1. Key Take Aways…
Although the farm to institution movement and local foods provide and promote much important social good—such as:
• Increased access to healthy foods
• Childhood nutrition education
• Supporting and building local economies
• Reduced fossil fuel emissions
• Support of small sustainable family farms and increased food security
The core function of buying and selling food products is a business. In order for any business to thrive and continue to achieve its social Aubrey Relf
purpose, it must remain profitable.
To determine viability of a project in terms of grants for healthy foods, an organization must demonstrate viability by identifying all of the
activities necessary for success are:
Maricopa County Viable Food System
• Understanding the Concept of bringing healthy foods to a community
• Approaches to this system
• Models of distribution, and
• Basic information about a community’s capacity to support a strategy
Food Supply Chain Non Profit Driven Model Recommendations
November 14, 2011
• This includes the production of arable crops (grains,
oilseeds), horticulture (fruits, vegetables), fish (farmed, If nonprofits want to foster the creation of new food distributors that promote
Producer wild), meat, and dairy. local purchasing and sustainably grown foods, it is critical they:
inventory the existing assets of potential value chain partners that
• Food processors purchase fruits, vegetables, meat, could be used for distribution purposes. For example, if farmers
dairy products, and other raw foods have trucking capacity, storage space, or family labor that could
Processor
• manufactured to add a specific value; for instance, be used for product grading, aggregation, and distribution, this
canning or freezing.
should be considered first before seeking funding to purchase or
lease trucks, lease warehouse space, or hire new employees. Not
• Distributors buy food directly from farmers or only does such an approach reduce upfront capital requirements,
Distributor processors and then sell the food to grocery stores, it also may lead to more economic benefits accruing to those
restaurants, hospitals, food banks, and schools.
ostensibly intended to benefit from the enterprise in the first place.
• Food that is sold at a retail price, directly to the
Retail and consumer.
Consumption • Includes food sold at grocery stores, restaurants, or in
institutional settings.
Matchmaker – Connect key stakeholders, public interest
broker, bring unlikely partners together.
Facilitator – Involved in building long term relationships
among food value chain actors.
Stakeholders
Engage all Third-party certification: Establish program whereby
Collaboration stakeholder to producers receive independent verification of their adherence
Collaborate maintain a to a certain set of standards.
with other supportive climate
Network intermediaries
Establish a to strengthen Educator – Provide marketing and educational support.
wide and the market Branding that “tells a story.”
cooperative
network of
Management growers
Catalyst/innovator – Test out innovative business models
Management Through grants and donations might take greater risks than
team skill is for-profits.
critically
important,
particularly in
marketing and Resource prospector: Identify and pursue resources—grants,
sales loans, and service providers—to support value chain
collaborators as the develop enterprise.
Compiled by Aubrey Relf

2. Assessment of a Viable Strategy to Improve Access to Affordable Healthy Foods in Maryvale Project Viability: Enterprise Development must derive from healthy balance sheets, income, and cash flow statements in order to be viable. Start up dollars
must be in hand, and the commitment to provide necessary resources must be present.” The Nonprofit Entrepreneur.
Food Chain Supply Four Components to Consider in terms of Viability
Defining the Demand Supply The Market
Demonstration of Viability (Grant Funding)
Value chain business models place emphasis on both the values associated with Relevant Product • Activities necessary for success of the project consistent with project’s scope, scale, and projected outcomes
the food and the values associated with the business relationships within the food • Healthy
Nutritious Food
• Income and
Price
• Input costs • Firms and
consumers meet
• Demonstrate the staffing, facilities, equipment and supplies, and funding necessary for the project
• Labor, Land,
• Affordability Capital, to exchange
• Identify competing activities that might reduce the availability of resources for this project.
supply chain. • Availability Transportation, goods for money
Wholesale
Product • Ability to manage funds
Food Service
Community’s experience in direct sales (Figure 1)
Barriers to Direct to food service approaches
• Labor: Five sectors of the food system: production, processing, distribution, retail, and consumption (Figure 2)
Producer Processor Distributor Retailer Consumer Institutional Barriers Farm Barriers • The community’s economic base (Figure 3) Location Quotient
• Inadequate kitchen facilities • Inadequate or no packing and • The location quotient is very useful for describing the parts of the local economic base where there is a strong concentration of employment and
economic activity. It is the ratio of the area concentration of occupational employment to the national average concentration. A location quotient
Suggested Distribution models to Overcome Barriers • Limited cooking skills on- farm storage facilities
greater than one indicates the occupation has a higher share of employment than average, and a location quotient less than one indicates the
• Online local food transactions. One new website offers consumers • High labor costs • Insufficient packing materials occupation is less prevalent in the area than average.
within a 30-mile radius an opportunity to order local food online for • Limited labor availability • Limited or no access to value-
pickup at specific times and locations (Jespersen, 2009). Consumers added processing facilities
• Inadequate storage Figure 2. Food System Sectors
can learn about producers, link to their websites, and place orders. Figure 1. Maricopa County Experience in Direct to Sales Approaches
facilities • Limited or no means of
• High minimum orders transporting foods
• Local School Food - Designed exclusively to market local foods to
required from produce firms • Limited knowledge of institutional
institutions and school food service directors.
