Keller - Roanoke - Northeast Fort Worth | December

From the cover

Tarrant Area Food Bank’s new Ag Hub to boost produce access

Zooming in

The overview

Through its education foundation, Northwest ISD started its partnership with TAFB in May 2021 to host a monthly food pantry at the district Administration Building on the third Saturday of each month. “The pantry is open to anyone in the community and runs from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. or until food runs out,” said Alyssa Pry, director of communications and public relations for Northwest ISD Education Foundation. Pry noted that while TAFB provides all of the canned goods and produce, the foundation pays an additional amount each month to TAFB to provide protein to their clients. The new Ag Hub would mean adding yet more options for securing packages with good nutritional value. Pry said that the NISD food pantry serves between 800 and 1,000 families each month. She added that they’ve noticed that the months when students are returning to school and holiday months typically see an increase in volume. “We have a number of schools in that area with families on the free and reduced lunch program,” Pry said. “People would be surprised to know how much food insecurity is right in their own backyard.” Pantry visits are on the rise, with the number of individual visits in September nearly tripling over two years. Number of TAFB food pantry visits Visits in September 2021 525

The Ag Hub is an 8,000-square-foot refrigerated storage facility that allows food bank staff and volunteers to do three main things: • Process produce locally: Much of the produce in Texas is typically grown and processed in the Rio Grande Valley, Rane said. The hub will allow fruits and vegetables to be processed in the heart of Fort Worth— thus increasing its freshness period —before being distributed to the more than 450 area food pantries. • Provide trading opportunities: Rane said, being located in North Texas, the Ag Hub’s proximity to Arkansas and Oklahoma could also prove useful with food trades. Arkansas has a chicken hub and Oklahoma has a beef hub, so if there is a surplus of produce at the Ag Hub, staff could trade it for much-needed protein. • Support local farmers: By having a large, dedicated space for produce distribution, food bank officials can expand partnerships with local and regional produce growers. One such partnership with a local farmer is with Cowtown Farmers Market in Fort Worth. Its Manager Becca Knutson said Tarrant Area Food Bank purchases unsold produce at the end of each Saturday market from the farmers at market cost. This program ensures farmers are able to sell their harvests even if customer traffic is low at the market. By opening the Ag Hub, the food bank will be able to bring more produce grown locally into the region for partner agencies to distribute to their clients.

Many other food banks can’t handle full truckloads of produce, but now with the Ag Hub, TAFB can take it off their hands and distribute it, Rane said. “We want to be a point of contact for [groups] to bring in the produce, mix the truckloads and distribute it,” he said.

Ag Hub layout The agriculture hub is part of an 34,000 square-foot indoor facility that includes a warehouse and a ready-to-learn area, which shows people how to cook and consume food.

Outdoor garden 6,000 square feet

Ag Hub 8,000 square feet

Warehouse space 9,000 square feet

Ready-to-learn space 5,000 square feet

Flexible space for future services 12,000 square feet

Visits in September 2022

40,000 Total square feet

+149.91%

927

Visits in September 2023

1312

SOURCE: TARRANT AREA FOOD BANK/COMMUNITY IMPACT

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