NGFN Webinars: Sustainable US Food System Models

The National Good Food Network is hosting a great line-up of webinars this spring, beginning with a webinar with Wholesome Wave Investments: “Getting Your Bucks in a Row - the Food Hub Due Diligence Toolkit” on Thursday, February 20 3:30-4:45pm EST. Register now!

The Healthy Food Commerce Investments program of Wholesome Wave has been studying food hubs, and the viability of several individual hubs. This webinar presents a distillation of their work - what makes a solid, invest-able hub business? One key element of food hubs is that they are businesses. Food hub managers, potential investors, and food hub supporters will all benefit hugely from this work, and this presentation.

And don’t forget about the Food Hub Conference March 26-28 in North Carolina! The conference will feature multiple tracks for food hub managers and staff; networking and learning for support organizations, consultants and agencies; "Ask an Expert" - slots of one-on-one time to dig deep with various technical assistance experts; food hub and food business tours; opportunities to learn from your peers, network, and feel a part of an incredibly energetic community; and excellent local food from Eastern Carolina Organics, Firsthand Foods, and other local suppliers.

Webinars from the archives:

Food Banks as Regional "Good Food" Partners
As we look to scale up the amount of healthy, fair and sustainable local and regional food in our food system, it becomes increasingly important to have storage and delivery mechanisms capable of getting the food to consumers. This infrastructure is very expensive, and the logistics required for efficient use of the resources is very complex.

Food banks across the country have trucks and warehouse space, including cold storage, and have been solving the logistics problem for decades, however traditionally with commodity food, often processed. This is beginning to change.

Several food banks across the country are acutely aware of the benefits of fresh, local food to their consumers, and their community, and are leveraging their resources to support local/regional food systems in innovative ways. Presentations from FoodLink in New York, the Sacramento Food Bank and the Sacramento Area Council of Governments.

Assessment Tools for Improving Farmer Financial Skills
Farming is a business, but many farmers are not familiar with many of the tools available to manage their farm finances. The first crucial step to intelligent financial decisions is assessing your current situation, and understanding your historical trends.

This webinar focuses on three assessment-centered tools and programs. First, a tool for farmer trainers themselves - to assess the strengths of the trainer’s knowledge as well as assess students’ knowledge at the outset and their subsequent progress. Second, how Annie's Project, a highly successful program for women farmers, integrates such an assessment tool as a part of the curriculum. And third, an entry level training tool that walks farmers through farm business cash flow analysis in an approachable way.

Assessment is not the end goal of beginning farmer training.  However, assessment is fundamental to the success of financial skills education by providing a measurable feedback loop for improvement, adjustment, and documentation of effectiveness.