Food Connects welcomed Michael Bird as a Food Hub Driver this year. As a driver, he does the crucial work of ensuring the safe, timely, and undamaged transport of Food Hub products. We are thrilled to have Michael on the team and are excited to share more about him.
The Evolution of a Food Hub: Celebrating the Growth of the Food Connects Food Hub, Part I
Meet Our Food Hub Procurement Coordinator—Katie Endicott
Food Connects welcomed Katie Endicott as its Food Hub Procurement Coordinator this year. She provides crucial administrative support for the Food Hub Procurement Team, ensuring smooth and efficient order cycles and purchasing flow. We are thrilled to have her on the team and are excited to share more about her!
Food Connects Goes to the Vermont Statehouse for Farm to School Awareness Day
By Tom Brewton & Kristen Thompson
On February 8th, our Food Hub Institutional Sales Associate, Tom Brewton, visited the Vermont Statehouse to support Farm to School Awareness Day. He testified before the Senate Agriculture Committee and the House Agriculture, Food Resilience, and Forestry Committee, requesting support for the Farm to School and Early Childhood Program and the Local Foods Incentive Grant.
A Day in the Life at the Food Connects Food Hub Part IV: Sales Trips
By Kristen Thompson
It’s early March of 2022, and after a long hiatus during the height of COVID-19, the Food Connects Sales Team is finally hitting the road with producers. I meet Beth Lewand, Food Connects Food Hub Sales Associate, and Linda Rubin, the woman behind Frisky Cow Gelato, at Linda’s house in Keene, NH. We’re driving out to meet potential customers in the Bradford and Southeast New Hampshire service area—one of our Thursday delivery routes.
Collaboration Brings Local Food Boxes to Killington Grand Resort Hotel Employees: Part II
By Kristen Thompson & Tom Brewton
Last month, we told you about our collaboration with up-and-coming food hub Vermont Farmers Food Center (VFFC) to bring local food boxes to Killington Grand Resort Hotel (KGRH) employees. We talked to Heidi Lynch, Executive Director of the VFFC, about their work and the value and impact of this collaboration. We also spoke to Greg Lang, Executive Chef at KGRH, about the impetus and impact of this project at the hotel. Check out the conversation.
Collaboration Brings Local Food Boxes to Killington Grand Resort Hotel Employees: Part I
By Kristen Thompson & Tom Brewton
This past June, Andrew Graham, Direct Markets Coordinator at the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont, reached out to Food Connects about an exciting opportunity. Killington Grand Resort Hotel (KGRH) was looking to set up a CSA (community-supported agriculture) program offering local food boxes to their employees. This project promised an exciting collaboration with partners across Vermont.
A Day in the Life at the Food Connects Food Hub Part III: Deliveries
By Kristen Thompson
About a week after following Emma Bliss and Raymond Johnston through the process of picking up orders and staging deliveries for the Food Connects Food Hub, I wander back down the hall from Food Connects’ administrative offices to the Food Hub. It’s around 8:00 AM when I arrive. Long-time Food Hub Driver Tracy Lake is already loading Van 1 with Raymond and Food Hub Warehouse Coordinator Scott Berzofsky.
Today, I’m joining Tracy for the Food Connects Monadnock Delivery Route in New Hampshire. It’s the very end of March, and with the school year still in full swing, we have a busy route ahead.
Producer Spotlight: Jack's Crackers
By Kristen Thompson
August is New Hampshire Eats Local month, and who better to talk to about local food than New Hampshire Magazine’s Best of New Hampshire Editor’s Choice awardee, Jack’s Crackers! We reached out to Kevin Dremmel, creator of these superb crackers, to learn more about what makes these crackers so special and why the local food movement is so important.
A Day in the Life at the Food Connects Food Hub - Part II: The Warehouse
By Kristen Thompson
Our Food Hub Warehouse Specialist extraordinaire, Raymond Johnston, finds me in the staff kitchen at the end of my lunch break. I’m going to shadow Raymond as he prepares for tomorrow’s deliveries.
Raymond picks up a stack of printed stickers with customers’ orders in the warehouse, checking for any missing stickers or mistakes by comparing them to the invoices. Then, we walk over to Cooler 1, which is, unsurprisingly, pretty chilly.
