Food hubs play an essential role in the COVID-19 response in Hawai‘i

Abstract

Community food security and food systems resili­ence have received much emphasis in the last two decades, at least partially in response to mounting challenges and pressures on the global food system. While empirical research shows strong evidence that direct-to-consumer relationships in the food system predominantly serve affluent commu­nities, during the COVID-19 pandemic local food providers have become a necessity through their provision of essential services, such as hunger relief and home deliveries for vulnerable populations. In this paper, we examine the challenges and opportunities of food hubs—innovations in local food systems that help connect small farmers with local markets—during the COVID-19 pandemic using quantitative and qualitative data from practitioners on the ground. The hubs were not necessarily equipped or experienced in the response needed, but they quickly adapted to the situation and demonstrated success during the pandemic, as illustrated by 200–300% growth in performance metrics such as revenues generated, employees retained, customers served, and farmers supported. The performance of the hubs in response to the multiple challenges accompanying the pandemic demonstrates their key role in food system resilience through features of diversity, functional redundancy, and connectivity, suggesting that disaster preparation should consider local food hubs a necessary service. We provide policy suggestions for supporting their role in local food system resilience beyond the pandemic.

Information sources utilized by Vermont foodservice businesses during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic

“…It remains unclear to what extent this redundancy was useful or was too fragmented and overwhelming for business decision-makers. Fardkhales and Lincoln (2021) describe the value of redundancy in diverse systems when responding to a crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Glaros et al (2021) further explain how supply networks, as opposed to chains, work toward community resilience.…”

Does direct farm marketing fulfill its promises? analyzing job satisfaction among direct-market farmers in Canada

“…Short food supply chains (SFSCs) 1 are becoming increasingly popular as a way for consumers to purchase local food, and many countries have implemented policies to facilitate their development (Kneafsey et al 2013 ; Rahe et al 2019 ; Fardkhales and Lincoln 2021 ). Since SFSCs involve few or no middlemen, participating farmers are often more autonomous and have a greater ability to set prices independently (European Commission 2013 ).…”

Resilience of breadfruit agro-ecosystems in Hawaiʻi during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…Hawaiʻi has been described as a model social-ecological system (Kirch 2007 ) and it has been suggested that indigenous agro-ecosystems have the potential to be highly productive and resilient under changing land-use and climate change disturbance (Kurashima et al 2019 ). However, little research has yet been conducted exploring the disruption and resilience of agro-ecosystems in Hawaiʻi caused by the COVID-19 pandemic (Fardkhales and Lincoln 2021 ; Lee and Milne 2020 ; Miles and Merrigan 2020 ; Worstell and Green 2017 ).…”

“…Hawaiʻi’s local food system is being tested by the crisis caused by COVID-19 which in March 2020 imposed stay-at-home orders, strict travel restrictions, and business closures, lasting more than a year (Fardkhales and Lincoln 2021 ). According to the Hawaiʻi Department of Agriculture, estimates in early summer of 2020 showed that local farmers and ranchers have seen a 50% decline in sales (Lee and Milne 2020 ).…”

“…For small farms in Hawaiʻi the shutdown of physical sales channels such as farmers markets has been especially problematic while the dependence on sales channels such as hotels, restaurants and schools has been the main challenge for medium to large sized farms. It has forced farms to change their strategy in order to respond to the changing consumer demand (Fardkhales and Lincoln 2021 ). Hawaiʻi only produces about 10% of its food locally (Needham and Lincoln 2019 ) and it is an explicit goal defined by The Hawaiʻi Green Growth Local2030 Hub, a public–private partnership committed to advancing economic, social and environmental goals, to double the local food production by 2030 (Hawaiʻi Green Growth 2018 ).…”