Kearsarge Food Hub

1. Sweet beet market is Kearsarge Food Hub (kfh)'s local Food marketplace. We work with Food pantries and gleaning organizations, and operate a community freedge on site to provide consistent donations of fresh local produce, groceries, and prepared meals from our cafe. In 2022, kfh served 900+ clients from 6 pantries by donating more than $95k worth of Food, 67% or 18,275 lbs of which was fresh produce. Food distributed to customers and Food insecure clients through sbm were purchased from more than 156 local and regional farmers and Food vendors.

3. Kfh's sweet beet farm grows organic vegetables while offering farm-based education for students k-12 and beyond, with the ultimate goal of growing more farmers. The regenerative farming methods used and taught support environmental sustainability through low-impact tools and equipment, eliminating the use of harmful chemicals and inputs, employing ecologically-minded approaches, and reducing on-farm waste. In 2022, kfh hosted more than 205 students through 5 distinct educational programs on the farm, all while providing more than 19,425 lbs of organic produce to the local community through sweet beet market + cafe, kfh's Food pantry partners, and other local sales channels.

2.through sweet beet cafe, kfh provides healthy and nourishing scratch-made foods using fresh ingredients sourced predominantly from local farmers and Food vendors, both for sale through our retail channels as well as for donation through our on-site freedge. The cafe also makes use of products that would otherwise go to waste from the local Food system to reduce overall Food waste and increase affordability. In 2022, 15,486 meals were distributed, 670+ were donated through the freedge - a value of approximately $8,690.