Progress 09/01/23 to 08/31/24

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience that has been reached are the people who live and shop in the Downtown and EastWheeling area, Sisterville, WV and farmers throughour the region, including the tristate area of Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. According to the USDA Economic Research Service's Food Access Research Atlas 2019 report, GrowOV's offices and urban farms are located in Tracts 54069000700 and 54069002600. Both suffer from (1) Low Income, (2) Low Vehicle Access, and (3) Low Food Access at one mile from the nearest supermarket. Changes/Problems:The one area of challenge that we are facing is the location of the Wheeling Food Hub. After learing that the original location of the building that we had invested in, had serious structural problems, progress has been slow. We have two sets of plans and options and are planning to make a final decision based on one of the location's materializations. Our Executive Director meets with the project's developer on a weekly basis and has supported in fundraising, design plans and marketing strategies. Despite these roadblocks, we have continued to work with vendors to get them into the Public Market, supporting them with a new sales outlet, marketing, labeling standards, etc. In quarter two, the team onboarded five new vendors, including four farms and one baker. We will continue to provide technical assistance to all of our vendors, as they scale their business into becoming prospective users of the Wheeling Food Hub. The farm team supports neighboring farms by picking up and distributing their goods to the CSA program based out of the Public Market. Beginning in June, five local farms were included in each week's share and paid on a weekly basis. One on one training and guidance is provided to each farm, so that they too can continue to increase their sales. The CSA will run until October 2024. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Our Vendor Manager and General Manager have trained new farmers, bakers and other food producerslabel making, packaging and delivery practices that fit within the laws of the state. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The market team has attended 2-3 community events per quarter. The farm team has reached out to community members in many different ways to educate on our Community Suppoted Agricuture program and other agriculture events in the area. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?First, we will be meeting internally and with someexternal partners like ACEnet in Athens, OH and Coalfield Development in Huntington, WV to plan a small distribution route where we can take productfrom two or three of our vendors and farmers to their markets and sales channals, and at the same time, bring some specific product to our market, so that our customer can have access to higher quality local foods options, like dairy products. Meetings will begin in September and distribution will begin in November. This work will impact Project Goal #1, Outcomes #2 and #4. Next, we will make progress in the location of the Wheeling Food Hub and move into the beginnning stages of construction. This work will impact Project Goal #1, Outcome #5.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Project Goal #1-Grow regional food security by providing transportation infrastructure to agricultural producers and consumers Outcome #1- Ohio Valley farmers will have access to aggregation & distribution routes by August 2023 COMPLETE As indicated by: 8 local farmers are plugging into an aggregation route that takes their produce to new markets or cold-storage by the end of 2023, and an additional 5 agricultural producers will plug into the network each year for the remainder of the project. ACHEIVED 5 local farmers access new resources (such as produce, or packaging products) delivered to them through distribution/aggregation routes ACHEIVED Outcome #2- Regional agricultural producers will have access to an aggregation & distribution route between WV's Northern Panhandle and Southeast Ohio by Fall of 2023. See Map 1. IN PROGRESS As indicated by: 25-30 Regional agricultural producers will access new markets through this distribution route by end of 2023, e.g. the established local food markets of Athens Ohio and/or Hungtington, WV. (See Map 1.) IN PROGRESS 20-25 Regional agricultural producers will have access to resources such as regional produce and packaging materials by end of 2023. ACHEIVED This outcome has been a challenge due to the delay in building the food hub in Wheeling. We are currently shifting this work to get the product into stores in Athen and Huntington from our vendor program at the Public Market and should be able to begin to deliver by Winter of 2025. Outcome #3-Regional agricultural producers will have access to distribution & aggregation between Wheeling, WV and Sistersville, WV. See Map 1. After researching the opportuntities in the Sistersville area, there are no viable farms to source from. We are working on a plan to revise this goal. Outcome #4-Low-income and marginalized consumers have increased access to local products through delivery infrastructure. ONGOING As indicated by: A 20% increase in sales of local products at the Public Market in the first year of the project and an additional 5% increase each following year. ACHEIVED Project Goal #2- Assist in improving healthy food access and linking low-income and marginalized consumers to agricultural producers. Outcome #1- Low-income shoppers demonstrate increased knowledge of SNAP stretch and other food buying programs (senior vouchers, Catholic Charities coupons etc.) ONGOING As indicated by: 15% increase of SNAP sales during each year of the project. ACHEIVED IN FIRST YEAR 15% increase in redemption of WVDA senior vouchers and Catholic Charities vouchers. IN PROGRESS Outcome #2- A stronger agricultural value chain that meets the needs of low-income and marginalized consumersIN PROGRESS As indicated by: Engaging 20-30 SNAP shoppers at the Public Market in food planning sessions. IN PROGRESS Engaging 10-15 local agricultural producers in production planning sessions, incorporating feedback from food planning sessions.IN PROGRESS A 20% increase of local product sales for the first year of the project and 5% each following year. ACHEIVED IN FIRST YEAR

Publications