So you want to start a regional food hub or food value chain business.  Or you are assisting someone who is exploring the possibility.  This webinar will help you walk through some of the critical first steps including:

• How can you assess your local food system and make an informed decision about an entity or service that can fill a needed gap? 
• How can you figure out how to position yourself in the local food system and what roles or services to take on? 
• Once you have an idea of your position, what are the options for business models that might suit your role or service well?
• How can you create strong, mutually beneficial relationships with local farmers? 
• How can you communicate truthfully about the benefits and expectations of marketing through this business?

Two Southerners with Food Hub experience and one assistance provider will discuss these questions and suggest tips for best practices, using examples from their work.

Presenters:

Tina Prevatte, Co-CEO, Firsthand Foods

Having grown up in a small town in eastern NC as the daughter of two local business owners, Tina has been aware from an early age of the role that businesses can and do play in community and economic development.  She spent her early career working with the US Environmental Protection Agency as an environmental engineer enforcing the Clean Air Act, effectively forcing companies to take responsibility for their environmental impacts.  From this work, Tina was inspired to find more proactive ways to engage businesses in socially and environmentally responsible approaches. This led her to the dual degree program between UNC's Kenan-Flagler Business School and the Department of City and Regional Planning, where she received both an MBA and a MCRP. Tina is convinced that the power of business can be used to solve social and environmental problems. As Co-CEO of Firsthand Foods she is responsible for financial planning and management, directing sales and marketing efforts, building and maintaining internal business systems, leadership of day-to-day business management activities and decisions, and providing strategic direction toward long-term business goals.

Description of Work: Firsthand Foods is a woman-owned, Durham-based meat company that markets and distributes pasture-raised, local meats throughout North Carolina. As a food-hub, Firsthand Foods purchases live animals from a network of producers, coordinates slaughter and processing with USDA-inspected facilities, and markets and distributes meat to restaurant, retail and institutional customers. http://firsthandfoods.com/ 

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Kathlyn Terry, Executive Director, Appalachian Sustainable Development (ASD)

Kathlyn first came to ASD in 2006 as the Business Operations Manager in charge of operating the organization's two social enterprises.  Prior to arriving in Appalachia, she spent over 20 years in various business leadership roles in the for-profit sector.  Kathlyn has been ASD's Executive Director since 2011, using ASD's broad experiences with education, economic development, and empowering people to make a difference in their own lives to develop farm, forestry, food access and youth development strategies in southwest VA and northeast TN.

Eric is an area specialist for community viability in the Shenandoah Valley region of Virginia. Eric received his B.S. in Crops and Soil Environmental Sciences and his M.S. in Forestry from Virginia Tech. As a community viability specialist, Eric focuses on community food systems, community planning, leadership development, and entrepreneurship. In his role with Cooperative Extension, Eric facilitated the development and organization of the Shenandoah Valley Produce Auction. Presently, Eric is working with a Shenandoah Valley Local Food and Farm Working Group, Virginia Food System Council, and several universities and institutions to facilitate and strengthen community food systems, increase farm-to-table options, and coordinate a Shenandoah Valley Buy Fresh Buy Local Chapter. www.buylocalshenvalley.org