• Limited outlets for local markets
food • Lack of capital investment
• Women Infant & Children (WIC)local food Line- Food product line would
be carried by produce firms designed and exclusively to market local • Unrealistic institutional • Limited or inconsistent food
foods to WIC -only stores quality controls supply
• High price points • Geographic isolation
• Farmers Market/ Farmers Market Association - Optimize structure of • Unrealistic institutional quality
• Binding food contracts
farmers market as gathering point. Develop wholesale marketing controls or food safety standards
through single hub market • Geographic isolation
• Managing multiple farm • Low price points
• Farmers Collaborative - Develop capacity to collectively market, process accounts • Competition with rebate
and distribute their own foods • Rapid payment collection incentives
cycles • Competition from other
• Farm Direct Distribution Model, CSA in the Classroom - CSA • Reliance on rebates and businesses Maricopa
relationship between a local farm and school with schools utilizing CSA incentives from processed
boxes of local foods for classroom instruction and taste tests.
food providers
Approaches to Improve access to healthy foods in communities Figure 3. Supply: Types of Jobs needed to operate various strategies by title, salary, and location quotient
• Small farms (less than $50,000 in total farm sales) usually sell direct-to-consumer food markets such as farmers’ markets. Total Hourly Mean Annual Mean Location
Occupation Title in Maricopa – MSA
• Many mid-sized farmers (total farm sales of 50,000 to 499,999) are engaging in an array of alternative strategies for wholesale food Employment (salary) (salary) Quotient
aggregation and distribution.
Advertising and Promotions Managers 380 40.95 85170 **
Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Marketing Managers 2150 48.69 101280 **
Transportation, Storage, and Distribution Managers 1470 33.83 70360 1.021
• Direct relationship between farmers and eaters A group of people buy shares for a portion of the expected harvest of a farm.
Consumer
Food Service Managers 3480 25.85 53780 1.237
Direct to
Buyers and Purchasing Agents, Farm Products 90 27.23 56640 0.689
Farmers Market Purchasing Agents, Except Wholesale, Retail, and Farm Products 4310 27 56150 1.287
• Common facility / area where several farmers / growers gather on regular basis. Sell variety of fresh fruits and vegetables, other locally grown farm Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists* 4460 34.66 72100 1.195
products directly to consumer
Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations 149170 10.53 21900 0.698
Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria 2650 11.81 24570 1.405
Farm to School Food Preparation Workers 7330 10.93 22740 0.906
Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Except Technical and 22410 29.03 60390
• The National Farm to School Network defines farm to school as: “A program that connects (K-12) and local farms with the objectives of serving
healthy meals in school cafeterias, improving student nutrition, providing agriculture, health, and nutrition education opportunities, and supporting local Scientific Products 0.515
and regional farmers Farming, Fishing, and Forestry Occupations 3770 9.8 20370 0.985
Direct to Food
Service/Retail
First-Line Supervisors of Farming, Fishing, and Forestry Workers 140 19.03 39570
1.225
Food Hub
Agricultural Inspectors 90 20.12 41840 0.884
• Drop-off point for farmers and a pickup location for distributors and customers. It permits the purchase of source-identified local and regional food, Graders and Sorters, Agricultural Products 330 11.25 23400 0.388
coordinates supply-chain logistics, It is a facility for food to be stored, lightly processed, and packaged so that it can be sold under the hub’s regional Agricultural Equipment Operators ** 9.99 20780
label. It contributes to the expansion of local and regional food markets. 0.887
Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse 2740 8.63 17950
0.64
Packing House Farmworkers, Farm, Ranch, and Aquacultural Animals ** 9.51 19780 0.533
• Aggregation facility that receives and prepares raw fruits and vegetables from farmers to then sell fresh and in some cases frozen to wholesale Butchers and Meat Cutters 1470 16.43 34170 0.669
customers. Packing house roles vary from facility to facility and can offer such services as washing, cooling, sorting, grading, packaging, labeling, and Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmers 840 13.09 27230 0.497
sales, marketing and distribution