(Left to right) Food Hub Warehouse Specialist Raymond Johnston and Marketing Coordinator Kristen Thompson are your guides on this “day in the life” doing picking, sorting, and staging in the Food Connects Food Hub warehouse.
This afternoon we’re preparing orders for Friday morning deliveries, which often include stops in the Brattleboro area and up towards Rutland. Some of the customers we’re preparing orders for today include Loaves & Fishes, The Putney Town School District, and Mountain Energy Market.
I’m eager to keep my feet moving and follow Raymond around the warehouse as he picks, sorts, and then stages the orders.
So, what is picking? Picking is the first stage of organizing orders. Raymond and the other Warehouse Staff take printed stickers of ordered items and sticker products in our warehouse.
A few decisions go into what inventory items Raymond picks. First, of course, only safe food in good condition is kept for delivery. He picks the items with earlier sell dates first so they can make it to our customers before they’re too old to sell.
While Raymond is busy picking, I ask him about his journey to Food Connects. Raymond tells me he’s been working in food distribution for years, but he didn’t always feel like the distributors he worked for supported the sustainable and ethical food system he wanted to help build.
“In the training videos [for my previous employer], they were picking up from small local farmers and producers. By the time I was working with them, they’d gotten too big for that kind of work. I thought, ‘I wish I were doing that.’”
Raymond reads over the inventories for a delivery.
At Food Connects, Raymond finally gets to support local farmers and producers. He feels good about the work he does. And with the knowledge and experience he brings from his years working for larger distributors, Raymond has brought important insights to our warehouse operations.
Raymond has done a lot of work to improve the warehouse’s internal recordkeeping and organizational processes.
“If Scott [our Food Hub Warehouse Coordinator] and I had to leave suddenly and someone had to walk into the warehouse and pick up where we left off, you want them to be able to see what has been done and what to do next.”
One of the ways the warehouse team keeps organized is by labeling items consistently during the picking process. On bagged products, like bulk beets, carrots, and potatoes, we put the stickers next to the labels producers have stuck onto the bags with general product information. We attach stickers to the short end of the boxes on boxed products. These little details save the team time later in the process, whether they’re sorting products or pulling them out of a delivery truck.
Raymond also goes over the products that aren’t in Cooler 1 with a highlighter on the invoices. We come back to those items at the end.
When we’ve stickered all the items in Cooler 1, we walk over to Cooler 2, where we have Basin Farm potatoes stored in an area kept cool but not cold—the ideal conditions for potato storage. These items come back to Cooler 1, where we’re ready to start sorting.
Raymond brings potatoes to Cooler 1 for sorting.
To sort, we begin to pull out and group stickered products by type on a big set of pallets. Emma Bliss, Food Hub Operations Coordinator, joins us in the sorting process and sets up a Bluetooth speaker with music.
Raymond sets out pallets and sorts stickered products.
Some of the items we’re sorting are the same items Emma and I picked up from producers earlier that day on the Westminster Pick-ups Route. Harlow Farm carrots are piling up on the pallets. Other items have been waiting in inventory in the warehouse, like the Basin Farm potatoes.
Once we’ve pulled and sorted all the items, it’s time for the final and most complicated step in the process—staging.
Deliveries are staged on pallets, organized by which route and, therefore, which vehicle the team will load them into.
A pallet of sorted produce in Cooler 1.
Staging is a bit counterintuitive if, like me, you’ve never thought about the logistics of unloading a delivery truck before. Raymond attempts to explain the logic of how we stage at Food Connects, and I do my best to follow.
“We actually sort in the opposite order of the delivery list so that the last stops will be in the very front of the truck, and the first stops will be in the back. It makes it easier for the drivers to unload.”
A pallet of staged products ready to be loaded onto a delivery truck.
So, each pallet is organized in the opposite order that deliveries will be unloaded. Each pallet has a clipboard with an invoice placed on top, so drivers know what they’re looking at when they pick up the pallets in the morning. The organization gets quite detailed here. Raymond fills out a form with information about which deliveries are on the left or right side of the pallet to make it easier for drivers to find them once they’re loaded into the truck. Most vehicles will have multiple pallets, so he writes numbers on the invoices that indicate where to pack each pallet in the truck.
What Raymond and his teammates do in the warehouse is all about making it as easy as possible for the next person in the process to shepherd our food towards its final destination successfully.
