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News
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FoodHub first anniversary marked by success
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2/2/2011
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Article Content Suggested lead
An online marketplace for buyers and sellers of local agriculture is celebrating its first anniversary with a year of success under its belt and plans to expand:
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Audio 01
The FoodHub website is a virtual wholesale experience, acting like a Craigslist of local foods. After one year, things are looking pretty good:
ROTH: "FoodHub has continued to capture the interest of many in the community, both those who are food producers and food buyers, as we thought it would." :10
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Audio 02
Gary Roth of the Oregon Department of Agriculture says FoodHub is being effectively used by both small and large producers while catering to a diverse set of buyers ranging from food processors and farmers' markets to chefs and schools. Deborah Kane of Ecotrust, the primary organization that developed FoodHub, says what is needed in year two is an increase in active membership:
KANE: "In this first year, we've absolutely proven that the model works, that the tool works. I think the area where we fell short of our oh so lofty goals in the beginning was in just sheer numbers." :13
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With about 800 members currently, Kane is hoping to bring in more people to create more connections between local food buyer and seller. So for the next three months, FoodHub membership will be free and other changes will be made to the site in order to create a larger critical mass that will make the online tool even more effective for Pacific Northwest agriculture. In Salem, I'm Bruce Pokarney.
Additional audio: Audio 03
ROTH says FoodHub is one of many effective tools in successfully marketing locally grown foods:
"Our very sincere wish here is that FoodHub, be it on its own or in cooperation with other entities or tools, can help get more wonderful Oregon products in the hands of Oregon consumers here locally." :14
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Additional audio: Audio 04
KANE says the free membership to FoodHub over the next three months is designed to increase membership to a level that can serve the Pacific Northwest's regional agriculture:
"The degree to which it can, at that point, become a regional trading hub- not an Oregon one, not a Washington one, but a regional one- I think it's going to be very interesting to watch." :12
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Full story
http://oregon.gov/ODA/news/110202foodhub.shtml |
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