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Expanding Access to Local Food

Expanding Access to Local Food

Program: Dow Sustainability Fellows Program
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Photo by Alexandr Podvalny on Unsplash

(Dow Fellows Program 2013)

The Washtenaw Food Hub is preparing to enter the market for aggregation and distribution services in the local community. In order to understand the level of demand from large-scale consumers of produce in the Ann Arbor area, the Dow Sustainability Fellows team surveyed local restaurants, institutions, and grocery stores. This report aims to provide external readers with an overview of the collaboration between the Food Hub and the Dow Sustainability Fellows team; the methods used, and the lessons learned. Second, and more importantly, the report seeks to provide insight for the Washtenaw Food Hub as to the demand landscape in Ann Arbor. Insights range from recommendations on specific operational matters to priority areas—for example, the best target customer group— for further consideration. This information will hopefully help guide the Food Hub’s efforts when it opens for operation in early 2014. To fulfill these aims, the report is structured as follows: 1) Introduction to the background and purpose of the collaboration and survey; 2) Methodology used to develop and collect survey results, as well as suggestions for improving survey implementation in the future; 3) Discussion of basic operations and product preferences findings; 4) Characterization and analysis of distinct buyer groups, 5) Final recommendations; 6) Concluding thoughts