Building Economies of Collaboration
The Eastern Food Hub Collaborative (EFC) was conceived in 2019 to strengthen supply chains, extend and diversify product availability, and create a framework for trust-based trade between food hubs throughout the eastern United States.
The goal of the EFC is to create additional avenues for increasing hub growth, resiliency, and impact; and in doing so, to demonstrate a viable alternative to a food system that is otherwise characterized by consolidation and extraction.
Food hubs in the EFC learn from each other, share, celebrate, and support one another, co-design new and improved strategies, and collectively undertake projects too risky for any individual organization. Only by joining forces, leveraging our collective strengths, sharing risk and rewards, and daring to imagine what is possible beyond competition can we build a food system that will nourish all people and the planet for generations to come.
How We Work
Convening working groups and monthly meetings to share ideas, build connections, and learn from each other
Developing technological tools and collaborative platforms to facilitate trade
Researching and sharing data to understand and communicate impact
Building resilient supply chains and diversified catalogs through hub-to-hub trade
Facilitating member leadership, self-governance, and conflict resolution that build trust and reciprocity
Gathering annually in person to develop strategies and strengthen relationships
The EFC is led by members and is governed by a Memorandum of Understanding. Backbone support and facilitation for the Eastern Food Hub Collaborative is provided by Seed Change Strategies.