How Can Middle-of-the-Chain Organizations Improve Farmer Livelihoods and Reduce Food Insecurity?
2025
Aparna Katre | Brianna Raddatz | Britta Swanson | Taylor Turgeon
In the United States, small and beginning (SB) farmers depend on institutional and elite customers to increase their farm income, whereas food-insecure communities lack alternatives for accessing and utilizing healthy local foods. This study examined two middle-of-the-chain organizations attempting to break the demand- and supply-related barriers faced by food-insecure consumers and SB farmers, respectively. The study suggests that deep engagement on both sides can facilitate the creation of a viable local food pathway. One organization serves as an aggregator for SB farmers while preventing the unrealistic expectations of institutional customers. A second organization activates food-insecure consumers&rsquo: agencies to conceptualize and transform locally sourced food into acceptable forms. It provides the necessary support to ensure the utilization of healthy, nutritious foods. When the two organizations&rsquo: missions are aligned, they can use an emergent, flexible, and adaptable approach with a continuous improvement mindset to increase SB farmer livelihoods and reduce food insecurity. Middle-of-the-chain organizations collectively should have more than one way to make local foods available, accessible, and utilizable by food-insecure consumers. A nonprofit social enterprise model of organizations in the middle seems central to the viability of the community-based food system. The system is still in its early stages. Further research is needed to examine its sustained viability.
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