At the end of my time shadowing Raymond, I’ve concluded that the warehouse is where a lot of the hidden food distribution magic happens. Most people in our supply chain won’t ever see inside this process, but the efficiency and accuracy of our deliveries are all dependent on diligent and transparent warehouse operations. Moreover, the warehouse is where our food has a home until it’s ready to be delivered. The warehouse team keeps our food in fresh and delicious condition and ensures only safe, high-quality food ends up in our delivery trucks.
I’ve had an eye-opening look into the Food Connects Food Hub’s daily operations, with still more to come! Next week, I’m driving with Tracy Lake on our Monadnock Delivery Route, where I’ll see how our local and regional food finally makes it to our customers.
A Day in the Life at the Food Connects Food Hub - Part I: Pickups
By Kristen Thompson
Stops on this late March Food Hub pick-ups route.
Emma Bliss, Food Hub Operations Coordinator and sometimes driver for Food Connects, already has Food Hub Van 2 packed when I arrive. I hop into the van, and Emma sets up her music.
“Music is essential,” she tells me.
We’re driving on the Food Connects Westminster Pick-up Route in late March. Emma tells me March and April are the hunger months—when the storage crops are running low, and spring produce isn’t ready to harvest yet. We’re stopping at Harlow Farm today—an especially important producer this time of year because they grow many storage crops. We’ll also be picking up from True North Granola, FinAllie Ferments, Basin Farm, and Green Mountain Orchards. This is one of our shorter pick-up routes, but in the summer, with more fresh produce in season, this route will be much busier with stops at farms like Allen Brothers.
(Left to right) Food Hub Operations Coordinator Emma Bliss and Marketing Coordinator Kristen Thompson are your guides on this “day in the life” doing pickups for the Food Connects Food Hub.
We pull out of the parking lot at Browne Court and head towards downtown Brattleboro. Our first stop is The Cotton Mill, home to several start-ups and small producers, including True North Granola. As we drive through downtown Brattleboro, I ask Emma about the Food Hub’s business model as an entrepreneurial non-profit.
“We really prioritize the farmers and producers,” she explains.
In 2021, Food Connects returned over $1,270,000 back to farmers and food producers in our community.
At The Cotton Mill, we park the van by the main loading dock and head inside. Across from Tavernier Chocolates, we find the door to Truth North Granola’s facility and knock. One of the True North Granola Team members brings our order out to us. We can carry this week’s order in one trip, but orders vary from week to week.
We thank them and head out to the van, where it’s starting to drizzle.
Emma drives Food Hub Van 2 through downtown Brattleboro.
Back on the road, I ask Emma whether there are ever any deliveries on this route. We do have a Westminster delivery route, but as Emma explains, “it’s logistically complicated to do pick-ups and deliveries together, so we try to do them separately.” Some farms, such as Scott Farm, are on our delivery and pickup routes, Emma tells me. It’s exciting to see partners participating as both producers and customers in our food system network.
This route usually has many Just-In-Time pickups, meaning we pick up fresh produce to fill customer orders we received that week—saving on food waste and ensuring fresher produce for our customers. Food Hub employees have told me, “It’s more work, but it’s worth it to provide the freshest, highest quality produce for our customers.”
Our next stop, FinAllie Ferments, takes us up 91 North to Bellows Falls.
As we pass through downtown Bellows Falls, Emma points out the opera house, where you can get a great deal on movies and snacks, and the thrift shop she likes.
Emma picks up our FinAllie Ferments order.
“If you ever want to plan a day trip in the area, I can give you a full itinerary,” she tells me. Emma grew up in Southern VT, making this tour an introduction to Food Hub pick-ups and the region Food Connects calls home.
As we pass the Bellows Falls Middle School, we start talking about the Windham Northeast Supervisory Union and Farm to School (FTS). FTS is where Food Connects began, and it continues to be a core component of our work, including in our Food Hub.
“Bellows Falls Middle School is a big delivery for us, and they also did a summer food box program for students. It’s really important for students to have proper nutrition. I think people are starting to acknowledge that more than when we were students.”
We arrive at the warehouse where we pick up FinAllie Ferments, and Emma looks up the code to enter the building. We stack the many boxes of Curry Kraut, Black Garlic Kimchi, and more onto the handcart we’ve taken out of the van—where it usually sits seatbelted against the wall.
