The following is a press release from the King Conservation District:

In addition to being home to Starbucks and Microsoft, King County has a thriving local food economy, with 1,837 farms, more than 40 farmers markets, and an expanding community of chefs, institutions, and thousands of consumers seeking fresh, locally-grown food.

The lack of processing, storage, and distribution facilities has been a major barrier limiting small farmers’ access to King County’s $600 million annual fresh food market. This spring King Conservation District launched a new “Infrastructure Mapping Tool” to help bridge the gap between local food producers and buyers.

Developed with the support of a $25,000 USDA Local Food Promotion Program grant, the easy-to-use online Infrastructure Mapping Tool was designed for farmers, food professionals, facility owners, and policy makers to expand opportunities for local food production and distribution in King County.

Farmers can utilize the new interactive tool to access information about more than 400 food processing and distribution facilities. Different layers allow users to customize searches by business types, including commercial kitchens, bakeries, co-packers and wholesalers, distributors, dryers and dehydrators, freezers, meat and poultry processors, and storage facilities to add value to their products and expand their market reach. At the same time, it will increase revenues for participating infrastructure business owners.

In addition, the Mapping Tool will be a valuable resource for assisting municipalities with food system policy and planning, including siting and funding decisions. Private businesses and non-profit organizations can also use the database for working together to create food hubs and other projects that are looking to site and develop food system infrastructure.

By strengthening King County’s local food processing and distribution infrastructure, the Mapping Tool will also facilitate increased buying by schools, hospitals, businesses, and other major institutions. The overall goal is to contribute to the development of a regional food system that is healthy, functional, equitable, and resilient.

The Infrastructure Mapping Tool is available via King Conservation District’s website:
www.kingcd.org/tools-infrastructure-mapping.htm.