Which Comes First: The Trucker of the Farmer?

WANTED - Fresh produce trucking entrepreneur needed to put wheels on a locally grown food distribution system being built in Mendocino County. Public relation skills a plus as the distribution system will support a regional label promotional campaign. Chance to live among enthusiastic grower base in a beautiful setting. Ample return on investment likely.

Until a CAFF Lighthouse Farm Network meeting at the Apple Farm in Philo two years ago April, the idea that such a truck might actually be coming down the road someday was little more than a stubborn dream for a handful of struggling local producers. But the sparks stuck at that first meeting continued to glow in three subsequent meetings, and now it appears the money has been found for a feasibility study that will weigh the dream against reality.

That happened during a meeting of the Mendocino County Alliance (MCA) Food and Ag Committee, at the Boonville Hotel the week before Christmas. A broad representation of county agriculture attended, including local growers, produce marketers, University of California County Extension, the agricultural commissioner and CAFF. The county economic development coordinator and the executive director of the Economic Development and Financing Corporation (EDFC) were also on hand to keep everybody's feet on the ground when the conversation turned to funding possibilities.

MCA executive director John Dickerson said his organization is "an association of private, independent trade associations trying to market what we have to offer in our local economy." He said the group initially focused on coastal tourism and the wine industry and was currently developing a tourist signage program to help visitors find their way around the county. "We're also looking to start a regional identification label to encourage local consumers to buy from our local producers," he said. That prompted ag commissioner Dave Bengston to ask what a "locally grown" label might mean. "What about local wineries that use some grapes grown outside the county?" As the one whose office will probably have to certify that locally grown requirements are being met, he said, "You'll need to establish clear protocols and stick to them."

Before getting that far, however, Johnana Cummings of Mendocino Organic Network thinks determining if there is actually enough locally grown product to support a regional label is a more critical first step. "The problem of sourcing local now is that there's not enough product available because the distribution system is so inefficient."

Organic Options' Mark Mulcahy summed up the options for producing an efficient distribution system as building one with parts on hand, or perhaps franchising with an existing system such as America Fresh.

Either way, Madelin Holtcamp with EDFC said there would be business start up money available. "Finding capital for somebody with an address and who pays their bills regularly to get into a distribution system is not a problem."

She reminded everyone that borrowing money for a business venture generally entails having a business plan for the lender to inspect. "In this instance," she said, "such a plan would include studying both the supply and demand sides as well as the transportation piece."

The group agreed there is a business opportunity for a county distribution system that could work on several levels, but decided they didn't have enough information to answer some basic questions such as: which comes first, the trucker or the farmer, or how many farmers are needed to successfully provision a distribution system's customers?

At that point the need for a feasibility study became clear. How to fund it was less obvious. CAFF's Keith Abeles asked if MCA could pay for it. "We do plan to fund two studies this year," Dickerson said. "A feasibility study could be a good candidate and we might be able to fund the whole thing."

Holtcamp said, "Money for a feasibility study is not a problem. We just need to find an entity who wants to be the horse pulling the cart."

The committee decided to set up a smaller group to lay out the study parameters and research outreach possibilities for finding someone to do the work. Stay tuned.