Part of the art of pick-ups is keeping the products organized by flavor so the team can easily organize the boxes when we arrive back at the warehouse. We put flavors of the same type in stacks together at the front of the van.
Emma picks up our FinAllie Ferments order.
Behind those, we’ll be loading our Just In Time orders from Basin and Harlow Farms. Those pickups take us to Harlow’s barn-turned-warehouse in Westminster, VT. Harlow is holding both our orders from them and Basin. It’s one of those simple but inspiring examples of cooperation among our partners.
Before pulling up to the loading dock, Emma stops the van and gets out to open the back doors. Then we back the rest of the way up to the dock and splash through the muddy road to the barn's side door. We’re the only ones there, but Emma knows the routine. We open two sliding doors and use a pallet lift to carry our pallet of carrots and potatoes to the van.
Emma tells me about the benefits of partnerships with our comparatively larger producers like Harlow.
“They’re a very key central producer for us, making up a lot of our produce for the whole season,” Emma explains, “And they’re glad to have someone distributing locally so they can sell their products locally.”
As we approach Green Mountain Orchards, Emma lets me in on a secret—they have the best cider doughnuts and the nicest people of all time.
Emma brings our Green Mountain Orchards order to the van.
When we arrive, I meet Andrea Darrow, Co-Owner of Green Mountain Orchards, who steps off her elliptical to greet me. She tells us about all the delicious food that people like to come into their store for, which is also, in some ways, a museum—with old cars and farm equipment displayed around the room.
On the road home, we pass one of our customers, the Putney Food Co-op, and Emma offers to stop to pick up snacks. Riding along with Emma on her route, I feel just how close-knit our network of producers and customers is.
Emma says she hears good feedback from the customers she meets.
“The feedback is that we’re very communicative and friendly at all levels [of the organization].”
There’s one more stop today, the Food Connects loading dock, where we’ll see our pick-ups safely to the warehouse. More of the Food Hub Team is ready to help us when we arrive. Scott Berzofsky, Food Hub Warehouse Coordinator, and Raymond Johnston, Food Hub Warehouse Specialist, carry pallets over and begin unloading the van with Emma.
Emma and Scott Berzofsky, Food Hub Warehouse Coordinator, unload Van 2 at the Food Connects Food Hub loading dock.
I’m at the end of my trip shadowing Emma on the Westminster Pick-up Route, and there’s a lot to take in. Even though Emma drives these routes alone, I’m struck by the connections she facilitates and participates in within our community food system. It truly takes the whole team of customers, producers, drivers, warehouse coordinators, and more to build this system of healthy families, thriving farms, and connected communities.
But my day isn’t over. Next, I’ll be shadowing Raymond in the Food Hub warehouse and learning about yet another crucial piece of the local and regional food distribution puzzle. But for now, it’s time for my lunch break. Stay tuned for more!
Food Hub Special Schedule: May-June 2022
We've created a special summer order and delivery schedule to accommodate Food Hub holiday closures. Download the schedule below!
2022 Food Connects Food Hub Summer Holiday Schedule
Monday, May 30: Monday deliveries will proceed as usual. The Food Hub office will be closed.
Tuesday, May 31 - Friday, June 3: The Food Hub office will be closed, and there will be no deliveries.
Monday, June 6: There will be no Monday deliveries. The Food Hub office will be open.
Pre-orders/Special Orders:
* Bread Orders: Bread orders will be due by 11:00 AM on Friday, June 3, for the week of June 6, as usual.
* Cheese Special Orders: Cheese special orders will be due by 11:00 AM Monday, May 23, for delivery the week of June 6. Bell & Goose cheeses will not be available for this order cycle.
Questions?
Contact Sales@FoodConnects.org
Food Hub Special Schedule: November-December 2021
To accommodate holidays and Food Hub holiday closures, we have created a special November and December Order and Delivery Schedule. This includes an added route to Burlington and Montpelier and special cheese orders! Download the schedule below!
2021 Food Connects Food Hub December Schedule
Monday customers, see schedule below.
DECEMBER:
Friday 12/24 - Friday 12/31: CLOSED, no deliveries.
But how does this change the special cheese orders?
