Food Connects Closes in on $10,000

Food Connects is now over 75% of the way to its crowdfunding goal of $10,000 for ourr “Growing Local Food Markets in the Monadnock Region” campaign. This campaign, run through the Local Crowd Monadnock, aims to increase market access for local farmers and food producers.

Thanks to the generosity of over 50 donors, Food Connects raised $7,741 as of March 31. These funds will go towards implementing the first steps in Food Connects newly optimized food safety plan—covering the cost of the food safety certification and audit, the monthly fees for the Integrated Pest Management Program, staff training, and necessary cleaning and transportation supplies.

A large portion of these funds was raised through the Monadnock Food Co-op’s Round It Up program for March. Co-op customers had the opportunity to round up their change at the register for this campaign, resulting in $4,341.19. “We are so grateful for the incredible generosity of the community at the Monadnock Food Co-op,” says Richard Berkfield, Food Connects’ Executive Director. “These funds will help Food Connects develop the necessary infrastructure needed to sell to larger wholesale customers.”

The outbreak of COVID-19 has heightened the need for and awareness of supporting the local food economy. “Now, more than ever, it is important to strengthen our local food businesses,” says Berkfield. “Many food producers are seeing a loss of sales due to college and restaurant closures. Our campaign focuses on developing current and new markets to ensure that there is a broad and diverse set of customers always available to purchase local food. Resilient local food economies can weather the storm.”

Despite the COVID-19 outbreak, Food Connects is continuing on with its local food delivery. “The last three weeks we’ve seen a 50-80% increase in our local food sales,” says Alex McCullough, Food Hub Manager. “We are delivering food to local co-ops and markets, hospitals, school meal programs, and buying clubs in record numbers. This diverse group of customers is allowing us to continue supporting farmers and finding outlets for their food.”

A matching challenge is now in place. The Monadnock Food Co-op will match each donation to the Food Connects crowdfunding campaign dollar for dollar up to $500.  Food Connects needs to raise $2,259 by April 18.

Growing Local Food Markets with Food Connects

We are excited to announce the launch of our “Growing Local Food Markets in the Monadnock Region” crowdfunding campaign, through The Local Crowd Monadnock, this March. The goal of this online campaign is to raise $10,000 to go towards building Food Connects’ infrastructure and capacity to sell to larger, wholesale customers.

We partner with local farmers and food producers throughout the Monadnock Region to deliver their bounty to schools, grocery stores, hospitals, restaurants, and other businesses. Our work creates a vibrant food economy with a vision to make local food accessible to all community members. And to achieve this goal, food producers need access to larger markets, allowing them to scale up production and increase their revenue.

But it’s not as simple as selling to larger customers. “Many large-scale, wholesale customers in the community can only purchase from a limited number of approved vendors,” says McKenna Hayes, Food Connects Food Hub Operations Manager. “It is difficult, if not impossible, to become an approved vendor for small-scale, family-owned operations.”

“One of the neat things about dealing with Food Connects is having a single point of contact for the farmers,” says Troy Bellot, Executive Chef at Keene State College. “They’re a single point of ordering and have one portal to order, making things so much easier.”

“The restrictions to growing my business is the access to the marketplaces,” says Linda Rubin, owner of Frisky Cow Gelato. “I can’t get into larger markets as a little guy. I need a distributor that not only will work with me but has that third-party certification so it is easy for stores to bring in, not just my products, but lots of local Vermont and New Hampshire products.

With the Growing Local Food Markets in the Monadnock Region campaign, Food Connects will become an approved vendor for larger customers, allowing schools, grocery stores, hospitals, and restaurants to easily purchase from over 70 local farms and producers that sell through Food Connects.

Funds from this campaign will go towards portable hand washing stations, shelving and storage, staff training, and a third-party food safety certification and audit. As an approved vendor, we can distribute local products to larger customers—meaning local food is consumed by more community members across the region.

“Third-party food certifications are important to us for traceability of our food,” says Bellot. “That’s what it all boils down to. Knowing exactly where every cucumber, every tomato, every piece of fish we order—where that came from, the farmer who picked it, the boat that brought it in, everybody who handled it. The traceability of food is key to accountability and safety.”

“This money will have a major impact on our day-to-day operations,” says Hayes. “We will gain operational efficiencies, purchase required equipment, and formally integrate food safety procedures and record-keeping into our distribution systems. But, more importantly, this funding will enable us to overcome the barriers farmers and producers face when entering larger wholesale markets, and ultimately, grow our local food economy.”

Find more information at  http://bit.ly/3aKEate. We will also offer a Happy Hour Hangout at Machina Arts Artbar in Keene on Thursday, March 26 for community members to learn more about this crowdfunding campaign.