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The BulleTin • Monday, FeBruary 21, 2022 A3 LOCAL, STATE & REGION Farm to table Meeting the community’s needs Northwest food hubs spell success for local farms, markets and restaurants driven by different commu- nity needs.” BY BRAD CARLSON Capital Press BOISE — Dave Krick talks with his employees at his three contiguous restaurants in downtown Boise on a late December afternoon during the post-lunch lull. “I don’t want to do the same thing twice,” said Krick of his restaurants, each of which serves different menus. “I like the challenge of building something different and the spirit of things being unique.” Another challenge he has overcome is getting more lo- cal food to his customers. Restaurateurs, farmers and others are finding that food hubs — which serve as clear- inghouses for produce, meat and other foods — along with reimagined farmers markets can help. A FARE deal Krick is president of the board of the Idaho Inde- pendent Food, Agriculture, Restaurant and Beverage Alli- ance, which formed in spring 2020. The nonprofit, known as FARE Idaho, helps local farmers and independent food buyers connect in new ways, and identify challenges, such as livestock processing delays, a recent focus. “We’ve created a trade asso- ciation that connects the sup- ply chain from farm to table, especially that intrastate sup- ply chain,” he said. A goal is to “bring together those farm, food and beverage provid- ers with the markets that are most likely to sustain them.” Katie Baker, FARE Idaho executive director, said help- ing members understand and access COVID-19 relief pro- grams was a focus in 2021. This year’s emphasis is to “connect producers with re- tailers to create a more resil- ient food system.” “My hope is to really build a community around this or- ganization so we can together create positive change for the industry,” she said. For Krick, buying local food was an early interest. He opened the first of his three downtown Boise restau- rants, Bittercreek Alehouse, in 1996. The established concept, prime location and good staff aid viability “and allow us to take some risks and do fun, creative proj- ects,” he said. “I had some friends who were local farmers that sold at a local farmers market I helped set up,” Krick said. “I got introduced to more local farmers. I realized we could be part of the solution as a restaurant simply by buying from them. It’s been a long journey. The movement has grown.” The state does not have a large food hub. The last was Idaho’s Bounty. Hailey-area farmers and consumers in 2007 founded the coopera- tive, which ultimately grew to include about 90 producers. It opened a Boise-area ware- house as part of an aggressive 2016 expansion plan. The ex- panded hub did not sustain viability and ultimately had to downsize before closing its doors in 2018. Baker, who worked as an Idaho’s Bounty volunteer and staff member for eight years, said challenges included dis- tribution management and expenses in an inherently low-margin business. Staff and board leaders struggled with the strategic plan and operating model. She said FARE Idaho “real- ized that distribution, market- ing and sales were still prob- lematic for producers. So one of the organizational goals is noah Thomas via Capital Press Come Thru Market, a farmers market centering on Black and indigenous vendors, has gathered at The Redd Plaza in Portland summers since 2020. “Are you delivering on your programs? If you are about food access, then your key to success is, are you expanding access to quality food, are you serving your constituency? … Constituencies are different for each food hub. They are born for different reasons and driven by different community needs.” — Sydney DeLuna, Oregon Food Hub Network coordinator Brad Carlson/Capital Press FARE Idaho board president Dave Krick with executive director Katie Baker at Krick’s restaurants in down- town Boise. “I got introduced to more local farmers. I realized we could be part of the solution as a restaurant simply by buying from them,” Krick said. to connect producers with re- tailers.” FARE itself is not a hub. Krick said Idaho has some successful small hubs, such as Global Gardens in Boise, “but on the macro level we have not been successful. It takes some regional density to make that work.” Food hubs John Klimes, a FARE Idaho board member who owns Agrarian Harvest in Buhl, said a small food hub is suc- ceeding in Bellevue, south of the Sun Valley area. For the much larger Idaho’s Bounty, “a big challenge was space and distance. … When you start putting two hours of drive time in a refrigerated truck on the road, that distance starts costing a lot of money.” Managers of sizable food hubs in the Spokane and northern Puget Sound areas in Washington state and in Portland continue see many opportunities and have over- come challenges. At the Local Inland North- west Cooperative, known as LINC