Orders due Monday, 12/13 for delivery week of 12/20
Plan ahead for Christmas & New Year’s Cheese Platters!
Orders due Monday, 1/3 for delivery week of 1/10
What about bread?
Bread orders are due by Friday, 12/17 for delivery on Wednesday, 1/5/2022, and Thursday, 1/6/2022.
MONDAY CUSTOMERS
DECEMBER:
Wednesday 12/22: Orders due for Monday, 1/3/2022 delivery.
Friday 12/24 - Friday 12/31: FOOD HUB CLOSED.
Monday 12/27: No deliveries this week.
Monday, 1/3/2022: Only inventoried products are available for delivery—check with your sales representative.
Questions?
Contact sales@foodonnects.org.
2021 Food Connects Food Hub November Schedule
Monday customers, see schedule below.
NOVEMBER:
Wednesday, 11/17: Orders due early for Thanksgiving week deliveries.
Monday, 11/22: Special delivery day to replace Wednesday, 11/24.
Tuesday, 11/23: Special delivery day to replace Thursday, 11/25.
Wednesday, 11/24-Friday 11/26: CLOSED, no deliveries.
MONDAY CUSTOMERS
NOVEMBER:
Wednesday, 11/17: Orders due for BOTH Monday, 11/22, and Monday 11/29.
Wednesday, 11/24 - Friday 11/26: FOOD HUB CLOSED.
Monday, 11/29: Only inventoried products are available for delivery—check with your sales representative.
Meet Our New Food Hub Warehouse Specialist—Raymond Johnston
Food Connects is excited to welcome Raymond Johnston to the Food Hub team as Food Connects’ Warehouse Specialist. Though not on the road often, Raymond will play a key role in distribution for our Food Hub. In this new position, Raymond will work to increase efficiencies in our Food Hub’s warehouse, maintain and oversee systems and regulatory compliance, and take on the daunting tasks of inventory management.
Raymond joined the Food Connects team in late July and has spent years in the food industry, primarily in warehouse distribution.
Meet Raymond today!
What interested you most about Food Connects and why are you excited to start working here?
What interested me most about Food Connects is its strong and growing presence as a key player in the supply chain of New England’s local food system. I am excited to start working at Food Connects to leverage my corporate sales experience and passion for philanthropy and community service to drive sustained growth and distribution of the Food Hub.
What sparked your interest in Food Connects and why are you excited to be here?
My partner let me know there was an opening and I was eager to apply. I had been aware of Food Connects having utilized the Food Hub myself in the past and was excited to be part of an organization making a positive change.
Why is the local food movement important to you?
I think it's important for people, in general, to know where their food comes from, and to at least think about how it gets to them. The less stuff in general, but perhaps food especially, we ship long distances across the country or around the planet the better we'll all be.
What do you see for the future of Food Connects and what you will do here? What are your hopes and dreams for this position?
I would love for organizations like Food Connects to become more and more about how food gets distributed, instead of long-distance distribution across the continent. My hope is to make the Food Hub as efficient and streamlined as possible so we can serve larger orders and customers seamlessly in order to make that a reality in our local market
How will your previous food systems work impact your work at Food Connects?
I'm hoping my knowledge of how larger operations work will help me realize the steps we need to take to scale up the Food Hub without impacting the great service we provide. I'll also be keeping in mind the frustrations and inefficiencies of the larger distributors I've worked for in order to make sure we don't fall into those same pitfalls.
How do you spend your time outside of work?
I like to spend my time outdoors, usually relaxing but oftentimes doing some of the never-ending upkeep on our small chicken coop. I always enjoy hiking in whatever woods I can find which previous positions I've held didn't really allow the time or energy for so that's something else positive which may come from this position! Most of my free time is definitely spent around the home though with my family.
What is your favorite or least favorite food?
My favorite food is lasagna, and I'll eat almost anything, so it's kind of hard to think of a least favorite.
If you could trade places with anyone for a day, who would you choose?
Joe Biden—but only to try and executive order some decent policies into place given the chance, not really a position I'd get gratification from experiencing. For that I'd probably pick someone from a different culture entirely, as different from me as possible, but probably no-one famous or known. Guess I'd spin a wheel!
What is an experience you've always wanted to try?
