Interested in helping with this project? Click here to let us know.

Project Description: To evaluate the feasibility of a local food hub, likely using the Finland Co-op.

Project Updates:

1/22/2020 – Honor Schauland

In Summer 2019 U of M researcher Ki Bum Noh visited Finland MN to learn about our ideas for a potential food hub and learn how his research could potentially help or influence the Finland Food Chain project. He went on to analyze ~50 food hub models from around the US, both failed and successful, to try to determine whether food hubs are a viable model for local food systems, particularly rural areas such as ours. His research shows some of the common characteristics of successful food hubs, and some of the common characteristics of failed ones. Two models he thought were useful for our purposes were Sprout and Fifth Season Cooperative. Ki Bum presented his research here in Finland, in Grand Rapids MN, and Virginia MN and talked about why food hubs succeed and fail. His final research report is not fully complete, but we will keep his recommendations in mind for our future work to see if a food hub will be feasible in Finland MN. Ki Bum’s powerpoint presentation and info about his project is available here.