HARDWICK, Vt. (WCAX) – A new food hub in Hardwick aims to give farmers more services and space to thrive.
The University of Vermont dining hall offers produce grown on farms across the state – but it takes a village to get the fresh choices onto plates. That’s where this food hub comes into play.
From his early days getting West Farm off the ground, Angus Baldwin knows it can be hard for small farmers to connect with big buyers across the region.
“A lot of the time, people don’t have the infrastructure and don’t have the resources to build the infrastructure, to store crops, and to produce the food that could be getting up to the local community,” said Baldwin.
A Vermont nonprofit is doing some of that heavy lifting for him.
The Center for an Agricultural Economy – or CAE – connects farmers like Baldwin to financing, business advising, food storage, and food markets like the University of Vermont.
“They’re providing a value-added product that people couldn’t produce on their own,” said Baldwin.
CAE says their services are about to get even more valuable.
They’re opening a 12 thousand five hundred square foot food hub in Hardwick – 8 times the size of their current warehouse.
CAE Executive Director Jon Ramsay says the space is essential to meeting the growing needs of the 100-plus producers they partner with.
“This facility is really going to alleviate some bottlenecks and constraints,” said Ramsay.
It’s still under construction, but the finalized hub will have refrigerated, frozen, and root cellar zones, three loading docks, and a conference space and teaching kitchen.
Plus, solar panels, high-tech fridges, and heating technology make them fossil-fuel-free.
“We really are trying to build something here that is forward-facing for the future, incredibly efficient to operate, and serves as a model of how you can do green, climate-friendly building at this scale,” said Ramsay.
Farmers without the infrastructure to store goods at home can stash them at the food hub.
Then CAE will deliver them to businesses and institutions across the region.
Special project manager Corey Hennessey hopes the hub will help the CAE crew help farmers reach the next level.
“It’s not a Costco, it’s not an Amazon warehouse, right? We rely on paper. We’re really, really committed to providing the highest level of service that we can with the resources that we have,” said Hennessey.
And Baldwin, who’s in the middle of the fall harvest, believes stronger farmers mean a stronger agricultural industry statewide.
“The more producers that there are, the better that people can connect with the market. So any production gaps somebody else. So it’s I think going to really enhance everybody’s ability to work off, and with each other,” said Baldwin.
CAE hopes to get the hub up and running by the end of the year.