A Huntsville non-profit helps to bring fresh produce to north Alabama schools, restaurants and grocery stores, while assisting the farmers who grow it.
The Farm Food Collaborative is a program of the Food Bank of North Alabama.
With three employees, the collaborative’s objective is a win for everyone, says co-manager Natalie Bishnoi.
“Our mission is two-fold,” Bishnoi says, “to feed the hungry today and to create solutions to end hunger.”
The five-year old collaborative was founded in 2014 after the Food Bank commissioned a study to look at food trends in the 11 north Alabama counties it services.
Among other findings, the study revealed a trend toward people eating foods imported from other areas — even other countries — and the fact that “small-to mid-sized farms were operating at a deficit and closing at an alarming rate,” Bishnoi says.
The collaborative was founded to boost the farmers while creating fresh food sources for people.
It’s a win for those who benefit from eating fresh local food, and a win for the farmers who don’t have to worry about marketing or even billing for their produce. The collaborative takes care of that for them and helps farmers in other ways, from helping to establish market prices and even picking produce up and delivering it to customers.
Since the collaborative was founded, 86 percent of participating farmers say their profits have increased.
Last season, the Farm Food Collaborative generated over $350,000 in sales for Alabama farmers, Bishnoi says. The program has generated over $2 million in sales for the farmers since its inception.
One of the collaborative’s most valuable services to farmers is helping them obtain food safety certifications such as GAP, an acronym for Good Agricultural Practices, which is required for them to sell produce to schools and businesses.
Bishnoi, her co-manager Carey Martin-Lane, and assistant Chyna Smith, conduct mock GAP audits like those that come once a year from the state to ensure that water is properly tested, harvested foods are kept at correct temperatures, pesticides are safely used, and logs are signed to say what was picked where.
“Making sure they’ve got all their ducks in a row,” says Bishnoi, adding that a collaborative representative is also present when the actual audit takes place so they can help the farmer correct any problems or issues that are noted.
It’s all part of the process to help get farmers’ goods into commercial markets, including day cares through the newly established ECE — Early Care Education — project, a pilot program in several states.
The collaborative charges a 10 percent fee that is absorbed by the buyers.
“This never cuts the sales amount that the farmer is asking for their products,” says Bishnoi. “The fee goes directly back into our program to offset costs.”
The collaborative is funded through grants and the food bank.
“We take care of the administrative stuff so the farmers can do what they do best: making our food,” says Bishnoi, who wears many hats during the week and has different duties every day.
“For instance, mid-week, we call the farms and say, ‘Hey, what do you have available?,” says Bishnoi.
If the farmer needs help transporting their goods, one of the collaborative employees hops in a refrigerated van to deliver the produce. The $58,000 van was donated by a group affiliated with a class of Leadership Greater Huntsville, a non-profit.
Collaborative staff travel to farms as close as Hazel Green and as far as Mobile, Bishnoi says.
The collaborative also helps farmers determine “that they are charging prices consistent with specialty crop pricing in the region” by checking prices at Atlanta Terminal Market, she says.
The program benefits those who recognize the value of eating fresh local food.
Some businesses “are not buying for quality, they’re buying for price,” says Bishnoi, who notes there is “no comparison” between fresh local strawberries and those shipped from elsewhere.
Strawberries grown to remain preserved and picked early are “white on the inside,” she says. “Alabama strawberries are red through and through.”
Some apples grown in other states are gassed, waxed and stored for up to nine months, unlike the Alabama apples that go from farm to table through the collaborative program.
“They’re picking apples they harvest the day before and morning of,” she says. “As fresh as it gets.”
The strawberry season is over, but locally grown lettuce, greens, squash, heirloom tomatoes and peaches will soon be plentiful.
Last season, the Farm Food Collaborative generated over $350,000 in sales for Alabama farmers, Bishnoi says.
Steve Bunner, co-owner and executive chef at 1892 East Restaurant and Tavern in the Five Points neighborhood in Huntsville, has been a participant in the collaborative since its founding because fresh is best.
“Scientifically, chemistry-wise, when you have a vegetable picked closer to home, it’s always sweeter,” Bunner says. As it sits around longer, it turns to starch and “dulls out.”
With some products, “you really, really notice the difference,” says Bunner, whose menu always highlights everything fresh and local, and features a number of creative vegetarian entrees.
Sweet potatoes, hydroponic lettuce, and aeroponic sprouts and micro greens are available year-found, while the availability of other products changes seasonally, says Bishnoi.
In late/fall winter, Alabama farmers grow Satsumas.
“It’s a little known product,” Bishnoi says. “They’re a mandarin orange. Alabama is the (nation’s) third-largest producer.”
Commercial farmer cards are given to restaurants and grocery stores to help consumers draw a connection to the person that grew their food. (Food Bank of North Alabama)
Produce from participants in the Farm Food Collaborative is sold to other local restaurants, regional schools and day care centers, and all north Alabama Kroger stores, Earth Fare in Huntsville, and Whole Foods Market in Huntsville and Birmingham.
Publicizing the collaborative is a “call to action,” Bishnoi says. “The more you work with us, the broader our reach can be.”
“We want people to ask their restaurants, schools and grocery stores, ‘Is this local, locally grown?,” she says. “If not, tell them to reach out to us.”
For more information, visit the Farm Fresh Collaborative at the food bank website, foodbanknorthal.org, and find the link under Programs, or e-mail Bishnoi at nbishnoi@fbofna.org.###