Aggregation & Distribution

Essex Food Hub is the only aggregator and distributor of local foods in Clinton and Essex Counties, but we distribute far beyond this region.

We aggregate local products from many small farm and food businesses and deliver them on a weekly basis during the peak harvest season. By doing so, we help our region's producers reach markets they otherwise could not access independently. In 2023, we helped more than 40 producers to reach 50+ regional institutions.

Read more below about our aggregation and distribution for retail and wholesale customers, and the producer partnerships involved in helping us grow our Farm to Institution work.

Essex Food Hub is proud to offer the region's only online ordering platform selling products from various local producers in a single order with weekly distribution throughout the North Country, Capital Region, and even NYC.

Retail

We offer home delivery to rural households through programming with our mutual aid partners and with funding from grants. Our goal is to overcome both transportation and cost barriers that prevent all community members from accessing local foods. Our partnerships reach food desert communities, low-to-middle income and senior households, and families with young children. Read more about our community food access initiatives here.

Wholesale

Essex Food Hub became a regional wholesale distributor in 2023 with the goal of connecting our local farms to our communities more broadly, reaching people through institutions such as schools, hospitals, food pantries, restaurants, mutual aid partnerships and more. Read more below about our wholesale producer partnerships below or create a wholesale account through our site!

In 2023, we deepened our relationships with a few core partners to completely manage their ordering and distribution operations. These partners trusted that embarking on this new relationship together would help them better serve their business, their customers, the local food system, and our community. In return, we have invested our resources into growing Farm to Institution operations and finding ways for collective efficiency, opportunity, and success. Please read more about each of these partners below and join us as we celebrate this new journey together!

North Country Creamery

About:
North Country Creamery is a 115 acre dairy farm that is 100% grassfed, Non-GMO, NYS Grown & Certified, and Animal Welfare Approved dairy. First-generation farmers Ashlee Kleinhammer and Steven Googin own and operate the small-scale, premium dairy, which produces cheese, milk, and yogurt in Keeseville, where their cows graze pastures overlooking Lake Champlain and the Adirondack Mountains.

Reason for partnering with EFH:
Our partnership with Essex Food Hub is our effort to give our all to what we do best: making the delicious grass-fed yogurts and cheeses our customers know and love, as well as a few newcomers that are in development (we are a finalist in the Dairy Product Innovation Competition!). It will also allow us to grow, giving us the administrative support we need to expand our winter cow barn and to build a solar array that will provide 110% of our farms current energy use, two of many projects in the hopper, all of which will make us more environmentally and financially sustainable.

Tangleroot Farm

About:

Tangleroot Farm is a small fruit and vegetable farm in Essex, led by first-generation farmer Adam Reed. Tangleroot’s mission is to get their Certified Organic produce to as many people as possible while improving their triple bottom line of Quality of Life, Land Stewardship, and Community. Whether it's their minimal till practices to improve the soil and protect its biology or their door-to-door CSA delivery (especially to keep customers safe during COVID), they take pride in the community, their food, and their business.

Reason for partnering with EFH:
We believe in the food hub's mission to strengthen the local food system. Providing delivery services frees up very scarce labor and the offering of our products on their website opens us to new customers throughout the Adirondacks which we wouldn’t have the capacity to take on otherwise. Farm owners only have so much bandwidth and the hub is offering crucial logistical support so we can focus on growing great food.

Crown Point Farm & Dairy

About:

Crown Point Farm and Dairy is owned and operated by Mike & Michelle Kuba. It is their love for the Jersey Cow that led to their desire to open a micro-dairy. They pride themselves on breeding and raising Registered A2 Jerseys. Small scale dairying allows them to foster a symbiotic relationship between cow and soil. They embrace a regenerative process of seasonal grazing and natural fertilization, no synthetics on our pastures. Hay and grain are sourced locally.

Reason for partnering with EFH:
Our partnership with Essex Food Hub serves as an opportunity to bring our products from pasture to shelves. We appreciate the advocacy for small farms like ours, this reach allows us to stay small, sustainable, and focus our resources on animal welfare and quality dairy.