According to the USDA, Food value chains are “strategic alliances between farmers or ranchers and other supply-chain partners that deal in significant volumes of high-quality, differentiated food products and distribute rewards equitably across the chain.”
What is Value Chain Coordination?
According to research conducted between the USDA and Wallace Center, Value Chain Coordination is defined as, "a market-based approach to developing local and regional food systems that better serve communities. Value chain work includes the development of collaborative ties among businesses along the food supply chain, with the expectation that the economic position of these supply chain members improves. Value Chain Coordination describes leveraging the soft infrastructure, in the form of skills, competencies and relationships, in a food value chain. With a strong soft infrastructure, individuals and organizations are far more readily able to acquire and utilize hard infrastructure in their communities." Multiple people from nonprofit, public, and private sectors can perform value chain coordination roles in a community food system, however it is increasingly important and impactful to have a dedicated professional to focus on local and regional food value chains to ensure equity and access to markets, in particular those who have been marginalized or shut out of market channels.
What is a Value Chain Professional?
Value chain professionals (VCPs) wear many hats - they work with food suppliers (farmers and food businesses) and buyers (chefs, food services, distributors) to create market channels based on shared values and shared risk. VCPs first and foremost build trust with stakeholders to establish support. Ultimately, VCPs build social and economic networks, laying the foundation for long-term, local business to business connectivity critical for local and rural economies. Value chain professionals serve as a central point of contact for food system stakeholders in the region where they work.
Why a value chain?
Farmers and buyers may have certain values they are seeking in food stuffs that are part of their decision on whether or not to buy. Values can include: local, fresh, high-quality, pasture-based meats, certified Organic, regional, non-GMO. Values can also be part of an adopted standards program such as Anchors in Action, the Good Food Purchasing Program, Healthcare Without Harm, or the Green Restaurant Association. These programs have standards and metrics that enable buyers to establish criteria for purchasing that will help them choose more sustainably produced food.
The Indiana Value Chain Network is generating economic return for farmers throughout Indiana. New and established value chain professionals work to connect food system businesses together for shared benefit. If you would like to procure or supply local food and plug into our value chain network, please get in touch with any of our VCPs or Network coordinator, Jodee Smith, ellett@iu.edu.
2019Established Indiana Value Chain Network with USDA grant
$1.4 million2018-2021 sales
$7.7 million2021-22 sales
I have been farming for 10 yrs in Fayette County Indiana. What I didn’t keep for my household I gave away and always the first fruits to churches and other places in need. When Covid hit, I upscaled my produce and started distributing food to the community which then led me to the various food banks and joining the food council. I am now one of the VCC’s for the LFPA BIPOC program.
Mia is the value chain professional for Southeast Indiana, focused on the Local Food Procurement Agreement program. mteraybrown@gmail.com
Whitney Buccicone is the Co-Director of Partners IN Food and Farming (PIFF), a nonprofit organization dedicated to connecting farmers to food consumers and advocates across the state of Indiana. Visit our website (www.indianafarming.org) to learn more!
Dominique Edwards is a Black land steward, local educator, and food systems planner based in Northwestern Indiana who currently serves as the Equity and Engagement Coordinator for the NWI Food Council. Dominique is a 2016 graduate of DePaul University’s Sustainable Urban Development graduate program and is currently obtaining her Ph.D. in Community Psychology from National Louis University where her research focuses on trauma-informed food accessibility in Northwestern Indiana with a special focus on understanding the challenges of Hoosier Black farmers. Dominique is incredibly passionate about revitalizing local food systems through the development of community food projects and was one of the co-founders of the NWI Food Council in 2015, where she still serves today. Dominique previously served as the Northern Region Representative for the American Planning Association’s Indiana Chapter and was the previous Chair of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee that she started in 2020. Since graduating from DePaul, Dominique has advanced her work in food systems and has become multi-disciplined in the field of urban planning. She is featured in the children’s book One Earth: People of Color: Defending the Planet by Anuradha Rao, which highlights some of her earlier work to revitalize local food systems. Dominique continues to work on many levels, including nationally, to educate other urban planners and policymakers about Northwestern Indiana’s food system challenges. She also manages the Walker Street Park Community Garden, a community garden in Michigan City, Indiana’s Eastport neighborhood, a neighborhood in which she was born and raised, and works with residents, local farmers, and representatives of other subject matter areas such as public health and academia to address food insecurity, implement local programming and policies to support systematically excluded communities. Not only does Dominique work on multiple levels to address food insecurity, but she also works directly with residents to grow food, educate, develop programs, and community food projects in surrounding communities as well.
dominique@nwifoodcouncil.org
Joseph Fischer works with growers to enhance product availability through the Fischer Farms purchasing platform and visits with buyers to actively discuss needs and products.
We at Fischer Farms are a Southern Indiana producer of all natural beef. Over the last 150 years, six generations of Fischers have farmed our rolling hills. About 15 years ago, we started selling directly to customers with the mission of making it easier for customers to source local, natural, sustainable meat. We partner with our neighbors to supply pork, turkey, eggs, produce, and other products. Our goal is to make it easier for both customers and producers to get a wide range of fresh, top quality products on the plates of restaurants and the shelves of retail stores.
