New local food project aims to aid farmers and promote healthy eating

New efforts to promote the idea of a regional food hub and to develop a “buy local, buy fresh” campaign in Merced County are now underway.

The California Institute for Rural Studies, a group that works to build sustainable communities based on healthy agriculture, had its first informational session with local stakeholders this week. The meeting gathered small- to medium-scale growers, business owners, public health officials, school officials and nonprofit organizers.

The purpose, according to CIRS Executive Director Gail Wadsworth, is to organize growers, ranchers and processors so that they can market as a unit. Then the goal would be to connect these producers to businesses, schools and hospitals looking to source food locally.

Despite Merced County being one of the largest producers in the country, not many local products are found in Merced grocery stores and food businesses, Wadsworth said.

Most buyers, she explained, get their produce from broadline distributors. However, many buyers are interested in purchasing locally, but smaller-scale farmers are not connected with the right resources, making it hard for them to compete, she added.

“We’ve heard from a lot of growers, and they don’t have enough to sell to really large markets, like schools and hospitals,” Wadsworth said. “But if they had a place to put their stuff together so that they have a larger quantity to market ... that would make them more competitive with larger-scale growers.”

A food hub, for example, would be beneficial to these growers, said Kara Lang, a local coordinator for the CIRS. Food hubs work as the middleman between growers and buyers. It would help farmers with aggregation, distribution, storage and marketing, Lang explained.

Farmers would be able to sell any excess produce to the hub instead of letting it go to waste. The food is stored for a short period of time and then distributed to buyers.

“Right now, everyone’s pretty much losing ... businesses are struggling,” Lang said. “By working together, farmers are actually reducing the competition among themselves because they’re expanding market share.”

While boosting the economic development of local growers is the main goal of the Merced Local Food Promotion Program, health nonprofits are also looking forward to joining the efforts.

Claudia Corchado, program manager at the Central California Regional Obesity Prevention Program, said this new project would not only promote the success of local farmers, but it would also allow lower-income communities to have access to locally grown produce.

“The sooner the food comes from the ground to our table, the more nutrition we’re getting,” Corchado said. “And that’s what’s missing in low-income homes.”

Corchado said she would also like to see more farmers markets result from this new project. “Farmers will go to farmers markets if there is a customer base,” she said. “So part of our job is to educate local folks on the importance of buying locally and buying fresh.”

Getting local produce to corner markets in underserved areas and in schools to offer families and youth healthier food options is part of the plan, Corchado added.

Organizers are seeking the participation of more local growers. The next meeting will take place at 4:30 p.m. on Dec. 15 at the Merced County Farm Bureau, 616 S. Highway 59.

Those interested in more information can call the California Institute for Rural Studies at (530) 756-6555.

This story was originally published November 20, 2014 at 6:29 PM with the headline "New local food project aims to aid farmers and promote healthy eating."