Cornell Cooperative Extension has received a USDA Regional Food Systems Partnership Planning and Development grant for the NY Food Hub Collaborative. This is a 2-year project.

The NY Food Hub Collaborative brings together 29 local food system stakeholders representing 21 organizations to realize the long-term goal of improving the economic viability of mid-tier value chain partners targeting local markets by improving efficiencies, maximizing profits, and increasing demand for NY food products. Three objectives guide the project team toward that goal:

1. Establish a Collaborative of interdependent food hubs designed to work collaboratively to efficiently, affordably, and effectively market NY food products to institutional markets.

2. Identify the potential for small, mid-size, and socially disadvantaged producers to be competitive in state agency and institutional contracts.

3. Develop strategic business relationships between mid-tier value chain partners including food hubs, producers, processors, distributors, and markets that emphasize organizational interdependence, trust, and transparency and equitably distribute responsibilities and rewards.

Objectives will be met through strategic planning amongst Collaborative partners, virtual field trips to learn best practices from national partners, business-to-business development opportunities, producer and market partner training, and a series of outputs. Outputs include an interactive local food system asset map, a procurement guide on selling NY food products to various institutional markets, an analysis of existing procurement policies across institutions and recommendations for improvement, market analyses of key institutional market partners, a NY Collaborative product guide, and an implementation plan that provides a framework to operationalize the NY Food Hub Collaborative.

Project Partners:

• Farm Fare
• Syracuse University
• Upstate Growers & Packers
• Eden Valley Growers
• Capital Roots
• Farm Fresh First
• 607CSA
• Hub on the Hill
• Headwater Food Hub
• Grow NYC
• East End Food Institute
• Syracuse Onondaga Food Systems Alliance
• Hudson Valley Agribusiness Development Corp.
• Center for Agriculture Development and Entrepreneurship
• NYS Department of Agriculture and Markets
• Buffalo City School District
• Syracuse City School District
• NYC Citywide Administrative Services
• Cornell Cooperative Extension Harvest NY
• Cornell Cooperative Extension Broome, Oneida, Essex, and Saratoga Counties

Additional project partners will be identified as the project takes root. If you're interested in learning more or getting involved, please reach out to Project Director, Cheryl Bilinski, cbt32@cornell.edu.