May 2, 2008

CH Robinson is pioneering regional procurement for retail customers. US Foodservice is building sustainable brands. SYSCO is partnering with family farm groups. Many Sustainable Food Lab member companies are assessing their current supply chain and improving the chains to benefit farmers and the environment.

What difference do value chain projects make in rural communities? That’s the question the Ford Foundation recently gave almost a hundred thousand dollars to the Sustainable Food Lab to research.

The project is designed to explore whether boutique projects to market local organic vegetables ever get big enough to really make a difference for a lot of people, under what conditions mainstream supply chains benefit farmers, the role of an independent facilitator of these projects (someone who isn’t actually involved in the transactions but who helps connect the parties), the best ways to aggregate farm products so buyers get the quality and quantity they need, whether there model contracts that can be shared and how much market advantage can be claimed in the market for specialty products that serve sustainability goals?

Gene Kahn dismissively calls some of these value chain projects “one-off success stories.” Can they become important enough to influence corporate strategy for multiple categories?

These questions are important not only for the Food lab but also for agencies and organizations that promote better lives for rural people.

This research helped the Ford Foundation develop their new approach to rural development called, the “triple bottom line.” Leading practitioners of entrepreneurship, financial services, and cluster development, along with the Sustainable Food Lab are doing assessments of current value chain practices and proposing indicators.