OH and WV Food Hub Network Overview (DRAFT 11/14/14)
Many local communities want to significantly produce, process, and market more locally grown healthy
fresh food for their residents. However, the trend is moving away from achieving those goals. If we want to
reverse that trend, then the question becomes: How should we support growing growers and facilitating
local food related value chain business start-ups and expansions in order to have major impact on local
regions? One way is to form a food hub network group. This could help support this targeted effort by:
 Supporting regional food hub planning and executive boards/leaders
 Providing and/or brokering of technical assistance services
 Developing and sharing support and training systems, as well as model business templates
 Providing regional, state, and national networking opportunities and options
This food hub network group was formed in 2014, currently meets four times per year face-to-face, and
also participates in network-sponsored webinars. Many participants have already been identified (see
below), including representatives of new and emerging regional incubator farms/food hubs, staff from
technical assistance support service centers, funding agencies, business development service centers, etc.
The network’s targeted goal is to develop successful food hub models that produce, process, and/or market
significantly more locally grown/processed food and create many new jobs/businesses for the local
community. We believe the network and these new model food hubs will support our goals by showing
communities how to start-up, scale-up, and successfully operate food hubs in their community. The
following is a listing of incubator farms/food hubs and technical assistance participants.
OH-WV Current Incubator Farm/Food Hub Network Participants
1.
Our Harvest Cooperative (OHC) is a worker-owned farm and food hub cooperative based on the
Mondragon Union Cooperative Model. They have an incubator training operation on a 30 acre farm in
Cincinnati, OH where they lease space and a 100 acre leased farm in Warren County, OH
approximately 25 miles north of Cincinnati. OHC produces specialty crops and sells both specialty crops
and value-added products from local producers. They are currently direct marketing as well as some
retail and wholesale, and will be expanding wholesale production and marketing in the near future.
OHC has an apprenticeship and a college certificate training program to support staffing of the workerowners and to support other independent farms' workforce needs. They serve a three state area (IN,
KY, & OH) and are planning to work with Cincinnati Union Cooperative Initiative (CUCI) on a food store
and other value-added businesses to come online in the future. OHC is on the USDA list of food hubs.
Contact: Ellen Vera, President of the Board, Our Harvest Cooperative (OHC), 513-807-3898,
ellen@ourharvest.coop (others include: Phil Amadon, reddebs@gmail.com; Kristin Gangwer,
kristin@ourharvest.coop; Brad Bergefurd, bergefurd.1@osu.edu; Christie Welch, welch.183@osu.edu;
and Tom Snyder, snyder.11@osu.edu)
2.
The Foundry Project (LLC) is designed to be both a commercial-scale producer of live fish, as well as a
food hub. Located in Cleveland, the food hub will market fish grown 500,000 lbs. /year of finfish in a
bio-secure, hormone and antibiotic free facility. Located in a renovated foundry building adjacent to
the fish house, the Food Hub will also serve as a distribution point for live fish raised at other
independent/corporate farms in the region. Initially, the farm itself will only be hiring a small number
of employees (five to seven), but the associated Food Hub will create additional sales, marketing and
processing jobs. Most importantly, the Food Hub will help drive the expansion of Ohio’s aquaculture
farms by creating a more vertically aligned marketplace, which will provide additional support for the
marketing of new and expanding of growers in the region. To provide additional training and support
for the rapidly emerging aquaculture industry, the Ohio State University South Centers has developed
a new aquaculture farmers training program which can provide services to support new and expanding
farming operations. Contact: J. Shorey, Principle, 216-906-1300, J.Shorey@TheFoundryProject.com
(others include: Curt Witchey, CFO, C.Witchey@TheFoundryProject.com; Mary Donnell,
mdonnell@donnellassociates.com; Laura Tiu, tiu.2@osu.edu; and Tom Snyder, snyder.11@osu.edu)
3.
