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Rural Health Information Hub

Agriculture Partnership Models to Support Food Access

In this model, agricultural partnerships support small farms and increase the availability of fresh food for rural community members. Agricultural partnerships can take different forms, including community supported agriculture, farmers markets, and food hubs.

Community Supported Agriculture

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a direct farmer to consumer market. Consumers buy "shares" directly from local farmers and prepay before the growing season for a certain amount of produce and/or other farm products during the harvest season. The upfront payment from the customer supports farm expenses (for example, equipment or seed purchase). During the growing season, customers received their produce shares through delivery or at a predetermined pick-up site. CSAs can operate through pre-existing groups, such as workplaces, to reach a larger number of customers.

In some states, WIC and SNAP benefits can be used to purchase CSA shares, and programs are available to help subsidize the cost for low-income customers. Payment plans or a sliding scale for upfront payments can also be used to increase the accessibility of CSA shares to low-income customers.

Farmers Markets

Farmers markets are organized, scheduled, and recurring gatherings where producers can sell their food products directly to consumers. Markets can be temporary or permanent structures and on public or private property. Farmers markets are similar to the CSA model in that they create a direct transaction between farmers and consumers, but farmers markets require less initial investments in time from producers. For rural communities with limited grocery options, farmers markets can increase access to fresh, local food.

Participating farmers markets accept SNAP (formerly food stamps) and WIC benefits. Markets must have the proper transaction equipment to process Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards and must apply for eligibility with the USDA. Some states offer matching programs that double the benefits from SNAP or WIC that can go toward fresh fruits and vegetables. These programs help low-income families access more fresh produce directly from farmers.

Food Hubs

Food hubs are local businesses or organizations that aggregate, process, and distribute food products from small growers and producers to local purchasers and consumers. Food hubs combine yields from many small farms to create larger quantities of products to sell to retailers and institutions, such as hospitals, grocery stores, and workplaces, or directly to consumers. Food hubs can help increase access to healthy foods in rural and remote areas by making it easier for farmers and growers to offer their products without the added costs of infrastructure and logistics or concern about the size of the yield.

Food hubs can also process food to increase the value of the food for both the producer and the purchaser. Examples of value-added processing are freezing, cutting, peeling, washing, and packaging food.

Food hubs can be privately or publicly owned and operate as for-profit or nonprofit entities. The USDA offers grants for local food hubs, and additional funding can be found through food system grants and local economic development councils.

Examples of Rural Programs That Increase Access to Local Food

  • The Jefferson Healthcare Prescription CSA is a collaboration between Jefferson Healthcare, a healthcare system in rural Washington, and Goosefoot Farm, a small organic farm, developed to address food insecurity among low-income patients. The program offered eligible patients free boxes of fresh produce weekly during the growing season.
  • Farm Connect Montana works to increase the amount of local food in western Montana. It helps preserve farmland, train beginning farmers, and make locally grown food more easily accessible. It recently implemented a Double SNAP Dollars program to help SNAP (formerly known as food stamps) users access more fresh, local produce. All participating organizations saw increased sales from SNAP participants, and new customers are now able to purchase locally grown produce. It plans to continue this program and is working closely with local organizations, national organizations such as Wholesome Wave, and SNAP users to improve and expand the program.
  • Fifth Season Cooperative is a food hub in western Wisconsin that operates as a cooperative business. Its goals are to increase access to local food and support the viability of smaller farms. The cooperative addresses food as an SDOH in the community by connecting small, local farms to buyers, including large institutions such as the Mayo Clinic Health System, Chicago Public Schools, and Milwaukee Public Schools while also reaching institutions in rural Wisconsin, Illinois, and Minnesota. By working with many farmers, Fifth Season Cooperative offers Midwestern institutions a wide range of healthy and locally grown products and increases the number of institutions serving local, healthy foods to their communities.
  • Community Outreach & Patient Empowerment (COPE) strives to improve health by empowering communities through 3 main strategies: community-based outreach, local capacity building and system-level partnerships, and increasing access to healthy foods. To improve access to healthy foods in the Navajo Nation, COPE administers programs such as the Navajo Wholesome Rx: Fruit and Vegetable Prescription Program (FVRx), the Healthy Navajo Stores Initiative, and the Growers Initiative. FVRx engages local health clinics to provide free vouchers for fruits and vegetables to people in an effort to improve consumption of healthy foods. Families can use vouchers at local food retailers, who then submit used vouchers to COPE for reimbursement. The Healthy Navajo Stores Initiative is improving access to healthy and traditional foods in Navajo Nation by helping small stores better stock and market these healthier products.
  • Appalachian Sustainable Development has been working since 1995 to connect communities with local, healthy produce and to improve the local economy. They help farmers in Appalachia build up their businesses and partner with other sectors in West Virginia, Kentucky, and Ohio to provide a variety of economic development opportunities. Some of their food access programs provide support and technical assistance for families to grow their own food. For example, Healthy Families-Healthy Farms, is a donor-funded program that purchases produce from farms for local food banks and pantries.
  • The Farm & Food Education Center provides educational opportunities for youth and families in rural Tennessee to teach sustainable agriculture techniques and how to build businesses around local foods. Their mission is to improve the community and to increase the consumption of healthy foods. They operate several programs including the Farm & Food Teen Training Program, Farmer and Rancher Mentoring, and Farm Day Camps. They also are helping residents develop community gardens to grow local produce to address food insecurity.

Implementation Considerations

Implementing CSAs, food hubs, and farmers markets often requires planning, partnerships, and resources, including:

  • Adequate resources including workspaces, marketing funds, and vehicles
  • Awareness of barriers to participation including transportation, weather, and other community-specific factors
  • Detailed and accurate planning
  • Knowledge of and adherence to local, state, and federal policies regarding operation
  • Solid relationships and communication with local farmers and purchasers
  • Staff and volunteers to support the harvesting and distribution of produce

Although many factors inform the success of food access initiatives, attention must be paid to how well-positioned a community is to implement a strategy. The health of the food environment is one method to determine readiness, and it can be measured in different ways, such as a community food assessment. This tool collects information from community members on what they identify as assets to the local food environment as well as opportunities for improvement.

Where to establish an initiative is a critical consideration. In some communities, bolstering an existing or building a new retail environment would yield the greatest results. In other communities, targeting specific demographics may work best. For example, a rural community with a large older adult population might consider initiatives that provide conveniently located food pantries to individuals with low mobility.

Resources to Learn More

Community Supported Agriculture: Accepting SNAP Payments
Document
Guide for integrating SNAP/EBT payments into a community supported agriculture (CSA) program. Covers information on the benefits, allowable charges, marketing and outreach, payment models, and more.
Author(s): Hall, K. & McCann, R.
Organization(s): Utah State University Extension
Date: 6/2021

Strengthening Local Economies with Food Hubs
Video/Multimedia
Shares a discussion on the role of food and financial capital to support communities and their food assistance needs from community-level speakers representing 4 food hubs operating in North Carolina and South Carolina.
Organization(s): Carolina Farm Stewardship Association
Date: 7/2024

USDA Local Food Directories
Directory
Searchable directory of local food hubs and their available products. Corresponding map shows the physical location of each food hub.
Organization(s): Agricultural Marketing Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture