Develop Local Food Infrastructure

Food infrastructure is the foundation required for the production, processing, storage, distribution, retailing, consumption and waste management of food within the local food system. Developing a food system centered on good food—food that is healthy, green, fair, and affordable—includes shaping the infrastructure of Duluth’s food system.

Food infrastructure covers everything needed in the food supply chain of activity between the consumer and the producer. These supply chains include: 

• Production (e.g. seeds, equipment)
• Processing (e.g. canning, washing, freezing food)
• Aggregation and distribution (e.g. storage facilities and delivery trucks)
• Retailing (e.g. grocery stores, restaurants)
• Marketing (e.g. promotional materials including billboards and commercials)
• Capital (includes financial, natural, human and social capital)

A local and ecologically sound food system infrastructure enables us to grow, process, and distribute the food our community residents and businesses need. As a major hub of food production before World War II, Duluth has seen days as a producer of food for the city and larger Midwest region. We can grow our food here again. Many of the producers and community experts in food and agriculture say lack of local processing, storage, and distribution infrastructure is lacking in Duluth. This is an opportunity for businesses and community members to consider how that gap might be filled and make it happen.