Food Hubs & Collaborative Marketing

The Food Hubs & Collaborative Marketing explores the shared or collaborative aggregation, marketing, and/or distribution of locally and regionally produced foods, facilitated by an organization, enterprise, or group of producers. This brief is one of 27 briefs created as part of the NH Food and Agriculture Strategic Plan.

View and download the pdf of this brief or read the content below.

What's at Stake?

Direct-to-consumer markets, such as CSAs, farm stands, and farmers’ markets, are critical to many New Hampshire farms. However, they require extra time and effort, while providing fewer options and higher prices for consumers^1,2. While selling directly connects farmers with customers, direct-to-consumer markets require significant time and labor and often lack sufficient consumer participation to ensure adequate markets for farmers^3,4. Collaborative marketing models offer additional marketing channels that require less time for farmers, while increasing convenience, choice, and flexibility for consumers⁵. These collaborations can increase access to local food for communities and support farm viability, but require policy and funding support to ensure their economic viability and success.

Current Conditions

New Hampshire farmers and community organizations have developed food hubs⁶, online farmers’ markets, multi-farm CSAs and stores, and other models in which multiple food producers work together to aggregate and market their products. Collaborative marketing can enable producers to differentiate their products by social and environmental values, such as sustainable production practices. These partnerships make it possible for small-scale farmers to sell to larger buyers, such as restaurants and retail stores, by aggregating their products, rather than individually producing the volumes required by those buyers⁷.

Collaborative marketing benefits both producers and consumers, but there are systemic, financial, and logistical barriers. A study of New Hampshire livestock producers found that some are interested in collaborative marketing, but have concerns about how to manage the staffing, expenses, and coordination required to make them successful⁸. The common challenges reported by farmers selling their products collaboratively are coordinating crop planning, supply and customer fluctuations, pricing, and shared decision-making⁶.

The broader market context exacerbates the greatest challenge farmers face: financial viability. National food supply chains are dominated by large corporations that squeeze large-scale food producers and processors down to razor-thin margins that small-scale food producers cannot compete with^9,10.

Challenges

> Economic viability is the central challenge; the financial costs of staffing, transportation, marketing, software, storage, and distribution infrastructure can exceed revenue from local product sales, even with premium prices. Operational costs hinder profitability, posing a barrier to making local food accessible to everyone.

> Small-scale producers lack food safety compliance training and support, further straining the staff and costs of aggregating their products.

> Grant programs offset some costs but are unreliable and require substantial time for grant writing, administration, and reporting. Relying on grant funding is an unrealistic expectation for farmers and it can exacerbate staffing issues and increase financial instability.

> The geographic distance between farms and sales outlets in rural areas is a logistical and distribution challenge.

Opportunities

> Collaboration increases market access for farmers, reduces labor and infrastructure costs, diversifies product offerings, increases convenience for consumers, and can reduce food waste through coordinated crop planning.

> During the COVID-19 pandemic, collaborative marketing models were able to adapt and scale up quickly to meet the increasing demand, suggesting that these models have potential.

> The NH Food Alliance coordinates active statewide and regional food hub networks that connect food hubs to catalyze learnings and relationships and to realize market access efficiencies.

Recommendations

Analyze the distribution routes of New Hampshire’s food hubs to identify coordination opportunities
Collaborative distribution would include backhauling and other creative solutions to address the unique distribution needs of underserved rural areas.
Conduct research to examine the benefits and limitations of different collaborative aggregation and marketing models
This research would guide the development of organizational and legal structures for different contexts and needs. Identify the factors that determine financial profitability to inform the development of technical assistance, policy, and programmatic support.
Increase technical assistance capacity for food hubs and multi-farmer collaborative marketing initiatives
Increase technical assistance capacity in four areas: Coaching to design and facilitate a process for farmers and food businesses interested in developing collaborative aggregation and marketing plans; Technical assistance for participating farms and food businesses to evaluate their financial performance and identify strategies to increase their profitability; Food safety regulation compliance support for farmers to secure the certifications and licenses needed to access wholesale buyers and sell through food hubs; Hiring one full-time equivalent (FTE) joint Community Economic Development & Food and Agriculture position that broadens support from UNH Extension and other technical assistance providers for non-farm food producers and businesses, such as bakeries, fishermen, and food hubs.
Develop capacity to coordinate and support fundraising efforts for food hubs and multi-farmer collaborative marketing initiatives
Increased capacity will reduce grant writing and administrative burdens, leverage partnerships, generate increased support for operating funds, and increase impact.
Advocate for improvements to state and federal funding programs
Improvements should be made to programs including the USDA Local Agricultural Marketing Program, to reduce administrative burdens and include general operating support for collaborative marketing.

