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has established a food access program in partnership with the WV SNAP-Ed Program, which has resulted in large volume sales for producers. How has COVID-19 impacted the food system? FB: The COVID-19 response has been overwhelming across the local food system. Demand for locally sourced food has quintupled, and a paradigm shift has begun to take shape. In the spring of 2020, Turnrow sales grew from $25,000 gross revenue per month to over $120,000, gaining more than 200 new customers. The focus is to leverage this momentum and rebuild a food system that provides security for our communities and economic opportunities for regional producers. Does West Virginia produce enough food to satisfy the demand? FB: Not even close. We are just scratching the surface of demand inWest Virginia. It is almost bottomless. However, we must continue to rebuild a food system that works for West Virginia farmers and consumers—a system that doesn’t commoditize or marginalize at every point in the value chain. What keeps you up at night? FB: Having the time and resources to get this to work. I know it can work, because I have seen what can happen when we all collectively work towards a common goal, but we are at the point of growth beyond grants and need to look into real investment from the public and private sector. When you know something will work and you just need the support to make it happen, it creates excitement and anxiety. We need to capitalize our operations and invest in the dedicated staff to grow Turnrow into a financially sustainable model that will benefit the state and its farmers. What have been your proudest moments as you've responded to the challenges presented by the pandemic? FB: The ability for our team and farmers to scale up very quickly to meet our communities’ need for fresh local food. Our demand quintupled
sector market channels that serve every scale of producer—from large wholesale growers to small homestead farms. Turnrow sells products to institutions, restaurants, retailers, and directly to customers through our online market. In this way, food hubs increase profit margins and help local farms scale up production, leading to increased productivity and job creation. Food hubs help stimulate the economy in rural areas, with money spent on local food internally circulating the same dollars up to 2.6 times within the broader local economy. Our linked food hubs already provide a variety of support for existing and future farmers, and individually each organization is committed to strengthening our local food system. How does Turnrow help farmers increase their profit margins? FB: At the onset, Turnrow needed to engage private business partners that had access to supply and markets and a philosophical stance of cooperation—not competition. Many private farmers and businesses have underutilized resources, such as cold storage, trucks, and processing. These private businesses are looking for ways to expand their profits by diversifying beyond their own operations. For example, an
individual farmer who handles sales and distribution directly typically has a half- empty truck and a limited customer base. By participating in a cooperative network, this farmer now has a full truck that transports other producers' products to more customers, expanding the market base and lowering costs on the distribution—fee for transport— for the operations. In 2018–19, we grew our network of customers, established new partnerships, and expanded market opportunity. These growers are located in Greenbrier, Monroe, Raleigh, Fayette, Wayne, Mingo, Lincoln, Kanawha, and Putnam counties. Turnrow aggregated, washed, packed, graded, and stored produce at Greenville Kitchen in Monroe, Maxwellton in Lewisburg, Sprouting Farms in Talcott, Whitlock Farm (now Community Roots Farm) in Fayetteville, West Edge in Huntington, Fort Gay Elementary inWayne, and Paradise Farms in Dunbar. Staff or contracted partners in these sites assisted in final grading and packaging for markets. Turnrow currently manages an online marketplace, delivering to wholesale customers including restaurants, hospitals, schools, and local grocery stores. Additionally, Turnrow
overnight, and our team is working tirelessly to support our community.
36 wvl • fall 2020
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