Shagbark Seed and Mill (LLC) is a certified organic food hub and grain and bean seed cleaning and milling facility
located in Athens County, OH. Their hub aggregates, stores, processes, and distributes crops from Ohio organic
farms into stone-milled products and dry beans. Shagbark also works with co-packers to offer pasta, chips, and
crackers to further add value to staple crops. They employ five people in Athens to run the facility, farmers
market booths, and local deliveries, and another 12 around the state who demonstrate their products at
groceries and events. They are working to become a multi-stakeholder worker owned cooperative that includes
facility staff and farmers. They are building a network of mills, seed cleaning facilities, and organic grain, bean,
and oil seed farmers (or those interested in becoming organic) in the state and within the Appalachian region.
Shagbark Seed & Mill is a USDA listed food hub. Contact: Co Owners, Michelle Ajamian, 740-590-1501,
michelle@shagbarkmill.com or Brandon Jaeger, 740-590-8240, Brandon@shagbarkmill.com
4.
ACEnet’s Food Ventures Center opened in 1996 provides a 12,000 square foot licensed commercial
kitchen, thermal processing, packaging, food service and warehouse space to approximately 100 food
processors, foodservice operators and area farmers annually. Tenant manufacturers process FDA
bottled product lines, packaged goods, frozen foods, dairy and meats products. The ACEnet Nelsonville
Food Hub currently provides food processors and farmers 15,000 square feet of warehousing space for
aggregation, distribution and long-term storage. The Nelsonville Food Hub houses all the labeling,
packaging, batch coding and vacuum packing equipment utilized by our larger food manufacturers and
produce distributors. The facility is currently being renovated to with additional walk-in cooler, climate
controlled storage and flash freezing technologies for larger operators, regional produce aggregators
and social enterprise expanding Farm to School market channels. The food sector footprint is part of
the 95,000 square foot Nelsonville Business Incubator ACEnet has operated since 2006. Twenty years
ago ACEnet and partners identified a niche opportunity to innovate a network of microenterprise food
processors through the development of a shared-use manufacturing facility, business incubation and
sector specific training, marketing and technical assistance. Grounded in the diverse agricultural assets
of the region, food manufacturing and value-added farm products have become one of the economic
drivers in Appalachia, Ohio. Contact: Leslie Schaller, 740- 592-3854, leslies@acenetworks.org
5.
The Potomac State College (PSC) of West Virginia University (WVU)represents a strong potential for a
large production operation for livestock and specialty crops, a food hub for aggregation and marketing,
possible processing and distribution, and an incubator training/business development farm. They
currently have agriculture courses and related degrees, 200 acres of good bottom land with access to
water, and an existing 60 head cattle herd and the beginnings of a swine herd to start their incubator
farm and food hub. This design represents a strong supply-driven food hub concept. A PSC food hub
could easily develop an apprenticeship and a college certificate training program to support staffing of
their worker-owner cooperative, to support other training operations in the region, and to support
participating independent farms' workforce and marketing needs. Their food hub will serve mainly a
two state area (MD & WV). Contact: Ben Walsh, Unit Coordinator, Agriculture Forestry, & Campus
Farms, 304-788-6948, Bwalsh@mail.wvu.edu (others include: Tom McConnell
TRMcConnell@mail.wvu.edu and Tom Snyder, snyder.11@osu.edu)
6.
National Guard Youth ChalleNGe- The mission of the Mountaineer ChalleNGe Academy is to train and
mentor selected at-risk youth to help them become contributing members of society using the eight
core components in a quasi-military environment during a 22-week residential and one-year postresidential follow-up program. The program may include growing and farm management training. They
may be working with Potomac State College with this phase of their program. Contact: Kathy Tasker,
Director, 800-529-7700, ktasker@wvchallenge.org (others include: Robert Morris,
rmorris@wvchallenge.org; Trevor Pack,tpack@wvchallenge.org; Tom McConnell,
TRMcConnell@mail.wvu.edu; and Ben Walsh, Bwalsh@mail.wvu.edu)
7.
