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Founded in March of 2022, Essex Food Hub is a registered 501c3 nonprofit in the Champlain Valley of New York State. We are on the edge of Haudenosaunee land that was shared with neighboring Wabenaki under the “dish with one spoon” mandate of collective stewardship.
We operate through close partnerships in order to fulfill our mission and ensure our values carry throughout our work. We partner with small farms and value-added food producers; healthcare and educational institutions; other nonprofits supporting food systems and security; food banks and pantries; and other New York and western Vermont food hubs who share our core values.
Our roots date back to 2015, when the food hub was founded as The Hub on the Hill, a startup that supported a burgeoning small farm movement and its leaders in navigating and clarifying the needs of our community. Over the course of its seven years, it introduced a broad range of support along the food value chain, which we continue to offer today as Essex Food Hub. These services include: (1) aggregation and distribution, including last-mile delivery to consumers, restaurants, grocers, and institutions; (2) a commercial kitchen for rent and co-packing service; (3) affordable rental of dry, cold, and frozen storage; and (4) brick & mortar and online marketplaces offering locally produced food.
Since taking over operations under Essex Food Hub, and operating an official nonprofit, we have continued and grown the impact on our rural economy and beyond. In the first six months we accomplished the following: