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PSFN Partners with Local Orbit — a Revolutionary Online Sales Tool for Producers

A few months ago the USDA announced the 2012 Value Added Producer Grant awards. Several farm businesses and organizations in Washington received funding including the Northwest Agriculture Business Center who received $300,000 for Regional Food System Development. With some of this funding, we’ll expand our wholesale market concept this year to further our impact through marketing, increased distribution opportunities, processing and even working with producers and logistical providers to identify efficient decentralized aggregation hubs.

In partnership with Local Orbit, a software service designed to streamline sales between local food buyers and sellers, NABC is in the process of developing and piloting four “virtual food hubs” to scale transactions between farmers and institutional and commercial food service. Producers selling through a NABC hub will have access to smart tools to increase efficiency and profitability, including e-commerce, sales & delivery tracking, and inventory management. Buyers get access to the aggregated supply of local food producers, streamlined purchasing, and a direct, traceable supply chain.

Local Orbit and NABC have worked together to conceptualize four pilot “virtual food hubs” for the Puget Sound Food Network this spring. The first two pilots will launch in May and June respectively, and will first serve PSFN members who participate in the Skagit Wholesale Market and the Farm to Table partnership. The first two pilots include:

North Sound Wholesale Market. This online store will serve select PSFN member buyers and sellers in North counties of San Juan Island, Whatcom, Skagit and Island. The Coho Cafe at United General Hospital has agreed to serve as the first buyer. Chef Chris Johnson will pilot the site and offer feedback about ease of use for institutional foodservice. NABC staff will continue to identify decentralized aggregation and distribution solutions and will gradually work with producers to invite additional buyers and expand business to business (b2b) commerce in the region.

Farm to Table Online Store. This online store was designed to continue the sales relationships formed as a result of PSFN’s involvement in the CPPW grant funded Farm to Table partnership led by City of Seattle Aging and Disability Services. During the new pilot, only participating PSFN member sellers will be invited to list their products for wholesale, and at least four agency partners serving low-income seniors and preschools will be authorized to make purchases during the pilot period.

Local Orbit will be responsible for providing technical support, online transactions and payments. NABC will continue working “on the ground” to recruit and retain sellers and buyers, communicating to sellers regarding inventory queries, identifying opportunities for aggregation and storage and distribution. In essence we’re creating and growing b2b relationships between producers and buyers. NABC provides business development services to producers including product development, business planning, access to financing, and marketing and sales assistance.
Get involved! NABC is currently identifying sellers within PSFN to participate in the two pilots. Local Orbit is leading a discussion on Tuesday, May 8th at 10:00 a.m to learn about their tools. If you are a producer member of PSFN and wish to learn about how the Local Orbit pilot sites will function, please contact us and we will send you a link to the online meeting. We look forward to sharing more about the developing partnership between NABC and Local Orbit. Stay tuned for updates, and for ways you can plug into this emerging marketplace.

Posted by Emma Brewster on May 4th, 2012

NABC Awarded Value-Added Producer Grant Funding from USDA

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Continued from our Spring 2012 newsletter…

So what does this mean? It means we remain firmly committed to providing business planning, technical and marketing assistance to producers, regional food hub developments, and producer owned cooperatives in the Puget Sound region.

We’ll also be evolving our wholesale market concept this year to further our impact through marketing, locating distribution, processing and even working with producers and logistical providers to identify efficient decentralized aggregation hubs. Our new partner, Local Orbit, an Ann Arbor, MI based company is developing four (4) “virtual hub” pilots designed to increase sales transactions between farmers and institutional and commercial food service, including universities, hospitals, restaurants and meal-sites that serve low-income seniors and preschool children in South Seattle/King County and beyond. With Local Orbit handling sales management systems and online transactions, our staff is more focused on what we do best: creating and growing business relationships between producers and buyers who have an interest in increasing local food procurement across categories. Our staff is invested in staying abreast of market trends so that producers of all scales can leverage all opportunities for growth and sustainability.

Later this year, NABC will be relaunching the NABC and PSFN websites, migrating off of PSFN’s online marketing tool launched in 2009. NABC will be integrating its marketing strategies for all projects, including PSFN.

About half of the VAPG grant funding will be to fund overhead costs for Account Management services for dues-paying members including strategic market consulting, sales representation, promotions, technical assistance and value-added product development services.

