Sacramento Valley Food Hub

The Sacramento Valley Food Hub Business Plan is a component of the Sacramento Regional Agricultural Infrastructure Project which is developing new business tools and assessing models to facilitate increased sales and consumption of locally grown foods in the six-county Sacramento region. Currently, it is estimated that only two percent of regional food consumption is from local sources. The analysis focuses on food hubs, agricultural infrastructure facilities which help connect locally grown and source-identified fresh produce – specialty crops – to local markets and customers, especially by creating new market channels between smaller and medium-sized growers and larger institutional and business buyers.

RUCS stakeholders have identified the need for expanded regional agricultural infrastructure to increase the amount of locally grown food reaching local markets. Agricultural infrastructure encompasses aspects of aggregation, packing, processing, storage, marketing and distribution capacity and facilities, forming what many are calling “food hubs.” Food hubs help connect locally produced and source-identified foods to local markets by creating new market channels between growers and consumers. As the food hub and local food system scale expands, it can serve larger markets, such as institutional and wholesale buyers, and even markets outside of the SACOG region.