Spinning that "trade places" wheel sounds pretty appealing right now
2021 Summer Schedule
To accommodate for holidays and a Food Hub summer break, we have created a special Summer Order and Delivery Schedule. This includes an added route to Burlington and Montpelier and special cheese orders! Download the schedule below!
MAY & JUNE:
Monday, 5/17: Orders due early for Friday, May 21 delivery
Monday, 5/31 - Fri. 6/4: CLOSED all week, no deliveries
JULY:
Thursday, 7/1: Bread orders due a day early for delivery on Wednesday, 7/7 & Thursday, 7/8
Friday, 7/2: CLOSED, no deliveries
But how does this change the special cheese orders?
Orders due Monday, 5/17 for delivery Wednesday, 5/26 & Thursday, 5/27
Orders due Monday, 6/7 for delivery Wednesday, 6/16 & Thursday, 6/17
Orders due Monday, 6/21 for delivery Wednesday, 6/30 & Thursday, 7/1
When will I get my Montpelier/Burlington deliveries?
NO delivery Memorial Day
Order by Wednesday, 5/26 for special delivery on Friday, 5/28
Monday, 6/14: Deliveries start every Monday!
Questions?
Contact Sales@FoodConnects.org or Orders@FoodConnects.org
Growing Up, Up, and Up
Between a 1,000 square foot cooler and freezer and a smaller 300 square foot cooler, it would be safe to assume we have enough space for all the delicious food we can get. Nope! We’re excited to share that our storage space for cold and frozen regionally-produced foods is expanding. But this time, we’re growing up—vertically, we mean!
This May, after months of planning, Food Connects is installing pallet racking in our cooler to increase its storage capacity.
In December of 2019, we unveiled a community-funded 1,000 square foot cooler and freezer. We knew this space would allow us to provide our wholesale customers with a wider variety of locally-produced foods and increase our capacity to build market channels for more producers in our region. Little did we know that this space was preparing us for tremendous growth in response to a global pandemic.
In 2020, we saw our revenue double during the pandemic, hitting over $1 million in sales of regionally produced foods. As more community members turned to local co-ops and farm stores to get their food, those wholesale customers turned to us. Our coolers allowed us to bring on more producers and increase the quantity of each product.
Even in this ample space, our cooler can get cramped. In advance of our busiest season—late spring to early fall—we're expanding up with pallet racking in our cooler and freezer. We will have 19 new pallet spaces after the project is complete, meaning a lot more regionally produced foods! The pallet racking will allow us to utilize the unused vertical space in the cooler, expand our storage capacity, and prepare our Food Hub for continued growth.
This pallet racking and improvements to our Food Hub was made possible, in part, by a generous grant from the You Have Our Trust Fund of the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation. In addition to our pallet racking, Harley Sterling and the Farm to School Cafe generously donated shelving for our dry storage space to increase organization and capacity.
We are thrilled that more and more community members are turning towards local food. As we do our best to prepare for the future and our continued growth, we look forward to the challenges that lie ahead, watching our local food economy grow, and, of course, all that delicious food!
On the Road: 2021
Who says deliveries in winter can’t be fun and beautiful! Check out some great photos of our crew on the road in the past couple of months.
Meet Our New Food Hub Local Food Institutional Sales Associate—Tom Brewton
Food Connects is excited to welcome Tom Brewton to the Food Hub team as Food Connects’ first Local Food Institutional Sales Associate. In this new position, Tom will work to help Food Connects better serve institutions in our area—including K-12 schools, colleges, universities, and healthcare facilities—in their goals to increase purchasing of local and regional foods.
Tom joined the Food Connects team in mid-January and previously worked at the largest grocery wholesaler in the U.S, C&S Wholesale Grocers. Tom is excited to make the shift to focus on New England’s regional food system.
What interested you most about Food Connects and why are you excited to start working here?
What interested me most about Food Connects is its strong and growing presence as a key player in the supply chain of New England’s local food system. I am excited to start working at Food Connects to leverage my corporate sales experience and passion for philanthropy and community service to drive sustained growth and distribution of the Food Hub.
Why is the local food movement important to you?
In my role as the Local Food Institutional Sales Associate, I will have the opportunity to directly impact the health and wellbeing of our youth by increasing the distribution of New England’s local produce into our schools. I grew up in inner-city Pittsburgh, PA, and attended an underfunded public high school. While I was fortunate to come from a stable household, I understood that some of my peers didn’t have the means to access healthy foods. My background is what will fuel me to work hard in contributing to a more just food system.
