Regional Food Hub Meeting Wednesday

Help Plan the First Northern Illinois Regional Food Hub

Consumers, wholesale buyers, food distributors, restaurateurs, producers, farmers, businesses, food providers, and others interested in planning for the first Northern Illinois Regional Food Hub and Processing Center are encouraged to attend a strategic planning meeting on Wednesday April 29th, 2pm to 4:30pm, in the Blank Slate Room of the DeKalb County Outreach Building, 2500 North Annie Glidden, building “A”.

Andy Larson, of the University of Illinois Extension, will be leading the group of interested persons in a planning exercise to move the project closer to creation. Action steps and a map to the establishment of a regional food hub in DeKalb County will be developed. The food hub and processing center would serve all northern Illinois producers, wholesalers, growers, local food entrepreneurs, food provides, and others.

“We have a great opportunity to connect all of the growers of northern Illinois to the large and growing market in the Chicago area and beyond.” Said Dan Kenney, Executive Director of DeKalb County Community Gardens, and one of the conveners of the Northern Illinois Regional Food Hub Task Force.

Preliminary results from an on-going feasibility study, including possible food hub locations will be shared at the meeting. NIU students have been gathering survey responses from regional growers, as well as regional buyers as part of a feasibility study for the hub.

The hope is for the regional food hub to connect the growers to the north, west, and south to the fast growing market for local food to the east. DeKalb is ideally located for such an effort, being along the I-88 corridor, close to I-39, and on the fringe of the Chicago and collar county markets. The vision is for the food hub to also be a processing center with a large commercial/ community kitchen. The non-marketable produce then could be used for the making of value added products, such as jams, jellies, salsa, etc. The hope is also to have a large freezing section for storage of locally grown product for use in the cafeterias of local schools, residence hall dining facilities, and other large institutions who are also interested in the purchase of locally grown produce. The project could be a good economic stimulus to the county providing jobs, and also opportunity for small business start-ups.

This is an important meeting for all interested stakeholders to come together and begin making connections to move the project forward to the next level. Anyone interested in this project is encouraged to attend.

For questions contact Dan Kenney at 815-793-0950 or dkenney@dekalbgardens.org