Great River Organics (LLC) (DBA Great River Farms) in partnership with Good Food Enterprises, is
creating an organic specialty crop food hub with a main aggregation facility located in Columbus, OH
near the Port Columbus International airport. Currently, eight (8) growers work collaboratively to
produce a multi-farm CSA called the Great River Market Bag. The Market Bag is distributed to
corporate partner sites around Central Ohio. The growers collaborative is currently expanding into
wholesale distribution having built partnerships with Whole Foods, Lucky’s and Denison University. All
partner farms are either certified organic now or will become so in 2015. Contact: Michael Jones, Chief
Innovator, 614-440-4485, mjones@goodfoodenterprises.org
8.
The Lake-To-River Food Hub is centered in Youngstown, Ohio just north of YSU. Youngstown is located
near the Ohio/ Pa state-line, 80 miles from Cleveland and Pittsburgh and has over 12 million people
within 150 miles. The Hub grew out of the Northside Farmers’ Market, launched in 2003 and includes
a multi-stakeholder food cooperative of regional producers, institutional buyers including schools,
hospitals, and restaurants, and consumers; a shared- use commercial kitchen incubator which is now
adding thermal processing and dehydrating facilities; and a Farmers' Market serving four locations.
Common Wealth, Inc. provides support to much of the Food Hub activity and serves as organizing
entity for the Thirty Mile Meal promoting regional food based economic development. Common
Wealth, Inc. is a regional community-based economic development nonprofit corporation committed
to working with local grass roots groups. Over our 28 years of progress we have built enthusiasm and
commitment by including them in the process from the outset. Many of our successes in rebuilding
the local economy and strengthening the local food base grow from and add to this enthusiasm in the
region. While welcoming state and regional support and cooperation, we continue to have a strong
focus on local and neighborhood priorities. The Lake-To-River Food Cooperative has an Online
ordering system serving household and institutional customers and is launching The Elm Street Café
which will open at the Food Hub in January. The café will feature a locally sourced 30 Mile Meal menu
to market products of the incubator and the Co-op food producers and growers. Hub activities were
recently awarded grants for programs and equipment from the Appalachian Regional Commission,
USDA FMPP program, and the LFPP program. Contact: Jim Converse, Regional Development,
jwconverse@gmail.com; or Tom Phibbs, Kitchen Incubator Manager, trphibbs@gmail.com or
Melissa Miller, Lake-To-River Food Cooperative Manager, info@laketoriver.org
9.
The Cluster Food Hub is located in Wheeling, WV and is being designed to integrate agriculture,
horticulture, and agroforestry production and marketing for urban and rural farms. This cooperative
will facilitate the cooperation between farmers at all levels that lead to the new “Food to Table
Movement” that is attempting to shift 10% to 25% of food production toward local suppliers. They are
looking at a community college to host satellite classes for growing growers. They will mainly serve a
three-state area (PA, OH, & WV). Contact: Marty Ward, Principal, The Cluster Food Hub, 347-2100797, mwash@hotmail.com (others include: Tina Morris,tinamorris24@gmail.com; Toni Brancazio,
TBrancazio@aol.com; Karen Cox, karen.cox@mail.wvu.edu; and Tom Snyder, snyder.11@osu.edu)
10. The Ohio School for the Deaf Project is a training and incubator farm designed to be located at the
Ohio School for the Deaf in Columbus, OH. They will be providing these services to students and adults
in the area. They are considering Lorain County Community College (LCCC) to satellite classes for high
