Topic Idea: Regional Food Hub Location Analysis for the Northeastern United States
Summary
The structure of U.S. agriculture has become increasingly polarized, with large, verticallyintegrated commodity farms concentrated at one end and very small, direct market farms at the
other (Barham et al., 2012; Kirchenmann, Stevensen, Buttel, Lyson, & Duffy, 2008). Stuck in the
middle are small and medium-scale farms that are too large to only sell direct to consumers and
too small to access and compete in mainstream wholesale markets (Barham et al., 2012;
Kirchenmann et al., 2008). In recent years, Regional Food Hubs have developed to serve these
farms and to maintain social, environmental and economic values throughout supply chains. A
Regional Food Hub is “a business or organization that actively manages the aggregation,
distribution, and marketing of source-identified food products primarily from local and regional
producers to strengthen their ability to satisfy wholesale, retail and institutional
demand”(Barham et al., 2012). The goal of this project would be to analyze supply and demand
side factors in the Northeastern U.S. to posit optimal locations for a network of Regional Food
Hubs.
Spatial/Geographic Questions
1. Where are the highest concentrations of small and medium-scale farms in the Northeast?
Which of these areas are close to freeways?
2. Where are food demand centers in the Northeast?
3. Where would be the optimal locations for Regional Food Hubs across the Northeastern U.S.?
Thus far, Regional Food Hubs have developed independently in the Northeastern U.S. It could
be argued that creating a Northeast regional network of food hubs, as is being proposed in
California, could provide more efficient outcomes than a piecemeal approach (Melone et al.,
2010).
References
Barham, J., Tropp, D., Enterline, K., Farbman, J., Fisk, J., & Kiraly, S. (2012). Regional Food
Hub Resource Guide (pp. 81): U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Marketing
Service
Kirchenmann, F., Stevensen, G. W., Buttel, F., Lyson, T. A., & Duffy, M. (2008). Why Worry
about the Agriculture of the Middle? . In T. A. Lyson, G. W. Stevenson & R. Welsh
(Eds.), Food and the Mid-Level Farm: Renewing an Agriculture of the Middle (pp. 3-22).
Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
The above two references are background readings that have informed my understanding of
Regional Food Hubs – what they are, what they do, and why they are important. Most of the
feasibility or suitability analysis thus far has not been explicitly spatial in nature (the paper below
is an exception).
Melone, B., Cardenas, E., Cochran, J., Gross, J., Reinbold, J., Brenneis, L., . . . Zajfen, V.
(2010). California Network of Regional Food Hubs: A Vision Statement and Strategic
Implementation Plan (pp. 61): USDA Risk Management Agency, Roots of Change,
Urban & Environmental Policy Institute
This is the model paper I would be using to guide my suitability analysis. Their supply side
suitability analysis evolved around average farm size, concentrations of small farms, and
distance from freeways. Their demand size analysis focused on population centers. They meshed
these two analyses to derive the optimal locations for Regional Food Hubs from a planning
perspective. I hope to correspond with the authors for more detailed methodological information.
Data Sources
U.S. Census of Agriculture (2007) – free access
U.S. Census American Community Survey – free access
Topic Idea: Concentration and Size of Fruit and Vegetable Farms across the Northeastern
United States
Summary
Research on food systems change is increasingly focusing on regional scale approaches. Recent
research on a USDA-funded regional food system project at Tufts (manuscript forthcoming) has
demonstrated that the Northeast region does not produce enough fruits or vegetables to satisfy
regional population needs. To scale up healthy food production at a regional level, it is first
important to understand where existing fruit and vegetable production is concentrated and what
scale of farm is likely to grow these products.
Spatial/Geographic Questions
1. Where are the counties and sub-regions that currently account for high sales values of
vegetable and fruit production in the Northeast?
Counties that have high sales figures for either fruits or vegetables would a) sell large amounts
of those crops, b) sell more expensive fruit and vegetable crops, or c) both a and b. All three of
these options, although difficult to disentangle, would be interesting in terms of assessing the
supply of produce coming from these areas. In scenario a), these counties would likely be
contributing to supply quantity; in scenario b), these counties would likely be contributing to
supply quality, as fresh-market crops are often more expensive than their processed
counterparts; in scenario c), these counties would likely be contributing to both quality and
quantity of produce supply.
2. How does fruit and vegetable farm size vary across the region at the county level?
Anecdotally, many people think of Northeast agricultural production as small-scale. It would be
interesting to see how fruit and vegetable farm sizes vary across the region – possibly pointing
out differences between New England and the Mid-Atlantic sub-regions.
3. Is there a correlation between farm size and value of production for fruits and vegetables? In
other words, do counties with the highest value of sales also have higher concentrations of a
particular farm size?
This would be interesting to look at and compare to national trends in concentration of value (see
Hoppe publication explanation below).
References
Maryland Food System Map (2012) Retrieved September 9 2012, from
http://mdfoodsystemmap.org/
This is the interactive mapping tool that inspired me to ask these questions about farm size and
value of sales. This team at Johns Hopkins focused on Maryland only, but as I am involved in
regional systems research, I felt it would be useful to scale up to the regional level.
Hoppe, R. A., & Banker, D. E. (2010). Structure and Finances of U.S. Farms: Family Farms
Report, 2010 Edition (66). Washington, DC: Retrieved from
http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/eib-economic-information-bulletin/eib66.aspx.
This publication discusses the national relationship between value of production and farm size.
At the country level, large-scale and corporate farms account for 84 percent of the value of U.S.
agricultural production (Hoppe & Banker, 2010). For vegetables, fruits and tree nuts, large-scale
and corporate farms account for about 90 percent of the value of U.S. production (Hoppe &
Banker, 2010). This made me curious about whether this trend would hold true within the
Northeast or if the national data is skewed by agricultural powerhouses like California.
Data Sources
U.S. Census of Agriculture, 2007 (csv files) – free access
Maryland Food System Map (shapefiles and excel format available) –free access