Organizations working on this issue

Farm to Institution New England

Food Connects

Fresh Start Farms

Health Care Without Harm

Kearsarge Food Hub

New England Food Hub and Processors Network* coordinated by the NH Food Alliance, Farm to Institution New England and the New England Food System Planners Partnership

New England Food System Planners Partnership

NH Food Hub Network (NH Food Alliance)

Taproot Farm & Environmental Education Center

Three River Farmers Alliance

Authors

Lead Author
Analena Bruce, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Food Systems, Department of Agriculture, Nutrition & Food Systems, University of New Hampshire

Contributing Authors
France Hahn, Co-Founder & Executive Director, Kearsarge Food Hub, Sweet Beet Farm, Market, & Cafe
Katelyn Porter, Value Chain Coordinator, NH Food Alliance
Jesse Wright, Field Specialist, UNH Extension
Peter Allison, Executive Director, Farm to Institution New England (FINE)

This brief was developed through a participatory process led by the NH Food Alliance, a program of the University of New Hampshire. The brief content is comprised of the opinions, perspectives, and information gathered by the authors and participants, and does not necessarily represent those of the NH Department of Agriculture, Markets, and Food or the NH Food Alliance.

Head to the NH Food and Agriculture Strategic Plan main page to read more briefs, browse recommendations and learn how the strategic plan was created.

References

¹Garner B, Ayala C. Consumer supply-chain demands and challenges at farmers’ markets. British Food Journal. Doi.org. Published 2018. https://doi.org/10.1108/BFJ-03-2018-0154

²Ritter G, Walkinshaw LP, Quinn EL, Ickes S, Johnson DB. An assessment of perceived barriers to farmers’ market access. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior. Doi.org. Published 2019. https://www/doi.org/10.1016/j.jneb.2018.07.020

³Bruce AB, Som Castellano RL. Labor and alternative food networks: challenges for farmers and consumers. Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems. Doi.org. Published 2017. http://www.doi.org/10.1017/S174217051600034X

⁴Carson J, Bruce AB, Leslie I. Half of New Hampshire Residents Buy Local Farm Food at Least a Few Times a Month, But Engagement Varies by County. University of New Hampshire, Carsey School of Public Policy. Published June 23, 2021. https://carsey.unh.edu/publication/half-of-new-hampshire-residents-buy-local-farm-food

⁵Rosol M, Barbosa R. Moving beyond direct marketing with new mediated models: evolution of or departure from alternative food networks? Agriculture and Human Values. doi.org. Published April 21, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-021-10210-4

⁶The US Department of Agriculture’s working definition of a food hub is “a business or organization that actively manages the aggregation, distribution and marketing of source-identified food products primarily from local and regional producers to strengthen their ability to satisfy wholesale, retail, and institutional demand.” see p. 10 in Matson, J., Sullins, M., & Cook, C. The role of food hubs in local food marketing. USDA Rural Development Service Report 73. Published January 2013. https://www.rd.usda.gov/files/sr73.pdf

⁷UNH Food Systems Lab, UNH Extension. Collaborative Aggregation and Marketing Workshops. Published January 22, February 1, 7, 2024. https://extension.unh.edu/event/2024/01/collaborative-aggregation-marketing-workshops

⁸Enzien EM, Erickson PS, Bruce AB, Knight CW, Conroy AB. Assessing beef producers’ interest in cooperative business models in New Hampshire, Maine, and Vermont. Applied Animal Science. Doi.org. Published 2024. https://doi.org/10.15232/aas.2023-02478

⁹Hendrickson MK, James HS. Power, Fairness and Constrained Choice in Agricultural Markets: A Synthesizing Framework. Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics. Published 2016.

¹⁰IPES-Food. Too big to feed: Exploring the impacts of mega-mergers, concentration, concentration of power in the agri-food sector. Ipes-food.org. Published October 2017. https://ipes-food.org/report/too-big-to-feed/