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NEWS

Alliance initiates farm-to-table community

Shelly Schultz
Reporter
Lynn Atwell cans pickles at the former Muskingum County Business Incubator Kitchen, which is now part of the FoodWorks Alliance.

ZANESVILLE - FoodWorks Alliance has joined the movement to establish a farm-to-table community. The local food movement is well established in many parts of the U.S., as evidenced by the nearly five-fold increase in farmers markets over the past two decades.

Formerly known as the Kitchen Incubator, the organization opened in February 2015 as a division of Muskingum County Business Incubator. Last month, the incubator announced its reorganization and move toward a more innovative program to provide tools and education to entrepreneurs.

"MCBI is doing what they can to reinvent their organization to better serve the community," Carol Humphreys, FWA director, said. "We are an incubator of our own with the goal of developing programs and partnerships with the community and the region to increase local food access, education and purchasing of local foods."

Humphreys said the focus of FWA is to connect their clients — growers, food producers, processors — with consumers via partnerships with local venues such as restaurants, retail shops, farmers markets and events.

"There are so many ways we can all work together to help small food businesses grow, create employment and support economic development in our region," Humphreys said. "While at the same time supporting our local growers and producers and provide the community with locally grown fresh food."

According to the 2014 US Census, the average individual spends $2,282 at home and $2,293 away from home each year on food. Approximately three percent of money spent on food by Muskingum County residents is spent on local foods, according to Humphreys.

"If we could increase that amount to just five percent it would impact our local income by almost $7.8 million dollars per year," Humphreys said. "If the same individuals would increase that amount to seven percent they could add over $27 million to our local economy annually."

FWA offers many services to the community and Humphreys fears not enough people, particularly business owners in the food industry, know about the services provided by FWA.

"The farmers market that takes place at the fairgrounds each Saturday has been pretty successful at getting locally grown produce, meats and homemade foods to consumers," Humphreys said. "The farmers market closes the end of October each year and many local growers still have an abundance of produce that goes to waste. So, we came up with a solution to eliminate the waste of so much fresh produce and keep consumers supplied with locally grown fruits and vegetables all year."

FWA serves as a front door to network producers with consumers through local venues. Government standards prevent producers from packaging fresh foods for sale in retail venues economically. Governed by federal and state agencies, FWA meets all of the requirements to package produce for retail sale.

"Our local growers don't have the facility or the license to turn their leftover tomatoes into salsa or can their green beans so that people have access to fresh foods throughout the year," Humphreys said. "The cost to be in compliance with federal and state requirements far outweighs the profit. The kitchen has to be approved, you have to have licensed staff working in the kitchen, the recipe has to be approved. We have all of that in place."

Locally grown canned produce, prepared by FWA, is available to consumers through small venues provided by Shrivers Pharmacy and Rittberger Meats. This alliance is the infancy of creating a farm-to-table community. With support from local growers and producers, retailers, restaurants, local government and consumers, FWA thinks Muskingum County has the resources to greatly increase its economic growth while providing the community with a healthier food choices.

In addition to working with local growers to produce value added products that helps eliminate waste from overabundant crops, FWA is reaching out to local restaurants to process their "secret" soups and sauce recipes.

FWA also offers SafeServe classes to local restaurants so their employees don't have to travel to Columbus for certification.

For a complete list of services offered through FWA, visit them at www.foodworksalliance.com or contact Humphreys at 740-453-3649.

cschultz3@gannett.com

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