Food hubs-Another "farm to fork" linking system

It is a well known fact that farmers world over generally get a fraction of the price consumers pay to the retailers in the market place. The intermediaries who are involved in this food delivery chain can be any number depending on the country and the policies that govern agriculture and produce marketing. In a country like India there may be any where from 3-6 intermediaries through whose hands the produce travels before reaching the consumer's table. Obviously more the number of middle men involved, lower will be the realization for the farmer. Also worrisome is the quality degradation and safety compromise inherent in multiple handling and long distance transportation of agricultural produce.The ever increasing desire of the consumers to access to foods which are fresh, produced with minimum chemical inputs like pesticides are pushing them to the organic food sector which is growing at a frenetic pace during the last few years. Farmers markets which are springing up every where in the United States are also a "product" of this insatiatiable desire for fresh foods with minimum carbon foot print. An alternate option to farmers market is now emerging in the US called Food Hubs which are again becoming a part of local initiatives by non-profit organizations, cooperatives and entrepreneurial community which see an opportunity to serve the society by providing a delivery conduit from the farm to the families directly. Here is further information on this emerging development which can be replicated in many countries with ease. 

"Move over farmers' markets. More than 300 food hubs around the country are also providing small farms another outlet to sell locally raised food to consumers. There's no one model for a food hub — it depends on the market, the location and what it is grown in that area. Some collect food from farms and dole it out to customers in weekly deliveries. Other hubs help consumers, restaurants, colleges and institutions to source food online. But producers, consumers and experts all say food hubs have an important thing in common: it's an efficient way to get locally raised food to those clamoring for it. "We've seen in the last few years in particular as local and region food systems have grown and become not only larger but kind of more sophisticated that there has been a need for sort of the logistics of moving food from the field to the consumers. And food hubs kind of fill that space," said Doug O'Brien, deputy undersecretary for rural development for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The agency spent about $25 million from 2009-2013 supporting food hubs. The number of food hubs has doubled over the last six years, and many are in urban areas, with the Northeast leading the way. Some operate as nonprofits, others are for-profit or producer-consumer cooperatives. Some are modeled after CSAs, or community supported agriculture, where consumers pay up front for food throughout the season."

Imagine the convenience for the families when safe and fresh produce is delivered to their door front with assurance that can be trusted. The role of the US government in supporting such food hubs in financially supporting them is praise worthy. Though such a concept was known before, putting in practice requires lot of organizational ability and dedication. In a country like India this may not be possible at all because of the short sighted policy of the government in insulating the growers from the consumers through the APMC Act which forces the poor farmer to sell their produce in only the government market yards controlled by licensed auctioneers! Incessant land fragmentation and suffocating government restraints are ruining the farmers who are being driven to commit suicide in large numbers due to unbearable debt burden. What is tragic is that no government whether right, left or center has the determination to bring about reforms that will help the farmers of the country!

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

THE "FOOD HUBS"-A CONCEPTUAL MECHANISM FOR LOCAL PRODUCE MARKETING

Increasing farmer suicide cases in India is a disturbing trend that ought to be addressed by the government and there is some how a feeling persisting with successive governments that giving subsidies can take care of farmer problems. No wonder India cannot raise the level of value addition to the agricultural commodities and to a large extent this can be traced to very low entrepreneurial aspirations among the farming community. While saluting hundreds and thousands of villages in the country where millions of farmer families toil hard to produce adequate food for self consumption as well as earning a livelihood through sale of surplus production to non-farming population, the subsistence level of living in grossly under developed village environment with sub-human conditions and daily miseries make them permanently disabled to do any thing constructive. Why the country is not attempting to create village based processing facilities by providing necessary inputs for value addition to the basic commodities is despicable. Even if these unfortunate "second class" citizens of the country are provided the needed financial inputs through government agencies, from where do they get other inputs like technology, infra support and marketing muscle? Here is an example coming from a developed country like the US which has understood the critical importance of food in the local economy and facilitate the processing and marketing of locally produced food materials through creation of "Food Hubs" which link the farmer, local technical resources and the consumer in a sustainable way.  

"By developing a local "food hub," organizers hope they can provide a centralized facility that can buy and aggregate locally produced food and make it available to larger, institutional buyers in the area on a regular basis. "A food hub is that linkage between the local farmers and the institutions, like schools, hospitals, the jail, the grocery stores and the restaurants that want to have access to local foods," said Eileen Horn, who directs the work of the Food Policy Council. "The customers are asking for it, and there's public interest in it, but they can't access enough consistent supply." Horn and other members of the Food Policy Council told Douglas County Commissioners last week that efforts to develop a local food hub in Douglas County will be one of their top priorities in the coming year. "What the Food Policy Council has been talking about in terms of a food hub is really what could be that central site that could aggregate, warehouse, maybe have some cold storage and some light processing for food so it would make it simpler for our community members to access that food from a single point," Horn said in a recent interview. The Food Policy Council was established by the County Commission in 2009. "Basically the Food Policy Council works to identify the benefits, the challenges and the opportunities for a local food system in Douglas County," she said. "So we're looking at what could be the health benefits for the community; what could be the local economic development benefits for our community; and then what are some of the barriers we could look at from a policy perspective to help build a vibrant food system that would support our local farmers and our community members." Traditionally, Kansas agriculture is known for producing a limited number of commodities in vast amounts – wheat, corn and soybeans, as well as beef and pork. But Horn says smaller-scale producers in Douglas County and the surrounding area are now producing large volumes, and a surprisingly wide variety of fruits and vegetables on nearly a year-round basis. She said much of that is the result of local growers investing in "high tunnels" — semicircular hoop structures that are relatively inexpensive and function as modified greenhouses to extend the growing season. "That has really changed the game in terms of season extension, because now you can get greens – there are local greens available in grocery stores right now, in January, and that's because of the season extension and high tunnels and greenhouses that people are utilizing," she said. Local and regional food hubs have grown in popularity in recent years, in part because of support from state and federal departments of agriculture.

India is a country dominated by middle men and pre-harvest contractors who exploit the helplessness of the farmer in cornering the harvested produce at ridiculously low prices and selling the same at exorbitant prices to the easily vulnerable consumer! Elimination of such intermediaries from the system can substantially increase the farmer income while making the same available to the consumer at very reasonable cost. Milk industry under the cooperative sector has demonstrated that producers can get as much as 70-80% of the consumer price by eliminating most of the private players from the scene. The much hyped APMC yards, supposed to be helping the farmer are becoming joke of the country and any how they are going to be dismantled soon under the pretext of economic liberalization and much hyped foreign investment regime. The Agro-industries Corporations in different States which could have been powerful interlocutors with the farmers have been made to wither away through lack of government support. Local foods have great relevance because they are fresh, easily accessible, cost-wise cheaper and have minimum carbon foot print. Sooner such hubs are created better it will be for the farmers and consumers of this country!

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com