Food hubs seen as profitable businesses, survey shows

Food hubs are growing to meet the need for local food distribution infrastructure, according to Michigan State University research.

Food hubs are businesses or organizations that manage the aggregation, distribution and marketing of source-identified food products. The 2013 National Food Hub Survey, conducted by MSU’s Center for Regional Food Systems and the Wallace Center at Winrock International, show that hubs throughout the United States continue to develop as financially viable businesses providing locally produced food to restaurants, schools, grocery stores and other wholesale customers.

Food hubs may also provide much needed size-appropriate infrastructure and marketing opportunities for local food produced by small and midsized farms and ranches.

“Surveys such as this one provide much needed data for those looking to fund, evaluate and further investigate the role of food hubs in regional food systems. It also provides a way for us to track the change in food hub development over the next decade – we intend to conduct this survey every two years,” said Michael Hamm, C.S. Mott Professor of Sustainable Agriculture and CRFS director.

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