SDSU Extension is launching a food hub for producers and consumers in the southeastern part of the state. Its purpose is to help local farmers sell products to restaurants, schools, and institutions. Funding for food hub project comes from a $100,000 grant from the USDA.
Kari O’Neal is a community development field specialist in Martin, South Dakota. She says a food hub is a means for producers to distribute goods as a group to ensure larger venues like restaurants receive a steady supply of quality goods.
“If you’re a vegetable growers and you're raising 30 different kinds of vegetables to take to farmers markets right now, if you are a part of a food hub and you can get together with other farmers and decide maybe you’ll grow four or five different kinds of vegetables in a large scale way for the food hub, and someone else will grow different varieties so that you can kind of specialize at what you feel you do best at and probably what you’re soil works best at,” says O’Neal.
This food hub is called Dakota Fresh. O’Neal says any producer can join the food hub, including new farmers who may not have large operations.
“We’re looking for anyone who is producing food products, so really it can be vegetables, fruits, meats, eggs, honey, poultry- any of those kinds of foods that can be turned easily into food for consumers,” says O'Neal.
Extension experts have been working on getting the food hub started since last winter. O’Neil says about 25 producers and resource providers helped develop a business plan. Now Dakota Fresh is ready to accept members.
Dakota Fresh operates in southeastern South Dakota. Across the state, organizers in Spearfish are working on setting up a food hub to serve the western region.