Frog Song Organics in Hawthorne will pilot a new “food hub” model to get more local produce into schools, prisons and community centers, Alachua County announced this week.
The farm has a budget of $375,000 and ten months for the project, the latest phase of a multi-year study to determine what a regional food hub could look like in Alachua County.
Elsewhere in the state and across the country, food hubs act as collection and distribution centers for local produce. They vary from small, on-farm storage facilities to giant warehouses and often include commercial kitchens, educational spaces or consumer storefronts. In North Central Florida, the hub aims to connect small and medium farmers to big, institutional buyers they couldn’t normally reach.
The idea for a food hub has “been a conversation throughout the years,” said Bailey McClellan, the county’s agriculture economic development coordinator.
She pointed to the COVID-19 pandemic, which drove up demand at local food banks and pantries while disrupting grocery stores and restaurants that relied on national supply chains.
“That really rocked the system,” McClellan said.
The county hired a consultant in 2024 to study the feasibility of a local food hub. After surveying farmers and buyers, the consultant announced last October there was enough local interest in the idea to move forward with a pilot project.
A few weeks later, lapses in federal food assistance through SNAP rocked the system again.
“This problem is not just a problem because of the government shutdown,” said Alachua County Commissioner Anna Prizzia during a November meeting. “This is a problem because of federal policy that is changing the dynamics of funding for food assistance across the board.”
Commissioners approved emergency funding to stock food pantries and community centers but emphasized the need for a local system that could provide fresh fruits and vegetables, not just shelf stable food.
Frog Song Organics was one of two organizations to apply to fill that gap.
“ When we saw the parameters for the project, it was really closely aligned to some of the work that we're already doing involving growers around the state and throughout the southeast,” said Amy Van Scoik, co-owner of the farm. “It looked like a really good opportunity for us to be able to focus a little more effort specifically in Alachua County.”
The farm already partners with 11 growers within 100 miles of Alachua County to buy and distribute their produce and packaged products. It hopes to boost that number to 25 by the end of the pilot.
Frog Song will host three networking events for growers and institutional buyers between March and May to “get the channel opened,” Van Scoik said.
The farm aims to get the food to Alachua County residents three ways: through institutions, direct sales and free distributions.
Frog Song has previously gotten its products onto cafeteria trays in Alachua County Public Schools through the Farm to School program, a partnership Van Scoik plans to continue. She aims to build similar relationships with the county jail, University of Florida and area hospitals.
As for direct-to-consumer sales, “ there's plenty of population in our county to consume the food that's produced here,” Van Scoik said. “But because of a disconnect between people, maybe, knowing where to get it or how to get it we actually do sell a good amount of what we grow outside the county.”
The farm’s pilot plan includes a budget for education and marketing to promote local farmers’ markets and home delivery services.
One of the county’s requirements for the pilot was free food distribution during the holiday season. Frog Song’s plan includes five weeks of it, slated to begin this November.
That portion of the farm’s plan is based on its previous work with the county.
During SNAP clawbacks, Alachua County contracted Frog Song to stock six family resource centers with sweet potatoes, broccoli, cabbage and a variety of other foods.
Van Scoik learned to coordinate deliveries close to the centers’ distribution times since some couldn’t store or refrigerate it. She made a digital form so centers could request what produce they needed how they needed it: wholesale in cases or pre-portioned and pre-boxed.
Frog Song will partner with many of those same centers for its holiday distribution during the pilot.
The farm also plans to dedicate some of its food hub funding toward hiring and training new employees on food handling, processing, packaging and distribution.
That’s an important part of developing a food hub, said Angela TenBroeck, executive director for the Center for Sustainable Agricultural Excellence and Conservation in Duval County.
“There's all sorts of certifications that are needed for folks to be able to safely serve their food into large organizations such as institutional buyers,” she said. “A farmer is farming. We’ve got to have somebody doing that middle piece.”
The center and its partners throughout North Florida are developing a food hub system similar to Alachua’s that aggregates local foods with the goal of stocking produce vending machines at children’s health clinics throughout the region.
TenBroeck said the program aims to expand to other institutional buyers, too, a move one area grower said would change the way he farmed.
“I would probably expand my operation or put more into it if I knew that I had more local support,” said Freddie Bacon, who grows lettuce, kale and other greens on his Jacksonville-area farm.
Back in Alachua County, McClellan, too, hopes the food hub can provide consistent, year-round demand for area growers. While the pilot’s focus is within Alachua County, the food hub’s will be regional. An Alachua-based hub could expand access to local food throughout the North Central Florida foodshed, a region spanning 15 counties, McClellan said.
The county’s consultant will watch Frog Song’s food hub closely during the ten-month trial, collecting data on everything from sales to how many farms and institutions sign on.
It’ll incorporate the lessons learned into a final report and business plan scheduled for early 2027.
