As part of the SARE Sustainable Ag Webinar series, a webinar will be presented by Audrey Woita, Project Leader with No More Empty Pots. Audrey received a SARE Travel Scholarship to participate in the National Good Food Network Conference which was held in Albuquerque, NM from March 27 – 30, 2018. The National Good Food Network Conference focuses on the success of food hubs. Audrey will give a presentation on her experience at this conference and discuss “No More Empty Pots” and her job with this organization. The webinar is scheduled for June 19th at 10:00 a.m. The link to this webinar is: https://unl.zoom.us/j/477929756 .
Below are descriptions from Audrey of the National Good Food Network Conference, No More Empty Pots and her job there. We hope you can join us for this webinar that will focus on the success of food hubs.
The National Good Food Network (NGFN) was established by the Wallace Center a decade ago to bring all members of the value chain together to take healthy, fair, affordable and environmentally “green” food to scale, touching more lives in a positive way. In the last several years much of our effort has been supporting those businesses “in the middle” – food hubs – that connect the supply to the demand while maintaining a strong core of positive social and environmental values.
This conference is the only conference in the US with a central focus on the success of food hubs. There were 500 food hub managers, staff and supporters of all types invited to dig deep into the nuts and bolts of running hubs, financing, technology, and enhancing their triple bottom line impacts. In 2018, on top of the deep dive into food hubs, the conference focus was expanded to address a broader set of partnering businesses and organizations that fill out the value chain and create true vitality in regional food systems.
So, that begs the question: What is a food hub?
A regional food hub is a business or organization that actively manages the aggregation, distribution, and marketing of source-identified food products primarily from local and regional producers to strengthen their ability to satisfy wholesale, retail, and institutional demand.
Red Tomato created this informative video on what a food hub does. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKsYoxyclUg&feature=youtu.be
About No More Empty Pots:
No More Empty Pots (NMEP) is a grassroots non-profit corporation that connects individuals and groups to improve self-sufficiency, regional food security and economic resilience of urban and rural communities through advocacy and action. Our vision is to support communities in becoming self-sufficient and food secure through collaboration and adherence to our values of Education, Stewardship, and Sustainability.
Specifically, my role at No More Empty Pots is to manage a Cisco IT grant. It was awarded to our organization to teach kids about the Internet of Things. Our audience are learners ages 12-24 in North Omaha. In addition to teaching them about the Internet of Things, we’re weaving in an introduction to innovation, problem solving, food systems and local food economies.
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