San Juan Islands Farmer Food Hub Meetings Notes & Next Steps Forming a food hub that works for you. Taking the first step.

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1 San Juan Islands Farmer Food Hub Meetings Notes & Next Steps Forming a food hub that works for you. Taking the first step. Orcas and Waldron Island June 4th 8:00-9:30pm, Orcasong Farm (21 Attended) Lopez and Waldron Island June 5th 8:30-10:00am, Lopez Island Library (11 attended) San Juan and Shaw Island June 6th 8:30-10:00am, SJI Grange 966 (24 attended) # in red = indicates how often a topic was mentioned or number of votes PRE-DETERMINED MEETING GOALS Determine what needs are a priority for your farm/food business 1. Prioritize which solutions/services you want to pursue 2. Establish next steps for implementation COUNTY MEETING SUMMARY OF FARMER INPUT High priority next steps: 1. Revitalize County-wide branding a. Strong component should be on consumer and buyer education 2. Investigate cost and desired features of an online platform a. Emphasis on understanding local market demand 3. Explore opportunities for product storage a. Focus on centrally located on island with individual farm storage options 4. Develop Farmer Trainings a. Topics may include cultivation, season extension, certifications, food safety *Food access issues came up at all meetings some next steps include reaching out to the food banks to see if they are able to do purchases, coordinating farmer donations, and selling surplus/seconds at reduced cost SUMMARY of NEXT STEPS WITH NAMES OF VOLUNTEERS The majority of participants wanted to do something now in a positive way even though they are busy farming. Area of Interest Orcas Volunteers Lopez Volunteers San Juan Volunteers County-wide branding revitalization & Consumer/buyer education Thomas Soltman John Stewart Katherine Foley Annie & Joel Online Platform Kai Hoffman-Krull Thomas S Katherine Infrastructure - Cold storage - Cooperative buying - Farmer training John Stewart Thomas Marta Nielson Annie & Joel Emma Carter Rhea Miller (on our farming heritage) Faith Van de Putte Jean (Tap Root) Gail Kretchmer Elaine Kendall Bruce Gregory Adam Green Paul Richards Adam Green

2 Revitalization of Farmers Market Crop Planning & group selling Faith Van de Putte Paul Richards Who s missing? Are there those you want to make a targeted ask to participate at a committee level? Sasha or others already operating the makeshift food hub? Next Step: Ag Guild will set up committee meetings in key areas in July/August. Invite buyers, producers, transport owners, and interested community members to join committee(s) and/or to provide input. ORCAS ISLAND MEETING NOTES Number of attendees: 21 Names/contact information of attendees: See participant list Which needs are a priority for your business? 1. Increasing market demand and facilitating market connections (5) 2. Streamlined product availability, ordering, and purchasing (8) 3. Infrastructure Development: storage, aggregation, and transportation (8) Solutions/Strategies/Services Conversation 1. Increasing market demand Where are you selling currently? o 50% on-island o 50% inter-island o selling off-island (4) Interested in access to new markets off-island for specific crops Need to market the quality of island produce (4) o Do not want to be lumped in with Skagit producers Interest in expanding to institutions o Not sure if there is much demand on-island or inter-island Continue direct sales to customer and restaurants Market efforts SJC promotion and branding (3) o Consumer education on the quality of produce and products Provide food for all county residents (access) o Sell or donate food to the food banks 2. Streamlined produce availability What should an online platform be able to do? o Increased range/type of potential customers Broader audience One place to sell to more than one customer at a time