school and adult students. They will grow specialty crops in high tunnels and on 15 acres to support
the training and supply locally grown food for the deaf community. Contact: John Moore, Executive
Director, DSC, 614-841-1991, johnmoore@dsc.org (others include: Gregory Mendenhall,
mendenhall@osd.oh.gov; Jerry Ra, jragardens@gmail.com; Jennifer Smith-Dudash,
jennifersmithdudash@gmail.com; Mike Hogan, hogan.1@osu.edu; and Tom Snyder,
snyder.11@osu.edu)
11. Urban Dayton Project is in early operation and is being designed to be a specialty crop food hub
located in Dayton, OH to help market products produced in the city and on independent farms in the
area. The city of Dayton is making vacant lots available for high tunnel production and the project has
received foundation grant funding as seed money to startup the project. Contact: Suzanne MillsWasniak, Montgomery County Extension Educator, 937-224-9654, mills-wasniak.1@osu.edu (others
include: Brad Bergefurd, bergefurg.1@osu.edu and Tony Nye, nye.1@osu.edu)
12. The Southwestern Ohio Council for Higher Education (SOCHE) is a collaboration of 22 colleges and
universities with 120,000 students. SOCHE encourages and supports shared services among its
member institutions and has initiated efforts to identify opportunities that will increase the use of local
foods on member campuses. Contact: Dusty Hall, SOCHE Senior Director, 937-258-8890,
dusty.hall@soche.org (other includes: Brian Raison, County Director and Extension Educator, Miami
County, raison.1@osu.edu)
OH and WV Current Technical Support
Food Hub Network Participating Groups (DRAFT)
 Appalachian Center for Economic Networks (ACEnet)
 Leslie Schaller, 740- 592-3854, leslies@acenetworks.org
 Meggan Riley, megganr@acenetworks.org
 Myra Morrison, myram@acenetworks.org
 Deaf Services Center
 John Moore, 614-841-1991, johnmoore@dsc.org
 Donnell & Associates
 Mary Donnell, 419-575-0662, mdonnell@donnellassociates.com
 Finance Fund
 Mark Barbash, 614-568-5049, markbarbash@financefund.org
 National Capital Investment Fund
 Dave McCann, 419-575-4612, dmccann@conservationfund.org
 Sixth Sense Urban Farmer Consultants
 Jerry Ra, 614-569-6071, jragardens@gmail.com
 Jennifer Smith-Dudash, jennifersmithdudash@gmail.com
 The Ohio State University, Ohio Cooperative Development Center (OCDC)
 Christie Welch,740-289-2071, welch.183@osu.edu
 Dave Hahn, hahn.1@osu.edu
 Kimberly Roush, roush.143@osu.edu
 Tom Snyder, snyder.11@osu.edu
 The Ohio State University, Extension Services
 Amy Grove, grove.68@osu.edu
 Brad Bergefurd, bergefurd.1@osu.edu
 Brian Raison, raison.1@osu.edu
 Carol Smathers, smathers.14@osu.edu
 Chet Bowling, bowling.43@osu.edu
 Eric Barrett, barrett.90@osu.edu
 Erika Meschkat, meschkat.1@osu.edu
 Jacalyne Adkins, adkins.285@osu.edu
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 Jackie Kowalski, kowalski.124@osu.edu
 Julie Crook, crook.46@osu.edu
 Laura Tiu, tiu.2@osu.edu
 Mike Hogan, hogan.1@osu.edu
 Stacy Haught, haught.20@osu.edu
 Suzanne Mills-Wasniak, wasniak.1@osu.edu
 Tony Nye, nye.1@osu.edu
United States Department of Agriculture
 Debbie Rausch, 614-255-2425, deborah.rausch@oh.usda.gov
West Virginia Department of Education, Nutrition
 Beckii Leagh, 304-558-2708, bleigh@access.k12.wv.us
West Virginia Food and Farm Coalition
 Elizabeth Spellman, 304-460-4869, e.spellman@wvhub.org
West Virginia University, Small Farms Center
 Tom McConnell, 304-293-2642, TRMcConnell@mail.wvu.edu
West Virginia University, Extension Services
 Alex Straight, Alex.Straight@mail.wvu.edu
 Brandy Brabham, Brandy.Brabham@mail.wvu.edu
 Chuck Talbott, Chuck.Talbott@mail.wvu.edu
 Karen Cox, Karen.Cox@mail.wvu.edu
 Kristin McCartney, Kristin.McCartney@mail.wvu.edu
 Josh Peplowski, Josh.Peplowski@mail.wvu.edu
 Travis Cullen, travis.cullen@mail.wvu.edu
 Rodney Walbrown, rmwallbrown@mail.wvu.edu
West Virginia University, Potomac State College
 Ben Walsh, 304-788-6948, Bwalsh@mail.wvu.edu