What do you see for the future of Food Connects and what you will do here?
I am eager to first access the wealth of knowledge from my colleagues in regards to our existing customer relationships and then work with them to sell the mission and services of the Food Hub to new customers. It’s exciting to join Food Connects during a season of significant growth. I’m looking forward to doing my part in enabling Food Connects to achieve its sales targets! As Food Connects continues to expand its customer base, I am looking forward to strategizing with my colleagues on ways to sustain its growth while living with our values as an organization.
How will your other food industry experience impact your work at Food Connects?
Previous to Food Connects, I worked for the largest wholesale grocery company in the United States, C&S Wholesale Grocers, where I managed relationships with more than 100 manufacturers. I look forward to using my technical and interpersonal skills I learned in my previous role to promote the Food Hub.
How do you spend your time outside of work?
I enjoy making pottery and hope to be selling my work in the near future! I also enjoy all things outdoors including cliff jumping, hiking, camping, and skiing. Once a vaccine is publicly distributed, I look forward to participating in local theatre again!
What is your favorite or least favorite food?
It’s hard to pick, but one of my favorite foods is tacos from Three Stones.
If you were stuck on a desert island, what book would you bring with you?
The entire Harry Potter series.
What’s the best single day on the calendar?
The day I got married to my beautiful, talented wife, Carissa, July 21st.
Meet Our New Food Hub Local Food Procurement Coordinator—David Paysnick
Food Connects is excited to welcome David Paysnick to our team as the Food Hub Local Food Procurement Coordinator. This new position will serve farms and food producers in our region, working to increase community access to their products through our food distribution networks.
David joined the team at Food Connects with 25 years of experience in a variety of food-related occupations. Most recently, David operated Rainbow Harvest Farm in Greenfield, MA, producing organically grown vegetables, herbs, nursery plants, fig-trees, and specialty food products for sale at Western Massachusetts farmers’ markets. David also managed the produce departments at the two Franklin Community Co-op markets in Greenfield and Shelburne Falls, where he then served on the Board of Directors, including 2 years as President.
What interested you most about Food Connects and why are you excited to start working here?
So many reasons! I’ve been feeding people my whole life, starting with volunteering at a Soup Kitchen in Springfield, MA to working in restaurants, food co-ops, and 20 years of organic farming. Improving food access and creating equity in food systems have been some of the passions that have driven my work over the past many years. When I learned about the goals and programs at Food Connects, it seemed like a perfect fit. I’m thrilled to see the successes of the Farm to School program and excited to be working with so many highly motivated people working to create positive change in the world.
Why is the local food movement important to you?
At the most basic level, the local food movement is important to me because I like to know where my food comes from. I also want it to be fresh and minimally processed. I believe that access to fresh food should be a right and not a privilege. If we outsource our food production, that goal becomes significantly harder to achieve. Local farms are far more likely to donate to our local food banks than those 3000 miles away.
Beyond that, the local food movement provides economic, environmental, and social benefits for those that embrace it. Supporting the local food movement leads to more local jobs, more food dollars recirculating within the region, increased food security, and fresher, safer, more nutritious food. It also helps to preserve farmland and genetic biodiversity while reducing emissions as compared to transporting food across great distances. Farmers who direct market and sell their food locally are more likely to use more environmentally sound production practices, which benefits our soil, waterways, neighbors, and those who consume their goods. The local food movement supports the many interwoven relationships between our farms, families, institutions, and natural resources and aims to strengthen those relationships for the benefit of all.
What do you see for the future of FC and what you will do here? What are your hopes/dreams for this position?
While what we do is a bit more complex, from a practical standpoint the role of the food hub is to support our regional farmers by providing a sales outlet for their products and support the people of our tri-state region in providing fresh, nutritious local food to local markets and institutions. As the Local Food Procurement Coordinator, my goals are to be able to support any and all producers who wish to get involved with the food hub. Whether they are a small farm or business with no wholesale experience, or a veteran farmer looking to expand their markets, I hope to be able to provide the logistical support needed to make partnering with Food Connects a mutually beneficial relationship. My ultimate goal would be that Food Connects is able to help all of our producers ensure that no food goes to waste and all farm products find a good home!
