A link has been emailed to you - check your inbox.

Get our free LIBN e-alerts & breaking news notifications!

By: Adina Genn September 15, 2022 Comments Off on Local bounty

An effort is underway in Riverhead to build a sustainable, equitable food system that stands to benefit the entire region.

Led by East End Food Institute, a Southampton-based nonprofit that fosters partnerships with farmers, food producers and consumers, the initiative is gaining momentum. In developing a Riverhead-based East End Food Hub, the food institute is working on a $1.5 million project that is designed  to diversify revenue streams for farmers while ensuring there is healthy, farm-fresh food for people in need.

The Food Hub would allow farmers to develop what the U.S. Department of Agriculture “called a mid-tier value chain, leveraging economies of scale to sell more units of things at a lower price to diversity revenue coming in,” said Kate Fullam, East End Food Institute executive director.

“It’s good to have a diversification of revenue stream,” Fullam said. “On the East End of Long Island, it’s hard to move things around because of traffic” and other challenges, including costs surrounding land, growing, and labor and production.

The Food Hub would centralize aggregation, processing and distribution of local foods to foster the creation of new markets for Long Island growers and their products. At the same time, it would address current inequities related to food access in institutions such as schools, food pantries and other organizations.

Courtesy of East End Food Institute

Supporting local food growers is critical to the region, Fullam said, pointing to supply-chain debacles that emerged during the pandemic.

The pandemic underscored how “fragile the food system actually is,” Fullam said.  Helping the farmer build mid-tier channels to sell bulk quantities opens new opportunities for farmers while enabling people to access local food, she added.

“If we don’t invest, we could see supply-chain breakdowns,” she said, adding that food staples that could be sourced on Long Island might otherwise be sourced elsewhere and then have to “go across Long Island Sound or over two bridges to get to us.”

Located on the former site of Homeside Florist and Greenhouses, the property that would house the proposed food hub is now owned by Paul Pawlowski and Kenneth Balato. Pawlowski and Balato are leasing the space to the food institute as its long-term tenant.  Its Riverhead location, Fullam said, stands at the gateway for both the north and south fork.

Pawlowski said he and his business partner are developing the property with the food institute, while it pursues site plans to expand its food processing and distribution capacity. This includes renovation of the existing 5,000-square-foot building, which currently houses a year-round farmers market.

A rendering of an interior market at the Food Hub. Courtesy of East End Food Institute

“It’s a good development for the town, both forks and the community,” Pawlowski said. “I think it’s a good catalyst.”

Plans for Phase One of the Food Hub would be designed to include a retail farmers’ market and other capabilities. That includes a demonstration space for food and nutrition education. The plans call for a 2,000-square-foot community kitchen to launch small-scale food and beverage businesses. The food-processing area would allow for high-volume value-added processing. Warehouse and cold storage space would accommodate aggregation and distribution of locally grown and made goods. And there are accommodations for short- and long-term food system workers and for people attending public education forums, with views into the kitchen.

The East End Food Institute already offers commercial kitchen space. Courtesy of East End Food Institute

All of this takes funding and community support. The organization was already awarded an incentive for a $300,000 reimbursement on the $1.5 million project on the first phase of the plans. That achievement would highlight “the validity of the project with state commitment,” Fullam said.

Fullam said the institute is pursuing other rounds of support, including from government agencies and through private and corporate donors.

On Thursday, a “sneak peak” cocktail party at Nick & Toni’s in East Hampton helped to raise funds and shed light on the project. It offered an inside look at the renderings for the hub, as well as insights into the dedicated programming and the various doors this food hub would open for partner organizations and community members.

“The Riverhead Food Hub project has the potential to contribute to the East End in critically significant ways,” said Mark Smith, managing partner of East Hampton-based Honest Man Company, which operates Nick & Toni’s.

“Dealing with food insecurity and educating folks about food issues is essential to our communities,” said Smith, a member of the institute’s board of directors.

Entrepreneurs use the commercial kitchen at the institute for food and beverage production. Courtesy of East End Food Institute

On the menu for the cocktail party were dishes from the institute’s producers, such as Balsam Farms in Amagansett, Mecox Bay Dairy in Water Mill, and Treiber Farms in Peconic. Local farms and producers also served up specialty cocktails and hors d’oeuvres to showcase the abundance of the region’s bounty.

The institute, with its collaborations with community leaders, has seen a number of successes at its commercial kitchen at the Stony Brook’s Southampton campus. There the institute rents kitchen time and storage space for food and beverage production. That incubator space is where several businesses got their start, including Carissa’s Bread and Goodfoodperiod – both of which tout local ingredients – as well as additional entrepreneurs “who could build their business without having to invest in infrastructure,” Fullam said.

The institute also works with local food banks, which through programs such as Nourish New York, have “buying power to source local produce,” Fullam said. “They can come through us – we have a virtual farmers’ market.” So when, for example, there’s an extra bounty of 1,200 pounds of sweet potatoes, “we can cube it and freeze it” so that the food stays fresh “while it gets to food banks securely,” she said.

In its work supporting, promoting and advocating for local farms, the institute conducted a food feasibility study to plan ahead to satisfy demand.

Now the organization is working with New Venture Advisors, which collaborates with food hubs throughout the nation, as well as other experts and consultants.

And there are plans to expand further.  These plans would include a second building with a multipurpose area to expand the farmers market, host community food events and present hands-on cooking demonstrations with local producers.

But that may take time.

“It needs to be a societal investment,” Fullam said.

The look and feel of print, on your screen.

Access the latest Special Publication

Do you try to buy locally grown produce whenever possible?

The coalition of community groups called Housing for All Long Island are urging elected officials to do more to solve the regional housing crisis.