Array of local vegetables at the ribbon cutting ceremony.
New Bedford, MA – Coastal Foodshed, the Southcoast’s local farmer food hub, held a ribbon cutting today for their new 5,500 square foot facility, located at the Kilburn Mill in New Bedford. Started in 2017, Coastal Foodshed has grown from managing the New Bedford Farmers Market into a full-fledged food hub, moving between $10,000 – $20,000 worth of local food through their facility on a weekly basis.
Mayor Jon Mitchell and Representative William Straus, Representative Tony Cabral, and Representative Chris Hendricks spoke to attendees. Representative William Straus, has been instrumental to Coastal Foodshed’s growth and success since they started. “I am very pleased to be an early supporter of Coastal Foodshed’s critically important work connecting local farms and produce with our communities,” said Rep. Straus. “Since 2015, the Legislature committed its support to the initiative with regular funding, and I applaud the work of Coastal Foodshed’s staff and partners to grow this food hub from the ground up and fill a significant need.”
Coastal Foodshed does meet an important need in the Southcoast, providing increased access to healthy local foods for low-income and other marginalized community members, while also directly supporting a network of 60 local farms, the majority of which are located in Bristol and Plymouth counties and eastern Rhode Island.
“Coastal Foodshed supports public health in New Bedford by expanding access to fresh, healthy food, while also supporting the region’s robust farming culture. The new facility, a project the City was proud to support with ARPA funds, will only enhance these efforts,” said New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell.
Due to the supply chain infrastructure they began building in 2017, Coastal Foodshed was able to attract and secure just over $1 million in grant funding through the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources’ Local Food Purchasing Assistance (LFPA) grant to directly invest in Southcoast farmers.
“This new space has been critical to our ability to aggregate, store, and sell or distribute larger volumes of local food,” said Stephanie Perks, Executive Director. “And this space has also allowed us to open a retail store so we can make local food even more available to the community.”
In Massachusetts, customers using SNAP benefits are able to earn additional HIP (Healthy Incentives Program) benefits when they purchase locally grown fruits and vegetables from eligible HIP vendors. Coastal Foodshed is the only HIP vendor serving Greater New Bedford on a year-round basis, ensuring SNAP customers can earn additional HIP benefits 12 months a year. HIP allows many food insecure families the opportunity to purchase more food while also incentivizing SNAP customers to support the local farm economy. Coastal Foodshed is currently operating a retail Pop-Up market in their new facility, open Tuesday through Friday from 9am – 6pm, accepting cash, credit, debit, SNAP and WIC.
In addition to the new retail space, the food hub has a large aggregation, storage, and packing area, a 640 square foot cold storage unit, and office space. Coastal Foodshed raised $200,000 through a capital campaign to fund the build-out of the space and to purchase and install the cold storage unit. The City of New Bedford gave the organization $40,000 in ARPA funding to be used toward the cost of the cold storage unit. Several other funders and individual donors also helped fund the space.
Coastal Foodshed is the Southcoast’s local farmer food hub. Since opening in 2017, Coastal Foodshed has directly and indirectly sold or distributed $2.7 million worth of local food, $696,493 of which was purchased by customers using SNAP or other public benefits, and $780,308 of which was distributed to local food pantries.
Coastal Foodshed
Stephanie Perks, Executive Director
(508) 259-2647
Kilburn Mill