Ultimately our work helps “level the playing field” for all scales of producers. If farmers have more opportunities to achieve economic sustainability, then farming remains part of our future…not just our history.

While the grant funds cover 50% of PSFN’s existing costs to carry out our mission, we are aggressively seeking corporate sponsors to partner with NABC and join the Puget Sound Food Network. We will be working to ensure that the Network’s impact will grow rather than retrench and we’re excited to move forward with PLAN A!

In summary, this new USDA funding will be used to:

Support value-added marketing for independent producers by providing timely and appropriate technical support.
Implement a new on-line transaction system called PSFN powered by Local Orbit that will allow independent producers to initiate product sales directly to regional buyers.
Support the creation of new regional food hubs owned and operated by independent producers.
Increase the number of institutional meal sites that source value added products direct from local producers.

To learn more, please read our February press release.

Posted by Emma Brewster on April 25th, 2012

Producer Co-ops and Small Farm Meat Processing

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By Guest Contributor Jeff Voltz, NABC Project Manager

Cooperation has provided a successful path for small to mid-size local meat producers to get their product to market. On Wednesday November 30 five members of the North Cascades Meat Producers Cooperative and I traveled from Whatcom County down to Thurston County to watch a USDA inspected mobile slaughter unit in action.

This unit is owned by the Pierce Conservation District and leased by the Puget Sound Meat Producers Cooperative (PSMPC). This is the second USDA mobile unit established in the Puget Sound area as Island Grown Farmers Cooperative (IGFC) built the region’s first unit in 2002. It’s important to recognize the work of Bruce Dunlop, owner of Lopez Island Farm, who was instrumental in IGFC’s start-up and the design of Washington State’s first mobile slaughter unit, as well as his work on the design of the new unit we visited.

Based on U.S consumption data it is estimated that the 201,140 residents consume 12.5M pounds of beef per year. At 500 pounds of yielded meat per cow this would be the equivalent of 25,000 cattle. NABC’s conservative estimate is that no more than 1,200 of these cattle actually come from Whatcom County. There is even a great proportionate spread between pork consumption and the availability of locally grown pork. And the spread grows even wider in more the more densely populated counties of the Puget Sound region.

These USDA inspected mobile units are helping local meat production and community access to locally produced meat make great strides. Dunlop estimates the IGFC unit and cooperative have provided for close to $1M per year in expanded economy for San Juan, Skagit, and Whatcom County producers.

The North Cascades Meat Producers Cooperative, formed in July of this year has created common production standards and a common brand in order to market locally produced meats (currently Skagit and Whatcom Counties) to supermarkets, restaurants, and institutions. The co-op is interested in leasing the Pierce Conservation District/PSMPC mobile unit and bringing it to Whatcom County twice per month. The co-op would also need to ensure adequate post-slaughter processing capacity either through a local provider, or by creating its own processing facility.

North Cascade Meat’s co-op member Matthew Aamot was favorably impressed with the unit. “It should work very well. We think it has the capacity to harvest up to 15 cattle, 30 hogs or 50 sheep per day. And now that we’ve seen its internal layout and how PSMPC’s systems work, we know what we’ll need to do on our end to set up a site and enhance efficiencies.”

Posted by Emma Brewster on December 8th, 2011

Member Training Sessions are off to a Good Start!

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Yesterday, PSFN hosted the first of many PSFN Member Training Sessions. These one-on-one, hour-long meetings are an opportunity for producers, buyers, and service providers alike to meet with your PSFN Account Manager and to ask necessary questions to help move your business forward.

Kai Ottenson of Hedlin Farms meets with his PSFN Account Manager, Ann Leason, and learns how to enhance his PSFN online profile

We’ve developed these trainings because we want to know from YOU, individually, what your business’s specific needs are. How can we work with you to help you reach your goals? Whether it’s one-on-one introductions, mini trade meetings, logistical help, wholesale markets, or brainstorming ideas for where you want to expand customer base, we want to discuss all the ways your PSFN membership can connect you with the local buyers, producers, or infrastructure you need.

Yesterday’s training in Skagit County (held at NABC’s offices in Mount Vernon) was busy – we had a totally booked day! Members came with great questions and open minds. I think, together, we came up with a lot of good ideas and connections. A big thanks to Ann Leason, our Operations Manager, for facilitating every single session!

