Appalachian Harvest Food Hub
Founded in 2000, Appalachian Harvest is Appalachian Sustainable Development’s rural food hub. Following the federal deregulation of tobacco production, many local farmers found their incomes drastically reduced and wanted alternative crops to capitalize on their experience and existing resources. Our food hub assisted growers by transitioning them from tobacco to produce, allowing them to remain on their family farms.
Our team works shoulder to shoulder with small to medium-scale local farmers, helping them get their goods to market. We provide GAP (Good Agricultural Practices) certification training, assist with organic certifications, and provide them with much-needed, year-round technical support. Our team also secures retail orders from various wholesale markets and provides aggregation and distribution of locally grown produce from Maryland to Georgia.
To date, our food hub assisted farmers in selling more than $27 million of produce to wholesale grocers/produce brokers while facilitating approximately 4.5 million pounds of food box donations from July 2020 – May 2021.
A Regional Food Business Center Partner
Our Appalachian Harvest Food Hub is one of 18 organizations in the Regional Food Business Center, working together to create a food system that is not only economically viable but also socially and environmentally sustainable. By building a network of small-scale farmers, food businesses, and community organizations, we believe we can create a food system that benefits everyone in Appalachia. Learn more about those efforts here.
Food Hub Services
GAP Certification & Organic Training
We offer annual trainings to help you better understand GAP, FSMA, and organic regulations.
Please contact Adam Pendleton for more information.
Technical Assistance
We offer year-round resource sharing, production planning calls and site visits.
Processing Equipment
We provide access to wash lines and packaging supplies to increase post-harvest handling efficiencies and enhance product quality.
Aggregation & Marketing
We partner with a network of local farmers and large wholesale markets who seek high-quality, sustainably grown produce. To date, we assisted farmers in selling more than $23 million of produce to wholesale grocers/produce brokers.
Appalachian Harvest Programs
Appalachian Sustainable Development, Coalfield Development, and the Appalachian Center for Economic Networks had been connected by working together for 30+ years as part of the Central Appalachian Network (CAN). In 2016, we came together to launch the Central Appalachian Food Corridor to help underserved agricultural producers and food processors access markets at a regional level.
Over the years, we have welcomed new partners and rebranded our effort as Supporting Appalachia. We recognize the need to work together to serve our rural people and places, rather than compete in unhealthy ways that are bad for producers and buyers. Our network encourages collaboration by leveraging our Appalachian food hubs and processing center’s production, processing, and distribution capacity.
Please check out our new website, supportingappalachia.org.
Our School Purchasing Program launched in August 2021 with the help of a grant awarded by No Kid Hungry. Working with nutrition directors, we provide fresh, local produce to just under 4,000 students within four school districts in Southwest Virginia.
This program not only has a healthy impact on children; it has also created a need for Appalachian Sustainable Development to expand our workforce development program, Groundwork. Groundwork now incorporates a new commercial kitchen pathway. This pathway will educate program members on food safety and micro-processing fresh produce, allowing us to further expand our offerings to school cafeterias that are experiencing the need for ready-to-serve options. We continue to grow with the support of the Virginia Department of Education and our funders.
Help support our nonprofit and local businesses by purchasing your favorite Appalachian Harvest jams, fruit butters, salsas, and pickled goodies from the following retailers:
Food Country USA
Ingles Markets
Cranberry Lane
In 2017, the Appalachian Harvest Food Hub expanded to include an Herb Hub in its Duffield, Virginia facility. The Herb Hub envisions a thriving and sustainable herbal economy in Central Appalachia, where plant conservation is achieved through profitable cultivation.
AH, in partnership with ASD, Refresh Appalachia, Sprouting Farms, the Kentucky Center for Agriculture and Rural Development, Community Farm Alliance, and Whitlock Farm, will expand the impact and scale of the Central Appalachian Food Corridor across several Appalachian states.
Through previous POWER funding, the Central Appalachian Food Corridor effectively connected both established and emerging farmers and value-added product entrepreneurs throughout Central Appalachia to wholesale distribution markets, leading to increased agricultural business development and job creation. The current project will increase the number of farmers served and food enterprises engaged while building a collaborative business model that connects various parts of the food system in Central Appalachia to attract private investment and position the collective for significant growth and financial sustainability.
In 2017, the Appalachian Harvest Food Hub expanded to include an Herb Hub in its Duffield, Virginia facility. The Herb Hub envisions a thriving and sustainable herbal economy in Central Appalachia, where plant conservation is achieved through profitable cultivation.
In 2017, the Appalachian Harvest Food Hub expanded to include an Herb Hub in its Duffield, Virginia facility. The Herb Hub envisions a thriving and sustainable herbal economy in Central Appalachia, where plant conservation is achieved through profitable cultivation.
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