Publication Date

Fall 9-17-2024

Description

This session explored values-based food procurement through research and dialogue on the pivotal role of food hub food access programs prioritizing regional and small producers in shaping and supporting resilient regional food systems. By facilitating essential connections between producers and food-insecure populations, these programs address critical food security challenges. Ranging from profit-driven ventures in densely populated regions to initiatives in rural areas, the diversity of such programs highlights their importance in ensuring equitable access to nutritious food. In collaboration with over 10 food hubs on the East Coast through the Eastern Food Hub Collaborative (EFC), researchers at the University of New Hampshire (UNH) Food Systems Lab sought to gain comprehensive insights into the challenges, opportunities, and barriers within these programs, specifically exploring food access relationships to enhance capacity among farmers and food hubs. Interviews with farmers, food hubs, food banks, and other stakeholders, researchers developed a shared understanding of existing programs, including their impacts, definitions, opportunities, and barriers across the network. Additionally, they analyzed USDA-collected data to assess how these programs enable and support regional food system development across the East Coast. This research contributes to advancing knowledge and practices aimed at building more inclusive, resilient, and sustainable food systems. In this session, actors engaged in these supply chains offered thoughts on the values critical to their clients. The results of surveys on how to express these values through procurement schemes were shared with attendees, followed by a discussion about the financial sustainability of these schemes.

City

Burlington, Vermont

Keywords

Regional food systems, value-based food procurement, food hubs, food access, financial sustainability

Exploring the ‘value ‘of values-based food procurement

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