We are excited to partner with other Indiana Value Chain Coordinators to work to strengthen the network of farmers and wholesale customers. We believe that a stronger network is more capable of addressing the perceived barriers of local food sourcing. We believe we can make a significant impact on the environment, economies, and overall food quality in our communities.
joseph@ffnatural.com
(812) 630-3609
Otho Farrow has over 20 years’ experience as an entrepreneur. He is deeply committed to providing communities with access to nutrient rich foods, and is determined to bring entrepreneurship opportunities through agtech and agribusiness. While Metropolis Greens is committed to growing a profitable business as an indoor vertical farm, it is our mission to educate young adults in agtech and hydroponic farming, while bringing these technologies to underserved communities. The opportunity to provide locally grown, fresh, healthy food, and learn a valuable trade is paramount to our business model. We are looking to partner with educators who see the value in our mission and want to connect young adults with the future of farming.
Lauren Kuester the Community Outreach Coordinator for Urban Seeds, based in Evansville. She is a passionate advocate for local food systems and community care. She has a diverse background in the food industry, program management, and community building. Having worked at Local Source, an online local farmers market here in Evansville, she has valuable experience in supporting local farmers and producers. Lauren’s role will involve strengthening relationships between local farmers, producers, and residents in Southwestern Indiana, and increasing awareness of our local food system through community building, programming and educational outreach. lauren@urbanseeds.org
With an extensive background in the restaurant and brewery world, Anna decided to pursue her own dreams and start her own beverage company followed by a cafe in 2014. What started as a small passion project brewing kombucha for friends and family, turned into a full blown business in a matter of months. Anna loved traveling throughout our tri state area delivering kombucha to restaurants, groceries and bars for the 7 years she did it. Her Cafe in Gary Indiana's beach side community, Miller brought her a lot of joy and allowed her the ability to be directly in communication with the community. Her Cafe was a gathering place for a wide range of people from State Senators to the transient traveler. During the pandemic, Anna decided to close the doors of both businesses and start a new career with the NWI Food Council. Here she is still able to pursue the projects and outreach that bring her joy and fulfill some of her life's purpose, while also providing stability for her and her family.
It all started with making small batch kombucha in her home, and next thing she knew Anna was bottling and boxing hundreds of jars of locally made “booch” in Gary, Indiana each week, supplying small businesses throughout NWI and eventually even opening her own cafe and kombucha bar in the Miller Beach neighborhood. Anna is deeply committed to improving healthy lifestyle options for families in NWI, and lifting up local food entrepreneurs in the process! anna@nwifoodcouncil.org
Allyssaas love for food started at a very young age. She began working in the restaurant industry and attending culinary classes in high school. After moving to Chicago and experiencing shopping at their beautiful farmer's markets she learned just how diverse real food actually is. She now lives on a homestead of her own growing and preserving a large portion of my family's food and raising ducks and chickens for eggs. Her passion now is cooking with seasonal whole foods either grown by herself or locally sourced. After eighteen years of working in the restaurant industry, she now gets the opportunity to combine her love for cooking and local food as the Farm to Chef Coordinator of the NWI Food Council. allyssa@nwifoodcouncil.org
Porchea McGuire stands for food justice and community engagement. She is working to create equitable access to fresh, sustainable produce and foster strong relationships between BIPOC producers, farmers and food businesses.
Sierra Nuckols is from a culturally diverse neighborhood on the eastside of Indianapolis. Born to a 15-year-old mom, Sierra grew up hearing stories about hunger and poverty throughout her family lineage. She graduated from Hanover College in 2018 with a Bachelors in Anthropology. Sierra has visited 5 countries in search of knowledge about food systems, sovereignty, and social justice. During a visit to South Africa in 2016, Sierra met Desmond Tutu who inspired her to take action in solving hunger in Indianapolis. Shortly after her return from South Africa, Sierra developed Community Food Box Project in partnership with the Little Free Pantry movement. Since then, Sierra has obtained an Urban Agriculture certificate from Purdue University and managed 2 urban farms in Indianapolis. Through all of these experiences, Sierra learned about the term "Food Apartheid." This is a term coined by Karen Washington of Rise and Root Farm in New York. Food Apartheid makes clear that we have a human-created system of segregation that relegates certain groups to food opulence and prevents others from accessing life-giving nourishment (borrowed from Farming While Black by Leah Penniman). Sierra hopes to eventually combine her passions of providing emergency food access and fighting against food apartheid in the form of agricultural education.
The NWI Food Council is a multi-stakeholder alliance that works to build a just, sustainable, and thriving locally-oriented food system for all in Northwest Indiana through networking, education, advocacy, and projects. We are a grassroots nonprofit organization that launched in December 2015 as a result of community input at the Local Food Summit held in April 2015. Through programs, projects, and partnerships, we seek to address the gaps in our regional food system and value chain.