Kai and Ann brainstorm and discuss alternative strategies for gaining additional CSA members for Hedlin's upcoming season

As a member, you’re incredibly valuable to us as partners in the local food economy and as friends. What can we do for you to make your membership more valuable to you? Book your one-on-one session today and receive individualized assistance on the best ways to utilize your annual membership to build your business:

Upcoming Training Dates Contact Ann Leason to RSVP or for more info: ann@psfn.org / 360-336-3666

March 23rd – King County*
2100 Building: 2100 24th Avenue South, Seattle
1-hour appointments available 8 AM – 5 PM
*A special opportunity for King County training attendees: the training will be taking place simultaneously and in the same building as, a Farm to Table Kick-off event for King County Childcare providers. This is a great opportunity to meet a large group of buyers who will begin placing orders shortly!

April 6th – Snohomish County
Snohomish County Extension Office: 600 128th Street SE, Everett
1-hour appointments available 8 AM – 5 PM

Whatcom County
RESCHEDULED – TBA

May 4th – Island County
Coupeville Public Library: 788 NW Alexander St. Coupeville
1-hour appointments available 8 AM – 5 PM

Contact Ann Leason to RSVP or for more information: ann@psfn.org / 360-336-3666

Posted by Emma Brewster on March 8th, 2011

Photo Galleries in Profiles

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Now on PSFN, all members have the ability to add photos to their accounts. This is perfect for those hoping to familiarize potential partners with your brand, your business or your products.

Those who view your member profile listing will be able to dynamically scroll through and abundance of colorful images, easily updated and maintained.

In order to make this technology possible, we’ve teamed up with Flickr to create the easiest experience. By following these simple steps, you’ll have a photo gallery up in no time.

Step 1: Go to flickr.com and create an account. Signing up for Flickr is completely free.

Step 2: Set your photostream ID by going to “You” in the navigation, and then to “Your Account”. In “Your Account” scroll down to “Screen Name” and create a unique Screen Name for your photos.

Step 3: Upload photos to your account by going back to “You” and then “Upload photos and video”. This is where you’ll upload photos in the future.

Step 4: Sign into your PSFN account and click “Edit Info”

Step 5: Scroll down to where it says Flickr, enter your unique Flickr Screen Name, save and you’re done!

Your photos will now appear in your PSFN profile listing.

Posted by Elliot on February 11th, 2010

Focus on Farming Photo Gallery

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Thusday’s Focus on Farming was a riveting success for PSFN. We had a booth set up with the website running and staff on hand to take questions and help people sign up. Tim also put on a powerpoint presentation later in the day. All was well received and we’re proud to welcome more members into the PSFN community.

In the gallery below, you’ll find photos from this year’s event.

Focus on Farming

11 Photos

Posted by Elliot on November 9th, 2009

PSFN goes live!

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After many months of development, the Puget Sound Food Network has officially launched at PSFN.org. Our official launch takes place at Focus on Farming VI conference in Tulalip, WA. NABC staff along with PSFN project coordinators will be on hand to showcase the new tool with live demos at the NABC trade show booth. If you are able to attend the conference make sure to stop by the booth for a demo. PSFN will present a Powerpoint presentation at 2:30pm

One of the PSFN primary features is to provide a forum for producers to easily locate processing opportunities that exist. This will enable regional producers to meet the increasing demand for locally produced food. With a simple area search producers will be able to locate commercial kitchens, cold storage, and miscellaneous processing programs. Examples of this include cooler space that is available for long-term rent/lease at Mike & Jeans Berry Farm, processing space at Skagit Valley Organics new WSDA certified commercial kitchen, or the long running NABC poultry processing equipment rental program. The PSFN enables real-time communication between food producers, consumers, and other participants in the Puget Sound regional food system with the ultimate goal of facilitating transactions.

Posted by Elliot on November 5th, 2009

PSFN's First Transaction

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With our system on its way to full functionality, the Puget Sound Food Network is already making connections within the Puget Sound region. Our first official transaction took place yesterday when Growing Washington delivered products including cukes and a braising mix to Western Washington University in Bellingham. This well received transaction will be the first of many as PSFN primes for full launch.

Posted by Elliot on October 6th, 2009