The Role of Rural Food Hubs Amid a Pandemic
The COVID-19 crisis has devastated communities all across the country. In many places, the pandemic is affecting almost every aspect of people’s lives – physical and emotional health, economic well-being, education access, and the ability to meet basic needs like food and housing. Under-resourced communities—especially rural communities and communities of color—have been disproportionately affected by the virus.
In North Carolina, specifically, local community infrastructure (grassroot non-profit organizations, church and faith communities, tribal communities, small towns and unincorporated communities) must address the needs of the most vulnerable, despite working with very limited resource. As the 10th hungriest state in the U.S. with nearly 16% of residents lacking adequate food, the food security need is particularly great.
Photo by Ezra Gregg.
While consumers are feeling the strain of the virus on their ability to access food, many farmers are struggling as well, especially those small-to-mid-sized growers who lost their restaurant markets when the country shut down. Fortunately in North Carolina, existing food hubs—as part of web of local community infrastructure keeping communities afloat—were well-positioned to redirect this food to low-income consumers whilst paying farmers fairly. These food hubs work closely with farmers by purchasing, packaging, and distributing local produce; offering education and networking; advocating for local food systems; maintaining and loaning out necessary equipment; and more.
High Country Food Hub is a prime example of the importance of food hub infrastructure in the local food system scene. Since April 2020, demand jumped five-fold and has held steady. High Country Food Hub was able to meet the increased need seamlessly because of their existing relationships with farmers in the region. And, through an innovative partnership with Sysco, they secured an 18’ ft refrigerated trailer that is being used as additional cold storage. They have had over 1,000 new customers in 2020 are now serving about 350 customers every week.
Photo by Ezra Gregg.
Similarly, in the southern part of the state, Sandhills AgInnovation Center (SAIC) worked collaboratively with God’s Garden (a large community garden run through Norman United Methodist Church), and Richmond County Cooperative Extension to quickly launch the “Richmond Fresh” produce box program. These boxes were delivered directly to families identified as having the most need. From this 40 box/week program, SAIC was able to grow “Richmond Fresh” to nearly 100 boxes/week, and partner with other food box programs to move an additional 210 boxes/week at their peak.
Additionally, Working Landscapes in Warren County is running a pilot program for senior meals in partnership with a black-owned local restaurant, which prepares the produce the food hub sources. As part of this pilot, they are serving 125 meals/weekly with plans to scale. This inventive model is not only providing significant volumes of food, but accessible prepared food that accommodates for seniors’ living situations and limitations.
Photo by Ezra Gregg.
Our Resourceful Communities Program (RCP) had started (virtually) convening these existing rural food hubs in March to explore opportunities to build food hub capacity through networking and resource-sharing—an integral part of RCP’s approach. Within weeks of the first two virtual meetings, RCP had secured $1.1 M in funding from Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation of NC to develop a collaborative food hub network in North Carolina. The true value thus far has been the consistent flow of information, ideas, and resources between food hubs as they continue to innovate in the pandemic food access space. Every single one of the food hubs in the Collaborative are moving mountains (of food) for their communities, not just the ones uplifted here. We encourage you to check out http://www.ncfoodhubs.org to learn more about each of them individually.
Olivia Percoco
Olivia Percoco is the Community Food Coordinator for The Conservation Fund’s Resourceful Communities Program. As part of the Food and Farm Initiative, she provides capacity building support and technical assistance to grassroots organizations working to increase food access in rural North Carolina. Olivia draws on her food justice, advocacy, and event planning experience to help partners strengthen their food access work through our triple-bottom-line lens.