By working collaboratively to rebuild our local food chains and infrastructure, we will ensure that the local food system secures a central role in a transitioning and vibrant local economy. We are committed to providing innovation and leadership in food systems work, with an eye toward food security as a pathway to the improved resilience of our community.
Just as the farmers we work with prioritize the stewardship of their land and sustainable food production, the Council values the stewardship of our local communities and environments in building a more sustainable and resilient region. Improving market access for local farmers and producers will ensure the continued growth of these individuals and their businesses, thus emphasizing a shift to sustainable industries. Our seven-county region spends nearly $2.3 billion dollars on food each year, but less than 2% of that purchasing power is directed towards our region’s farmers and food producers ($3.7million). Institutional and wholesale purchasing programs are uniquely poised to support and accelerate the growth of the local food economy by the sheer scale of their purchasing power.
virginia@nwifoodcouncil.org
(317) 250-1005
The Food & Growers Association (FGA) is the oldest local food farmer organization in Indiana and continues to support the regional food economy in SE Indiana through multiple initiatives. The FGA was formed to respond to the needs of farmers, individuals and health professionals who see the connections between community health improvement, sustainable agriculture and a viable local economy in Southeastern Indiana. The FGA is supporting, growing and promoting a local food system to enable area farmers to market their products to individual consumers and institutional buyers.
One way the FGA is supporting the purchase of locally raised and grown items is their support of Hoosier Harvest Market SE. This is an online market operated as a farmer owned cooperative. The farmers determine what is sold and the price of each item. This sub-hub is a way for diversified food growers and producers to tap into a regional aggregation and distribution system.
The FGA also realizes the many hurdles, questions and support a new and/or small farmer needs. We specialize in providing individual technical assistance, resources and support for farmers in our region. We are working to create a network of small farmers for peer support and sharing of resources.
In addition to the focused efforts of Pam Rieke as the value chain professional, the FGA realizes the value of high quality, nutrient dense, locally grown food for all people. One way the FGA is working to increase the accessibility of local food to everyone is building and supporting community gardens and orchards in the communities we work with.
If you are an a farmer, individual, restaurant,or institution interested in supplying or purchasing local food please reach out to Pam
Heather Tallman has been working within the Indiana Agriculture value chain for over 10 years, specifically with value-added producers and agriculture marketing.
Amber is the BIPOC value chain coordinator for the Indianapolis Food Policy Action Coalition with the City of Indianapolis.
Becca Tuholski has an undeniable passion for local food systems, resilient community building, and community education. From her time as an Agricultural Science Teacher at LaPorte High School, to her ongoing career as a beginning farmer alongside her husband on their farm (Tuholski Produce), to her current role as the Local Food Access Coordinator with the NWI Food Council—Becca is dedicated to strengthening our food system from the ground up. becca@nwifoodcouncil.org
Whitney Buccicone is the Co-Director of Partners IN Food and Farming (PIFF), a nonprofit organization dedicated to connecting farmers to food consumers and advocates across the state of Indiana. Visit our website (www.indianafarming.org) to learn more!
Dominique Edwards is a Black land steward, local educator, and food systems planner based in Northwestern Indiana who currently serves as the Equity and Engagement Coordinator for the NWI Food Council. 
Lauren Kuester the Community Outreach Coordinator for Urban Seeds, based in Evansville. She is a passionate advocate for local food systems and community care. She has a diverse background in the food industry, program management, and community building. Having worked at Local Source, an online local farmers market here in Evansville, she has valuable experience in supporting local farmers and producers. Lauren’s role will involve strengthening relationships between local farmers, producers, and residents in Southwestern Indiana, and increasing awareness of our local food system through community building, programming and educational outreach. 
With an extensive background in the restaurant and brewery world, Anna decided to pursue her own dreams and start her own beverage company followed by a cafe in 2014. What started as a small passion project brewing kombucha for friends and family, turned into a full blown business in a matter of months. Anna loved traveling throughout our tri state area delivering kombucha to restaurants, groceries and bars for the 7 years she did it. Her Cafe in Gary Indiana's beach side community, Miller brought her a lot of joy and allowed her the ability to be directly in communication with the community. Her Cafe was a gathering place for a wide range of people from State Senators to the transient traveler. During the pandemic, Anna decided to close the doors of both businesses and start a new career with the NWI Food Council. Here she is still able to pursue the projects and outreach that bring her joy and fulfill some of her life's purpose, while also providing stability for her and her family. 
Allyssa
Porchea
The Food & Growers Association (FGA) is the oldest local food farmer organization in Indiana and continues to support the regional food economy in SE Indiana through multiple initiatives. The FGA was formed to respond to the needs of farmers, individuals and health professionals who see the connections between community health improvement, sustainable agriculture and a viable local economy in Southeastern Indiana. 
Becca Tuholski has an undeniable passion for local food systems, resilient community building, and community education. From her time as an Agricultural Science Teacher at LaPorte High School, to her ongoing career as a beginning farmer alongside her husband on their farm (Tuholski Produce), to her current role as the Local Food Access Coordinator with the NWI Food Council—Becca is dedicated to strengthening our food system from the ground up. 