This publication is the second in the “Running a Food Hub” series from USDA Rural Development. The report is a business operations guide for food hubs that serves as a companion piece to other United States Department of Agriculture reports on food hubs by providing in-depth guidance on starting and running a food hub enterprise. The report’s main focus is on the operational issues faced by food hubs, including choosing an organizational...

This document represents actions to fill the void of current research on food hub operations and day-to-day lessons learned from those individuals starting and operating food hubs. “Lessons Learned from the Field” reports the findings from in depth interviews with 13 food hub ventures from across the nation. The interviews conducted with each food hub were guided by a list of pre-selected topics that were common to all the interviews, but as...

We created Beyond Barrels & Bottles: A Spirited Guide for On Farm Distilling in conjunction with the Virginia Foundation for Agriculture, Innovation, and Rural Sustainability (VA Fairs) as a resource for those looking to start a craft distillery in Virginia. In the study, we present extensive research and financial modeling to determine the conditions under which a distillery can become commercially viable and profitable. A wide variety of...