FOLEY, Alabama — City leaders here are turning a vacant industrial building into the centerpiece of an effort to strengthen Baldwin County’s farming economy, aiming to connect small growers with restaurants, schools and grocery stores across the region.
The project builds on the year-old Coastal Alabama Farmers and Fishermens Market, a nonprofit market established by the city. Using a $100,000 U.S. Department of Agriculture grant awarded to the market, Foley is funding roughly half the cost of new equipment that will grade, sort, wash and package fresh produce before it heads to buyers under a “Fresh from Foley” label.
The aggregation hub will operate out of a 94,000-square-foot city-owned building on East Section Street, a structure that once housed audio equipment maker Peavey Electronics. The site is already home to Gulf Coast Produce of Alabama, a wholesale distributor that began leasing space there the previous year and will partner with the city on the new venture.
Market manager Heather Pritchard said longtime Loxley farmer Larry Lovell will coordinate the hub, serving as the link between area growers and wholesale buyers. Lovell said the arrangement addresses a gap that has kept small farmers on the sidelines of larger commercial markets for generations, even as demand grows for local produce in farm-to-table and farm-to-school programs.
“What this aggregation hub will do for local farmers … is connect all the dots that have been missing for 80 or 100 years,” Lovell said, describing the effort as a way to finally give area growers the packaging, grading and distribution support needed to reach bigger buyers.
Supporters say the hub could serve farmers within roughly 150 miles of Foley, giving them a reliable, consistent channel for produce that might otherwise go unsold at farmers markets scattered along Baldwin County roads. Lovell predicted the aggregation model could become standard practice for small farm regions in the years ahead if Foley’s effort succeeds.
With the sorting and packaging machine expected to arrive within weeks, organizers hope the hub can begin moving Baldwin County-grown fruits and vegetables into local school cafeterias, restaurant kitchens and grocery aisles in the coming months, giving the county’s agricultural roots new commercial life.