How will your farming and other food industry experience impact your work at Food Connects?
My food industry experience provides a background that enables me to have a greater understanding of the needs and perspectives of both our producers and our customers. Understanding their needs enables me to work towards serving our partners with greater efficiency and compassion.
I’ve been growing organic vegetables for farmers’ markets and local wholesale for nearly 20 years, and have also spent 7 years working in retail food co-op produce departments. As the produce manager for Franklin Community Cooperative, I found my farming experience to be invaluable in working with our growers and understanding their needs and how to best serve them. I have also spent time working as a wholesale bread baker and restaurant cook, as well as numerous other production and retail food positions from grocery stocker to ice cream maker to running a community farm.
How do you spend your time outside of work?
Growing food, cooking, eating, and outdoor activity tend to be my top priorities. I love to take daily walks with my fiancé, Melinda, as well as kayak, hike, and travel to the beach. I love to cook with my teenage daughter, Aliza, and visit our favorite spot, the family lake house on Newfound Lake in New Hampshire. When I’m home, I can often be found under my cat, who is clearly the Alpha of the household.
What is your favorite or least favorite food?
I can’t say I have a favorite food, it’s too hard to choose, can I list 20 or 30? Least favorite? That’s easier, probably carob, anything that pretends to be chocolate is just plain evil. It should probably come with a big red warning to keep people from utter disappointment when they have an expectation for the magical flavor of chocolate.
If you wrote a book, what would you title it and why?
Ha! I’ll spend too much time writing and rewriting every paragraph trying to perfect each sentence that I’ll never get to the final step of titling it.
Do you have a hidden talent? What is it?
Observation. For better or worse, I notice things all around me on a daily basis that the people I’m with never seem to notice.
Growing Markets for Local Dairy
We all know that farming isn’t easy and COVID-19 hasn’t made it any easier—particularly for dairy farmers.
In January of 2020, the VT Agency of Agriculture announced that the state lost 48 dairy farms in 2019. And those that have survived faced the demand for milk plummeting in the early parts of the shutdown, forcing them to dump milk.
“Cows produce milk every single day,” says Leigh Harding, National Account Manager at Jasper Hill Farm, a world leader in artisan cheesemaking based in Greensboro, VT. “And many dairy farms only have one option: to sell their fluid milk directly to the low-paying open market, where the fluid milk price fluctuates drastically daily and is out of their control. It is almost impossible to be a small, independent dairy farmer, selling high-quality fluid milk, and to make a profitable living for yourself and family.”
One way for farmers to avoid dumping milk is to create “value-added products”—cheese, pudding, yogurt, ice cream, etc. Cheese stores longer than liquid milk so can be a good alternative way for farmers to earn back some income. But the cheese industry isn’t safe either—the shutdown of restaurants and schools effectively dried up their markets.
“An integral part of our mission at Jasper Hill Farm is to offer an alternative option,” says Leigh. “We purchase milk from within our local radius at a substantially higher price all year round, taking this milk and turning into superior, award-winning cheese. Every piece of cheese purchased and consumed contributes to that option for family farmers—it is powerful! This commitment to quality incentivizes farmers to participate in sustainable practices that promote herd health and land preservation. The more sustainable livelihood for the farmers means that families can continue to make a living wage, they then spend money locally to boost economic viability, children stay in the area to continue the legacy and raise families who go to school locally and so on and so on. It is a beautiful (and delicious) circle!”
Part of the Food Connects mission is to support and fortify Thriving Farms. While we have not yet begun to sell fluid milk, there is one thing we do sell a lot of—cheese. In mid-2020 we released our Food Connects Cheese Catalog as a way to help promote and grow the dairy industry in the state. The catalog features 7 Vermont cheese producers, small and large, and over 50 different types of cheeses.
“Food Connects has been able to bring locally-made cheeses to a variety of customers who weren’t being served by traditional distributors, including small farm stands and our regional food hub partners,” said Food Hub Sales Associate Beth Lewand. “Our customers’ appetite is certainly strong for delicious, hand-crafted cheeses, and we’ve delivered nearly $34k worth of cheese since launching the catalog in August and $72.1k overall in 2020, $30k of which was from Grafton Village Cheese, here in Brattleboro, VT.”