Foods, in Spokane Valley, partnerships direc- tor Brian Estes said revenues grew more than five-fold be- tween 2017 and 2021, helped by its members and staff and a successful barley malting enterprise. “Having the right people, both growers and the staff of the co-op, going in the right direction with the right re- sources, that’s what it takes to seize opportunities efficiently enough to be viable,” he said. At Puget Sound Food Hub Cooperative in Mount Ver- non, Wash., general manager Andrew Yokom said they plan to scale up this year. The or- ganization also plans to fine- tune production plans for specific crops so the grower at planting has a better idea where the crop is going, in what quantity and at what price. The hub will also empha- size “working hard and get- ting out there, telling people about our work and our mis- sion,” he said. The Ecotrust nonprofit opened The Redd on Salmon Street, a Portland food hub, three years ago. “It’s beneficial to have food hubs everywhere,” said Emma Sharer, Ecotrust operations director. But, she said, analysis is crucial. “The food hub we built at The Redd is perfect for last- mile logistics — bringing in food from rural producers, aggregating food from small- scale urban producers and distributing it out in a tight radius,” Sharer said. “But if we look at another location in, say, The Dalles, the opportu- nities look so different.” Response to a need USDA defines a food hub as actively managing aggre- gation and distribution, and marketing source-identified food products, mainly from local and regional producers. The idea is to boost the hub’s capability to meet local wholesale, retail and institu- tional demand. “A food hub is a response to a community need,” said Sydney DeLuna, who coordi- nates the Oregon Food Hub Network and is a community food systems consultant on contract with Oregon State University. Needs driving a hub’s cre- ation can range from land-use patterns and economic devel- opment to scaling up distri- bution so small farmers can access larger-scale buyers. One key to success is, “Are you delivering on your pro- grams?” DeLuna said. “If you are about food access, then your key to success is, are you expanding access to quality food, are you serving your constituency?” All food hubs are not cre- ated equal, she said. “Constituencies are dif- ferent for each food hub,” DeLuna said. “They are born for different reasons and Fair return At LINC Foods in Spokane Valley, Carl Segerstrom, the procurement director, said an inherent challenge is that local food often is more ex- pensive than food from else- where. “But at the same time, we are very focused on giving a fair return to farmers,” he said. LINC’s Estes said a found- ing premise more than seven years ago was to help growers increase sales, not simply to act as an intermediary. The team “has been able to work with growers to really seize that opportunity and make sure we are truly creating new value for our producers by opening up those marketing opportunities.” At The Redd in Portland, navigating COVID-19 re- mains a challenge. “Our operations and fa- cilities teams hold all these parts together, supporting our anchor tenants in their businesses, filling vacancies through equitable leasing processes and bringing in and supporting businesses that are serving our local food com- munity,” Sharer said. With FARE Idaho, Baker said, businesses across the state “had an opportunity to come together and share ideas, issues, concerns and to help each other through the process of operating in the pandemic.” Adapting farmers markets As for selling and deliver- ing local food in bigger quan- tities, Krick, the restaurateur, said farmers markets could expand on the order-ahead model, which has found suc- cess during the pandemic. He said equipping a farm- ers market with cold stor- age, a small processing or packaging area and a ship- ping-and-receiving setup would be more viable than developing a food hub, and could bring new opportuni- ties for the market and partic- ipating producers. “Local food is going to be more nutritious and sustain- able, including when we have supply-chain hiccups,” Krick said of the idea. Born in 2021 y James Ra 1 2 June 10, 20 Parents Whitney & Daniel Isham nts Grandpare am h Is ff Je & Kelly l Lewis Mimi & Pau 50 Large - $ 2”) 3 .831” x 2.5 (4 e Alivia Ros ll a Santos-H 1 May 15, 202 5 Small - $2 ”) (2.33” x 2.5 Celebrate the new babies in your family with our Born in 2021 special publication. Inserting in The Bulletin on Sunday, March 13 and The Redmond Spokesman on Wednesday, March 16, this special publication will reach over 30,000 readers and feature photos submitted by local families. An online contest will determine the most photogenic babies of 2021. Submission deadline: Friday, March 4 Publishes in The Bulletin Sunday, March 13 & The Redmond Spokesman Wednesday, March 16 Call Debbie at 541-383-0384 or online: www.bendbulletin.com/born-in-2021
