Edible Economy Project Central Illinois Local Food Hub

Welcome to the EDIBLE ECONOMY Groupsite

This Groupsite provides a virtual public meeting place where community members interested in promoting local food, sustainable farming, community health and nutrition, and economic development in Central Illinois can collaborate in planning and establishing a LOCAL FOOD HUB to serve the needs of local producers and consumers in 32 Central Illinois counties.

What is a Local Food Hub? The USDA defines a local food hub as "a business or organization that is actively coordinating the aggregation, distribution, and marketing of source-identified locally grown food products from primarily small to mid-sized producers."  Based on our initial vision, the central objectives of this project would be to expand direct marketing opportunities for local growers, improve distribution to consumers (particularly institutional consumers), and develop our local economy.  Similar facilities in other communities provide shared-use processing space for local food entrepreneurs, along with related services such as transportation, aggregation, marketing, and distribution.  Facilities could range from simple produce washing and grading to a full-scale kitchen incubator, supporting a broad range of value-added processing.  Ultimately, it might even include retail and dining space. 

Our vision is to establish a facility that makes it possible for local carrots to be served to local schoolchildren -- without first making a trip out-of-state for washing, peeling, and cutting.  We want local food artisans to have access to the freshest local produce to create their salsas, jams, and other products.  We want to improve access to local food in every season of the year.  We want to ensure the food we eat helps us sustain our community as well as our bodies.

How do we make this happen?  While making local carrots available in local schools may sound like a simple goal, there is much work needed to determine:

• What is the potential demand for local food within the community, especially among institutional consumers like schools and hospitals?

• How do we build awareness and support for this project within the community?

• How can we best make these products accessible to consumers at a price that meets their needs as well as the needs of direct-marketing producers?

• What services, facilities, and equipment will be required to meet these needs?

• What organizational entity exists or should be established to manage this facility?  Should it be a coop?  Should the coop include producers only?  Or should consumers be included, too?

• How will we finance start-up and ongoing operational costs?

• Who are our stakeholders?  How do we ensure the needs of all stakeholders are addressed in a way that leads to long-term success for the Innovation Center?

If you would like to see a more vibrant local food system in Central Illinois, we invite you to join us -- and help us answer these questions.  To learn more about what work has already been done, take a look at our  shared calendar , discussion forums , member profiles , photo gallery , files and more.  If you are aleady a member, we encourage you to upload your photo, complete your profile, and participate! 

We sincerely hope you will want to become a member of the Central Illinois Local Food Innovation Center Groupsite.  Also, we encourage you to join one of our subgroups: 

• Business Management, which will determine how to set up the legal and organizational structures needed to manage the Local Food Innovation Center

• Facilities, which will explore potential locations, buildings, and equipment for the Innovation Center

• Finance, which will identify and secure funding to pay for start-up costs, and determine how to finance ongoing operations

• Marketing/Promotion, which will take the lead on raising awareness and building support for this project -- as well as communicating with stakeholders throughout the community

• Stakeholders, which will identify and organize key stakeholders to define their needs and roles in relation to this project and to provide input and feedback on decisions regarding the Innovation Center.

CONTACT US at info@edibleeconomy.org!