An effective regional food system creates the conditions in which food hubs of all sizes are able to coordinate to address each of the hubs’ ever-changing supply and demand needs.

Why is CFS integrated with regional food hubs?

In food hub work, both supply and demand can fluctuate wildly – on the supply side, farm suppliers can have bumper crops in a good season, or crop failures due to weather or pest pressure. On the demand side, we need to manage supply for our Mobile Farm Markets, produce bag deliveries, and wholesale orders, all of which ebb and flow throughout the year depending on client need.

With variation on both sides of the supply/demand equation, it’s too challenging to do this work without strong connections and relationships with other food hubs in the region, who have another set of suppliers to fill in.

How CFS does this work:

Given our community’s needs and current production levels in the county, we purchase about 85% of our produce from Montgomery County farms and order from regional producer partners for the remaining 15%.

Our strong relationships with other food hubs in the Mid-Atlantic enable our programs to run reliably and are the key to effective regional food hub integration.

CFS’s Impact:

• Our integration with regional aggregators also provides our Montgomery County farm partners with access to yet another sales channel, if they have surplus produce beyond what they sell to us (e.g., if a farm has more lettuce or cucumbers than our programs need).
• For our farm partners who wish to scale to larger institutional sales, we advise them on crop projections and harvest estimates, harvest and delivery timing, and industry standards for product size, quality, washing, and packing.