Industry
Three regional food hubs from USDA's 2012 case studies, and how to read them
Red Tomato, La Montanita and the Oklahoma Food Cooperative, as described in USDA's 2012 food distribution case material, what each one did, and how to read a dated case study before relying on its numbers.
What to take away
- Three regional food hubs are named in USDA case material from 2012: Red Tomato, La Montanita and the Oklahoma Food Cooperative.
- The 2012 figures describe the study period, not today. Use them to understand how each hub was built, and check current numbers with the hub itself.
- A usable case study names the organization, its location, its study dates, its funding and its sample.
- Read two case studies from the same series. The differences between them teach more than either one alone.
The three hubs in the 2012 USDA material
The source is the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service report Moving Food Along the Value Chain: Innovations in Regional Food Distribution, published in March 2012. It covers eight case studies, and three of them are the hubs named here. Its four cross-cutting themes are the timing of infrastructure investment, marketing for distinctive products, the value of informal producer networks and strategic partnerships.
La Montanita is a cooperative based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Its Regional Foodshed Initiative was established in 2007 to buy sustainably grown regional products for the co-op's four stores and to help producers reach other wholesale markets. The report says the co-op planned to invest $150,000 of member contributions over three years to set up the initiative, and that initial capital expenditures were roughly $100,000.
Red Tomato is a nonprofit marketing and distribution company based in Canton, Massachusetts. The case material classifies it as nonprofit-driven. It arranges aggregation, transportation and sales of produce from 35 to 40 farmers to grocery stores and distributors in the Northeast. Its chapter is the place to read how a nonprofit model handles grower relationships and pricing, which differs from a co-op that is owned by its shoppers.
The Oklahoma Food Cooperative is classified in the same material as a consumer-driven model. The chapter describes how the cooperative connects its consumers and producers. Read it for how a consumer-driven structure handles supply and demand.
These are real organizations, and the descriptions are dated. A hub's size, product range and suppliers change over time. Read the 2012 chapters for how each hub was organized, then check its current position against its own sources.
Reported hub figures, 2012
- $2.5M | Wild Oats Market annual sales
- 40 | Wild Oats producer suppliers
- $8M | Co-op Partners Warehouse sales
- 250 | Co-op Partners growers
Do not reuse a 2012 figure as a current one. A figure is useful only with its date and its source attached.
What a usable case study contains
A hub case study is only as useful as its details. The table below lists what to look for before trusting a case study's numbers.
Element / Why it matters
- Named organization and location
- Lets you check what happened next
- Dates of the study period
- Tells you how stale the numbers are
- Funding source
- Tells you who wanted the question answered
- Stated sample size
- Separates a case from a claim about a sector
- Lessons the authors did not expect
- The most reliable part of any report
Funding is not a reason to dismiss a study. It tells you what question the study set out to answer, and that shapes what it measured.
What a usable case study contains
- Named organization and location
- Dates of the study period
- Funding source
- Stated sample size
- Lessons the authors did not expect
Comparing two of the three hubs
A useful exercise is to set two of the hubs side by side. Compare La Montanita, a cooperative that supplies its own stores, with Red Tomato, a nonprofit that markets growers' produce. Ask who owns the hub, who sets the price to the grower, and who carries the cost of a truck or a warehouse.
Keep the comparison to the questions the 2012 material answers. Where the chapter does not state a figure, leave the cell blank rather than estimate it.
Where to find current numbers
For a hub's present size, start with its own annual report, its published filings if it files any, or its own product and supplier listings. USDA's local food marketing surveys report local food sales in aggregate, by state and nationally, not per hub. They are useful for context but cannot stand in for a hub's own figures.
When no current figure exists, build the arithmetic yourself. Multiply the number of suppliers by the average value of what each supplies and by the number of times the hub turns that stock in a year. Label every input as your own estimate, and say where each estimate came from.
How much of one case transfers
A case study is one organization in one place at one time. Check whether the named business still operates, because a closed business is context you need before copying anything from its report. Then take what transfers, which is usually the shape of the problem rather than the specific solution.
A distribution arrangement that works in a region with many producers will not automatically work in one with few. Compare the local supply base before deciding whether a model transfers.
Common questions
Are old case studies worth reading?
Yes, for structure and for lessons. Not for current figures.
Why does funding matter?
It shows what question the study was built to answer. It is not, by itself, a reason to distrust the findings.
Where else are these published?
USDA and university extension services publish case material, often free of charge. Search by agency and sector rather than by the words "case study".
Can I trust a company's own case study?
As a description of what the company did, often yes. As evidence that it worked, less so, because the company chose which numbers to include. Look for whether an independent party measured the same thing.
Which hub should I read first?
Start with La Montanita's chapter, because the 2012 report gives it the most concrete figures. Then read the Red Tomato chapter to compare a nonprofit model.
