Gorge Grown Food Network has run the Mobile Farmers Market program for over a decade. In that time, our team sourced locally grown food from 127 farmers and distributed it to 15 towns in 5 counties.
Program highlights:
- Over $305,000 in local food was distributed.
- The Mobile Market served as an anchor vendor at emerging farmers markets: 3 continue to thrive today without supplementary produce.
- 30 dedicated people staffed Mobile Markets over the years, standing in the heat, wind and rain to get local food out into our community.
- Income from Mobile Market sales enabled new farmers to build out critical infrastructure like greenhouses.
- 90% of the farmers supported are from historically oppressed populations.
- In recent years, 25% of the food sold at Mobile Markets was purchased using food assistance programs like SNAP.
- A 25% discount was offered to anyone in need of support including veterans, seniors on a budget, and food insecure farm workers – an all-inclusive model that has been replicated elsewhere.
Our local food landscape is changing:
- While Mobile Market sales decreased over the years, sales at Hood River Farmers Market have nearly doubled since 2020 to gross over $1.25 million in 2023. SNAP sales increased by 243%! Staff secured funding to TRIPLE snap match, so if someone spends $20 in SNAP, they get an extra $40. This goes directly to local farmers and supports our food insecure neighbors.
- Newer farmers markets are growing: Since 2021, The Dalles Farmers Market grew by 87%, White Salmon Farmers Market grew by 80%, and Stevenson Farmers Market grew by 44%.
- Former Mobile Market Manager Kiara Kashuba went on to Direct Gorge Farmer Collective, an online marketplace and distributor serving 60+ local farmers. In the past few years, GGC sales have grown by 460%!! We could not be more proud of this awesome women + farmer-led, farmer-owned enterprise!
- Gorge Grown staff have helped shape and support an emerging, statewide Food Hub network in Oregon that will expand regional food distribution.
Mission accomplished!
Now it’s time to shift gears away from Mobile Markets, make way for other food distribution models, and lean into our food access work. This includes ramping up our Gleaning Program. We will continue to work with the Columbia River Intertribal Fisheries Commission and Organically Grown Company to procure and distribute food to native families living along the Columbia River at in-lieu fishing sites. We will continue to get nutritious food to The Annex, a transitional housing center in The Dalles. We are partnering with retailers in Stevenson, Lyle, and South Wasco to provide large, new, refrigerators that will be stocked with local food. We will explore new opportunities, be nimble, and continue to innovate.
Special thanks to our funders over the years:
Washington Department of Agriculture
Wy’east Foundation
Washington State Department of Health
Meyer Memorial Trust
Knisely Family Foundation
Northern Trust
Oregon State University (USDA LFPP)
Oregon Food Bank (USDA LFPP)
USDA Agricultural Marketing Service Grants
USDA Paycheck Protection Program
Farmers Market Fund
Oregon Investment Board
Washington Investment Board
Providence Memorial Hospital
Harry Chapin Foundation
The Bleakley Family
Providence Memorial Hospital Hood River
Walmart Foundation
Many, many individual donors