$31 million regional food hub opens in Springdale

More than 200 people gathered Thursday (May 29) for the opening of a $31 million food hub in downtown Springdale that will support a Walton Family Foundation initiative to strengthen the region’s capacity to grow food for its residents.

The 45,000-square-foot Market Center of the Ozarks (MCO) at 821 E. Emma Ave. is a nonprofit facility that helps area farmers and businesses scale their operations to bring more area food to area markets.

“From cold storage and processing lines to commercial kitchens and coworking space, every square foot of this facility has been designed for one purpose: to help local food thrive,” said Emily English, senior program officer for the Walton Personal Philanthropy Group.

St. Louis-based architecture firm Patterhn Ives was the building designer. Arkansas-based CDI Contractors was the general contractor.

English said MCO “originated from understanding what the community needed in order to grow and scale so that we could get more local food on local tables — more of our local people feeding our local community.”

PART OF A ‘LARGER PUZZLE’
MCO is open to the public through its two operating partners: Spring Creek Food Hub and the Arkansas Food Innovation Center at MCO, which offers a shared-use commercial kitchen, food processing and bottling capabilities to help small businesses grow. The center also provides educational workshops, technical support, business development assistance and resources to support growth.

The operating partners have 20 employees, comprising 10 full-time and 10 part-time staff, who work at MCO.

It’s not a farmers market or a retail store, but its tenants have products available for purchase. Spring Creek Food Hub, a food aggregator and distributor, offers products available for wholesale purchase. Arkansas Food Innovation Center at MCO helps tenants bring their processed and prepared food to market. The center is a program of the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture.

Five years ago, the Walton Family Foundation launched the Northwest Arkansas Food Systems initiative to expand opportunities for farmers and increase consumer access to fresh products. MCO is a cornerstone of this initiative.

“Market Center of the Ozarks is just one piece of a much larger puzzle,” English said. “It represents what’s possible when we invest not just in buildings but in people and the farmers growing our food, the entrepreneurs launching new ideas and in the organizations working every day to feed our families. Together, we’re building a more connected, resilient and local food system.”

A UNIQUE PURPOSE
Asked what makes MCO unique, U.S. Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., said it’s not a farmers market, but a collaboration between the entity and the farmers. It not only helps farmers but also businesses, especially restaurants, that source their products.

“It makes all the sense in the world to connect the food grown and raised here to families and entrepreneurs in the region, so they can have access to fresh food while supporting their hardworking neighbors,” Boozman said.

English also highlighted MCO’s uniqueness.

“As far as we can tell, there’s nothing that brings together all of these core functions under one roof,” she said. “So an organization that aggregates produce from local farmers, an organization that also is able to take that whole raw produce, process it into products that can be used in school and institutional meals and also offers a large-scale shared commercial kitchen for food entrepreneurs.

“So it really brings together a lot of functions and then wraps it in educational and technical assistance. And that’s not something we’ve seen anywhere else in the country.”

Springdale Mayor Doug Sprouse said MCO will “play a major role in the continued revitalization of downtown Springdale. It’s going to bring jobs. It’s going to bring, again, community involvement in ways that will really enhance not only our downtown but our city as a whole.”

‘HOLDING YOUR HAND’
Wes Ward, secretary of the Arkansas Department of Agriculture, said agriculture is the state’s largest industry, providing a $24 billion economic impact annually. Ward looked forward to the opportunities “for beginning farmers, existing farmers and finding new markets and new outlets for what they do and encouraging their success and really, again, to help address a need throughout the state on food insecurity, food access.”

Jacob Rowell of King’s River Produce works with Spring Creek Food Hub to determine what to grow. He grows root crops, such as beets, carrots and winter squash, on a nearly 10-acre farm along Kings River between Eureka Springs and Berryville. Rowell described the challenges in finding a market for his produce, but Spring Creek Food Hub has helped with this.

“Every step of the way, they’re holding your hand,” Rowell said. The produce he sells to Spring Creek Food Hub is “going right back to my community.” The produce will be distributed to area schools.

“It’s good,” he said. “And I’m getting prices that I never thought were possible at a wholesale level.”

Rowell said he’s from southern Arkansas, and more than 10 years ago, he “would be doing good” to get less than $1 a pound for produce there. “I thought I was getting rich at a dollar a pound.” Now, he’s receiving $2 a pound.

“It’s been a real game changer for me,” Rowell said.

The new facility has wash lines that he would otherwise have to purchase. He has also received advice on how to wash produce properly.

“It’s awesome,” he said. “It really is awesome. I can see this thing growing the food community in this part of the state tremendously. I would like to see it grow to where it’s reaching all corners of the state.”