From left to right: Councilmember Laurie-Anne Sayles; Jennifer Freeman, executive director, Community FarmShare; Lindsay Smith staff for MWCOG FARM Committee; Jenna Umbriac, vice president of programs, Manna Food Center; Councilmember Andrew Friedson; Heather Bruskin, director of the Montgomery County Office of Food Systems Resilience; Truphena Choti, Founder and CEO, AfriThrive; and Clark Mercer, executive director of COG.
The food system supply chain includes farmers, processors, aggregators, distributors, and consumers. Food aggregators play a particularly important role by collecting, processing, packaging and delivering food from multiple farms in quantities large enough to meet the needs of schools, hospitals, grocery stores and other large buyers. These“ middle market” partners help bridge a critical gap between producers and institutions.
Many individual farms do not produce enough volume, or have the time, staffing, storage, or general capacity to sell directly to large institutional buyers. On the other side, institutional buyers typically do not have the time or capacity to coordinate purchases from dozens or hundreds of individual farms. The role of an aggregator is to bridge those gaps.
The aggregation facility that will be established by the awardee of the Food Aggregation Grant Program will connect locally grown food with wholesale markets— both public and private— including schools, senior centers, hospitals, food banks and correctional facilities, and will serve to strengthen local agricultural economies while building long-term food system resilience.
“ Local governments have a critical role in building the long-term resilience of our regional food supply chain. By increasing market opportunities for small, local farms and food businesses and expanding the availability of locally grown food for residents today, we are also strengthening our food system in preparation for future challenges. Collective leadership across jurisdictions is how we will transform food security for the entire region,” said Heather Bruskin, director of the Montgomery County Office of Food Systems Resilience.
Cultivating Regional Systems Change: The Local Food Procurement Challenge
Montgomery County is simultaneously advancing regional collaboration through participation in the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments( COG) Local Food Procurement Challenge.
On March 24, 2026, the Montgomery County Council introduced a resolution to make Montgomery County the first county in the region to join the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments( COG) Local Food Procurement Challenge. The goal of the COG Local Food Procurement Challenge is to encourage local jurisdictions to use their existing purchasing
6 plenty I summer growing 2026