Appalachian Harvest Network

AHN is always working to make sure buyers and consumers are getting as much local food as possible at the fairest price. Accomplishing this goal, however, ultimately requires a higher degree of economic sustainability, a goal that has been beset by several challenges:

• Financial Viability: Both Appalachian Sustainable Development and Appalachian Harvest Network operate on a tight budget with slim margins, leaving them especially vulnerable to periods of economic downturn. The operating expenses cannot be covered by sales alone, which means soliciting grants and individual donations. Anthony dreams of reaching the financial break-even point by 2011. “Becoming financially viable after ten years seems to me awfully slow. But when we started, there was no local food movement and little of the market there is today. There was also no infrastructure for aggregating and distributing local foods and very little support from university agricultural extension services or training available for organic production. We had to create all these things.”
  
  
• Infrastructure Needs: The fire that destroyed AHN’s processing facility in 2008 burned a hole in AHN’s infrastructure and budget. But it gave AHN an opportunity to upgrade. The new facility, as noted, is larger and better designed and can therefore handle much more produce at less cost.
  
  
• Accounting Standards: AHN’s limited budget has relegated the business to primitive accounting standards. For example, all of AHN’s financial data is still initially recorded by hand. However, with recently secured support, AHN is installing a computerized system to assemble, track, monitor, and analyze the business data, which should improve understanding about the strengths and weaknesses of their current economic model.
  
  
• Managing Independent Players: AHN struggles to manage growers and buyers who are strongly independent, and to ensure quality performance from each group. Identifying, recruiting, and training qualified farmers and willing buyers remains an ongoing challenge. AHN needs to ensure that participating farmers are growing the right product the right way to meet the identified buyers’ requests. Likewise, AHN must oversee their buyers to make sure they are following through on their commitment to actually purchase the requested items, and make sure the food gets where it’s supposed to go. Most food distributors manage one end of the supply chain or the other, not both.
  

AHN’s model seems replicable in other regions, provided there is “soft money” to supplement sales. Whether the model can actually achieve financial sustainability remains unproven.

It’s worth noting several factors that have allowed the business to get this far. First, the outreach to and involvement of both ends of the supply chain, while sometimes difficult to manage, also has helped ensure a business model that serves both parties’ needs. Second, a valuable strategy for recruiting farmers was the emphasis on moving them out of a dead-end commodity crop (in this case tobacco) and diversifying their production for niche markets. Third, the community bought into the program in part because a roster of additional economic opportunities was created for truckers, processors, and other auxiliary staff. And finally, the diversified assortment of buyers and distributors increased the success of the model by increasing sales opportunities, minimizing the risk if any one buyer dropped out.

As of December 2009, Anthony will be stepping down as executive director of Appalachian Sustainable Development and its AHN program to spend more time on his own farm and on his consulting work. Although the change in leadership has meant significant strategic planning and assessment for the organization—Anthony was founder and has served as its executive director for 14 years—it seems clear Appalachian Sustainable development’s role as a regional and national sustainable development leader is not in jeopardy.

Since its inception, Appalachian Sustainable Development, and Anthony himself, have been widely recognized: with a Ford Foundation Leadership for a Changing World Award; with the Virginia Green Building Award; as one of 10 finalists for the 2005 Amazon.com Nonprofit Innovation Award; and by Farm Aid as a Farmer Hero (to name a few).

Another measure of progress is how key agencies, nongovernmental organizations, and other members of the Abingdon community view AHN. “It has gone,” says Anthony, “from, at best, a sort of grudging acceptance of our existence to somewhere between a willing partnership and very enthusiastic engagement. All of this adds up to farmers having better opportunities and getting more balanced advice, with more emphasis on local access to good food.”