Syracuse, Onondaga Assets:

The CNY Regional Market and it’s associated vendors have a wholesale business operation that, if expanded, could help facilitate local purchasing on a large scale.

• Expansion of the warehouse facility to increase the amount of food that can be stored would expand the number of vendors who can participate and allow individual vendors to store larger harvests would help with the problem of scale.
• Expansion of the Warehouse Facility to increase the amount of time food can be stored fresh would help extend the fruits of the harvest into the winter months helping with the problem of seasonality.
• The addition of a consolidated delivery service, perhaps even coordinating with local distributors such as syracuse banana, would help with the issue of logistics.

There are a variety of urban and rural farms producing food in Syracuse and Onondaga County. These farms are the keystone for purchasing of local food for the simple reason that there would be no local food without them.

• Encouraging the expansion of existing farms would allow bigger harvests allowing institutions to make bigger purchases that better meet their needs.
• Building a network of farms in the area that would allow local farmers to pool their harvests together and make deliveries more efficiently would decrease the logistical problems of dealing with local farmers for institutions.

Success Stories:

Backyard Farms in Maine, and Gotham Greens in New York City grow seasonal crops year round using green houses and hydroponic techniques.

The Farm Alliance of Baltimore City creates a structure that allows baltimore’s urban farms to better support each other using their collective power to purchase shared equipment and deal with purchasers directly.