Mission

Local Food Hub is strengthening local food systems by advocating for fairness in farming, advancing equitable access to local food, and providing support to small, independent farmers

History

Based in Central Virginia, Local Food Hub was founded in 2009 to work with Virginia farmers to increase community access to local food. We bought, aggregated, and sold food from small, independent farms; provided technical assistance to growers; and created programs to increase food access. In 2019 we transferred our distribution operation to the mission-aligned company 4P Foods, allowing us to concentrate on the nonprofit programs that serve as the foundation for a more resilient food system. These became even more important during the COVID-19 pandemic, and grew to include the area’s first contactless farmers market and greatly expanded food access programs.

Vision & Approach

Our vision is a network of diverse, independent farms providing communities with fresh, nutritious, locally grown food.

How We Work:

We meet the needs of Virginia’s independent and minority farmers by providing technical assistance, financial support, and training in the areas of food safety, product packaging, crop specifications, and more.
We facilitate access to new markets for independent and minority farmers, including opportunities to connect directly with customers.
We design and operate programs to increase access to fresh, local food with food-insecure communities.
We actively participate in food-access, food-justice, and food-policy coalitions and initiatives.
We champion policies that benefit independent farms and address inequities in the food system.

Our Values

Authentic: We are genuine and honest in everything we do. We believe that by being authentic, we can build trust with our stakeholders. We are transparent in our communication and we always give our stakeholders the true information. We also make sure that our actions align with our words. Being authentic also means that we are true to ourselves. We believe that being clear is kind.

Belonging: We embrace diversity of all kinds, and are dedicated to creating an inclusive environment where everyone feels like they belong. We believe that when everyone feels like they belong, they can be their whole selves and contribute to our community in a positive way. We are committed to creating an environment where everyone feels welcomed, respected, and valued.

Collaborative: We believe that by working together, we can achieve more than we could ever accomplish alone. We know that collaboration is essential to our success, and we are committed to building and growing partnerships that help us to deliver more impact. We are proud to be a collaborative organization, and we are always looking for ways to better serve our employees, clients, and community.

Service-Oriented: We are dedicated to providing outstanding service to our clients, employees, and community and we are always looking for ways to improve. We are committed to setting the standard for service in everything we do. Service is at the heart of who we are.

Diversity and Equity

Local Food Hub recognizes and rejects discrimination in all forms. We believe that racial and economic inequities in farming and food access, which mirror larger systemic issues dating back to our country’s founding, need to be addressed head on. The Black, Indigenous, Latino and immigrant people who built and still power this country’s agricultural sector continue to face loss of land, discrimination, and unfair and harmful labor practices. Hunger and diet-related health problems in the United States fall mostly along racial lines.

Local Food Hub seeks to apply the lessons learned over a decade of work with small Virginia farms to improve the prospects for marginalized farmers, build a food system with diverse, independent farms at its center, and promote equitable access to fresh, nutritious, locally grown food — while honoring the ancestral and indigenous farming practices that can help us renew the land. We are working to reflect these values in the composition of our staff and board, and to do the internal work necessary to recognize and reject racism in ourselves and in the food and agriculture system.