This project was made possible by the United States Department of Agriculture, TM-Agricultural Marketing Service Agency, cooperative agreement number 22-TMMSD-MI-0011.

We want to give special thanks to this project’s Food Hub Advisory Panel. This panel played an essential role in guiding the research and outputs. We extend a big thank you to: Rachel Bair, Rosie Florian, and Joshua Bartz of ValleyHUB in Kalamazoo, Michigan; Haile Johnston, Founder, and Rachel Terry of The Common Market with regional hubs across the U.S.; Kristin Kvernland of the Food Shed Agricultura Del Pueblo in San Diego; Angel Mendez and Marsha Minor of the Red Tomato Food Hub in Rhode Island; Vincent Peak, co-founder of Share Farm, which aggregates agricultural products across the Pacific Northwest, and; Elliot Smith of Kitchen Sync Strategies with expert knowledge of Value Chain Coordination.

In addition to the Advisory Panel, this project sought the guidance of experts in value chain coordination, food hub history and development, as well as in local and regional food systems and agricultural market development. These reviewers include:

Phil Britton, Owner and Consultant, Fresh Systems LLC, provided significant review and expertise in the Food Safety segment of this toolkit.

Abby Long, USDA TM-AMS Economist upstarted this research and assembled the research team and served as USDA lead from 2022-mid-2024.

Will Gray, Founding Partner of Seed Change Strategies, and Manager Director of Eastern Food Hub Collaborative (EFHC) provided information and resources related to the work of EFHC.