A late survey of state intellectual nourishment hubs conducted by researchers at the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences , receive that small radical of Georgia farmers are interfering providing the expectant amounts of local produce ask to acquire local markets .
Small - ordered series Fannie Merritt Farmer can betray directly to consumers , but a growing bit find they have too much produce for a farmers market or acommunity - suffer agriculturesystem but not enough to meet the want of eating house , schools or grocery storage . That ’s the purpose of afood hub — to pull these small- and average - sized farms together , so they can pool their products to fill with child orders .
The resume , which was dispatch this summer , is the first step in a Georgia Sustainable Agriculture Consortium plan , led by UGA Cooperative Extension , to bear the ontogenesis of fresh food hubs . It found that farmers and enterpriser across the state — whether they call themselves food hub or not — are already come up up with partnerships to help adjoin the consumer ’s demand for local green groceries .
“ Agriculture is Georgia ’s No . 1 industry , ” says Julia Gaskin , a sustainable - agriculture coordinator for the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences who directed the recent survey . “ There is a requirement forlocal foodand special infrastructure for little and mid - size farms to get at wholesale grocery store . food for thought hubs have the potential to make this link , increase the viability of these farms and create jobs . ”
For the purpose of the syndicate ’s food - hub survey , Gaskin and other researchers defined food hubs as organizations that brought together five or more farmer and had a wholesale component .
They establish eight of these organizations in Georgia : Seven are private business and one is afarmers ’ co-op .
The hubs straddle from a small group of farmers who start growing Green and field of force pea to supply the need of local schools to a beef cattleprocessing operationthat works with a radical of local cattle farmers to supply grassfed beef to retail stores in Georgia .
research worker also ground about 24 groups are at some stage of developing some type of food - hub administration for their country .
The pool ’s next step is to analyze a survey of Farmer ’ involve to determine what would help them develop strong intellectual nourishment - hub systems similar to the ones that already subsist . A composition on that information will be useable in November .
