The Central Shenandoah Valley, population 368,000, is a large geographic area spanning 4,264 square miles in western Virginia. The region includes seven counties—Augusta, Bath, Highland, Page, Rockbridge, Rockingham, and Shenandoah—and the five independent cities of Buena Vista, Harrisonburg, Lexington, Staunton, and Waynesboro. The Central Shenandoah Planning District Commission (CSPDC) represents the governments in this area […]
Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a farming practice that promotes a shared commitment by consumers and growers to build a more local and equitable agricultural system. Introduced in the mid-80s, CSAs are “a community of individuals who pledge support to a farm operation so that the farmland becomes, either legally or spiritually, the community’s farm, […]
What is a food desert? The CDC characterizes a food desert as an area lacking in affordable fruits and vegetables, often found in rural, minority or low-income areas where access to healthy foods are limited (CDC 2011). In recent years, the term has been used to characterize a number of scenarios: a community’s low access […]
A simple definition of a shared-use kitchen is a certified commercial kitchen in which individuals or businesses prepare value-added food products and meals, usually paying an hourly or daily rate to lease a space shared by others. These spaces are most often used by culinary or packaged food entrepreneurs and can have positive social, economic, […]
A year ago, we started work on a project for the Kansas-based Sunflower Foundation, in partnership with the Rural Grocery Initiative (RGI) at Kansas State University, to understand the challenges rural grocery stores face. Of particular focus was the issue of distribution in light of the recent consolidation of two major food wholesalers in the […]
Why a Value Chain is the new Supply Chain While presenting to a client in Texas on supply chains, we realized that we were using the words supply chain and value chain interchangeably — is that correct? The answer is no. But, like all “food system terms” in the Good Food Glossary, it’s complicated. A […]
New Venture Advisors launched the MarketSizer® and HubSizer® Toolsite earlier this year to enable anyone to conduct preliminary assessments of various types of food system infrastructure. The results allow users to refine their food business concepts and due diligence plans. The Toolsite has been used by more than 1,000 visitors since March 2018. We surveyed […]
A microblog series on the HubSizer® and MarketSizer® tools from New Venture Advisors Are you a food hub that sees surges from your farmers in broccoli in the summer or beets in the fall? Have you been trying to figure out how to take advantage of a big glut of produce during the growing season […]
A microblog series on the HubSizer® and MarketSizer® tools from New Venture Advisors. Do you own or have access to an entire building, space or business and want to convert it into a commercial kitchen or food business incubator but are not sure where to start? Today we’ll show you how to use the Kitchen […]
A microblog series on the HubSizer® and MarketSizer® tools from New Venture Advisors. Over the past few weeks we’ve explored how to analyze a market for local food with the Local Food MarketSizer® tool; investigated how to turn a grocery store into a food hub with the Rural Grocery HubSizer® tool; and most recently we […]
The Whatcom County Food System Committee recently conducted a community food assessment that pointed to key opportunities to build a more robust and resilient regional food system. New Venture Advisors will partner with Whatcom County staff and the Food System Committee to draft a Whatcom County Food System Plan that builds upon these findings. This Plan will focus on six sectors of the food system including fishing, farming, labor, food access, environment, and waste, and will be informed by an inclusive and equitable community engagement process. The Food System Plan will provide the county with a policy roadmap that will strengthen the local food system for years to come. (2022)
The Whatcom Community Foundation invests in activities and organizations that improve the ability of people to help themselves, increase connections among people, and take cooperative approaches to community issues. WCF is exploring the development of a local food campus on a waterfront property that would become a multi-tenant site, anchored by a school district commissary. The goal is to strengthen Whatcom County’s local food system by promoting health equity, forging tangible strategic connections between food production organizations, and helping farmers connect with institutional markets. NVA developed the business case for this ambitious project and continues to support its development. (2022)