3 Reach more customers o Invoicing services for producer and buyer o One-stop ordering o Sell under farm brand o Sell under island/collaborative brand o Sell surplus and seconds (2) o Tell the story of the value/taste of products (3) What needs to be in place to make it successful? o Production planning 3 o Aggregation o Farmer to farmer communication channels o Buyer commitments 3. Infrastructure What currently exists and is being utilized? o SJI Transport o Jones Family Farm o Other Distributors (PSFH) o Farmer-owned cooler space What else is needed? o Land resources for new and expanding farm operations o Freezer storage o Cooler storage o Emergency food storage o Composting facilities o Commercial kitchen (3) Herbs Flowers o Season extension infrastructure o Worker housing WIN! Two farms offered up cooler space to other farms (OrcaSong Farm and Maple Rock Farm) 4. Other needs and solutions GAPS/GHP training Organics certification training Cooperative buying Low interest loans San Juan County involvement Education programming for farms on-island LOPEZ ISLAND MEETING NOTES Number of attendees: 11 Names/contact information of attendees: See participant list Which needs are a priority for your business? 1. Increasing market demand and facilitating market connections (7)

4 2. Streamlined product availability, ordering, and purchasing 0 3. Infrastructure Development: storage, aggregation, and transportation 0 Solutions/Strategies/Services Conversation 1. Increasing market demand Where are you selling currently? o 50% on-island Farmers Markets Farm Stands o 50% inter-island Restaurants Wholesale to co-ops and stores Where would you like to sell? o Focus on growing on-island sales o Retail o Direct to consumer Revitalize county-wide branding o Focus on cultivation practices o Craft production o Values of farmers Strengthen connections to consumer and support food access o Provide food to neighbors o Ties to Food Banks o Utilize Lopez Fresh Utilize the Lopez Rocks site as a connection point for surplus crops Increase consumer education Strengthen wholesale connections on-island Create a multiple farm CSA o Customized product offerings for buyers Revitalize Lopez Farmers Market and other island markets o More vendor space for farms Lopez Island Next Steps County-wide branding revitalization (5) Farmer-buyer events and meet-ups (3) Consumer education & outreach (9) Revitalization of farmers market (6) Grower trainings (2) Online ordering (2) Collective buying (1) Infrastructure (1) ( ed in Christine Langley) Jean (Taproot) SAN JUAN ISLAND MEETING NOTES Number of attendees: 24

5 Names/contact information of attendees: See participant list Which needs are a priority for your business? 1. Increasing market demand and facilitating market connections (23) 2. Streamlined product availability, ordering, and purchasing (15) 3. Infrastructure Development: storage, aggregation, and transportation (15) Solutions/Strategies/Services Conversation 1. Increasing market demand Where are you selling currently? o On-island (10) (define significance of highlight? Direct to consumer (9) Farmers Market (7) Wholesale (8) o Inter-island (4) o Off-island (2) Where would you like to sell? o Off-island (4) Only in expanding operations With value-added products With Puget Sound Foodhub o More inter-island (2) o Retail o Direct to consumer Need for county-wide branding o Consumer education o Tell the farm stories o Sustainable Connections buy local model Take the temperature of buyers on buying local what is the demand? o Are buyers willing to buy larger quantities Make local food on-island more accessible Farmer-buyer meetups o Off-island & inter-island o Chef s tour 2. Streamlined produce availability What should an online platform be able to do? o Group selling like PSFH Aggregation of products o Help with marketing (3) o New customers o Gain buyer insights (4) Purchase volumes o Geared toward local buyers o One stop ordering o Expand beyond the retail market What needs to be in place to make it successful?

6 o Will buyers use it o Transportation o Production planning 3. Infrastructure What currently exists and is being utilized? o SJI Transport o County-owned land o The port o Sweet Earth cooler o Jones Family Farm What else is needed? o Off-island transport o Inter-island transport o Mobile unit Mold storage Freezer o Fixed infrastructure centrally located in Friday Harbor Long term cold storage Individually rentable spaces Freezer San Juan Island Next Steps Centrally located storage for pick-up/drop-off of products (26) Co-op Adam Rental-able storage (6) Mobile storage & processing unit (12) Crop planning/group selling (14) Co-op Develop an online platform (15) Bruce Adam Assess island demand (22) Farmer-buyer meetups (3) Consumer-buyer education (17) o Who Gail Elaine County-wide branding (10) Farmer collective planning to meet wholesale market demand (9)

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