How a food hub’s new Bellefonte location aims to benefit farmers and producers in central PA

Appalachian Food Works, the food hub that connects local farmers, food processors and producers to sales channels throughout central Pennsylvania, recently set up shop in a new location within Titan Energy Park. The nonprofit organization joins a host of new tenants at the park, including the soon-to-be-opened Alloy Kitchen and Mad McIntosh Cidery.

Previously, Appalachian Food Works had been operating out of founder and executive director Travis Lesser’s home, as well as out of shared space within The Meetinghouse in downtown State College. The new Bellefonte location will help the organization better assist more farmers and producers with expanded capacity in the coming months and years.

Plans include expanded cold storage space to be rented out to members of the agricultural community, as well as dry storage.

However, while the new location is a big milestone for the organization, Lesser isn’t resting on his laurels just yet. With new opportunities come new costs and challenges to meet demand. Appalachian Food Works is currently raising funds for the additional 144 square feet of refrigerated and frozen storage space.

“From a producer standpoint, the farmers and processors are lacking in space,” Lesser said. “They only have so much space (for their product). ... We’ll be able to take on larger volumes from the producer or the processor, move it over to our space, hold it for them and then ultimately distribute it for them. That frees up their space.”

The lack of cold storage space is an issue that impacts a range of producers around the region. This year’s productive growing season especially, Lesser said, sometimes makes it impossible for farmers to see full market value for their produce.

“Most farmers are savvy enough that they know how to handle it,” he said, noting that most producers won’t allow this lack of space to result in a lost harvest. However, he added, “some would probably go to auction and unfortunately ... the farmers get some money out of it, but they’re not getting top dollar at the auction house, more times than not. Sometimes they’re getting pennies on the dollar for what they should be getting. ... Without this cold storage space, they’re not going to get what they could realize if they had this ability to haul over a few cases or a pallet of a product that needs refrigeration.”

The amount Appalachian Food Works needs to raise in order to make this vision for the new space a reality is just in the ballpark of $38,000. With combined federal and state funding, and community fundraising efforts, Lesser is cautiously hopeful the new cold storage space could be installed by late fall.

Community members can support Appalachian Food Works’ initiative via online donations and purchases from the online marketplace, The Market @ App Food Works, which offers produce and products from a range of central Pennsylvania farms and producers. They can also provide indirect support by spending at the various restaurants that work directly with Appalachian Food Works to purchase locally-sourced ingredients; a full list of partnered restaurants can be found on the Appalachian Food Works website. Lesser said he’s also open to creative community partnerships that might help raise funds for the cold storage initiative.

Beyond the fundraising, Lesser said Appalachian Food Works is hard at work prepping for the upcoming football season, with new tailgate-themed offerings for tailgaters to pick up locally-sourced burgers, cheese, sausage, bacon and other items. The organization is also looking ahead to holiday offerings. While Lesser said that Appalachian Food Works has already surpassed 2020’s revenue for 2021, the focus is still to continue looking forward, increasing the organization’s reach, expanding capacity and continuing to assist local farmers, producers and processors.

Find more information about Appalachian Food Works at www.appalachianfoodworks.org/home.html.