About Tamar Valley Food Hubs
Tamar Valley Food Hubs is part of Tamar Grow Local which is a not-for-profit Community Interest Company (CIC) set up on co-operative principles for the benefit of the community, promoting sustainable local produce in the Tamar Valley.
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Since 2013, Tamar Valley Food Hubs has been working with producers from across the Tamar Valley to provide a convenient online farmers market supplying our communities with fresh, local produce every week.
Our aims include:
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Increasing access to local products by supporting local farms and food producers.
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Working towards environmental benefits, including reducing food miles, food waste and packaging waste
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Supporting farms which use agroecological methods and practice good animal welfare.
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Working on fair terms and fair prices for consumers and producers.
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Enabling people to better understand how food is produced and supplied.
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Enabling community building and supportive links between producers and consumers.
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Providing practical experience and learning for members, including farm experience.
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Co-operating with similar enterprises.
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How Tamar Valley Food Hubs works
The Open Food Network
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The Tamar Valley Food Hubs shopfront is hosted on the Open Food Network, an innovative piece of open source software available to community food hubs and producers around the world working to support fairer food systems.
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As a producer, you will have your own profile on the Open Food Network, where you will also set up your catalogue of products. You will set your own prices and be responsible for keeping your listings accurate, up to date and in line with legal requirements.
We think it's important that you have this control over your profile and your products, and it's also a key part of how we are able to pay you 85p of every pound customers spend with us. We will provide you with training and support as you get to know the Open Food Network, but it's important that you're prepared to learn to use the software, and familiarise yourself with the functions and processes that you will be using regularly.
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Sales and delivery
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We add an 18% markup to products you list with us, which means you receive 85p of every £1 that customers spend with us.
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Each week that you have sold produce, you will receive an order by email from the Open Food Network confirming what has been sold. You can then deliver to us between 7.30 - 10am on Friday, unless agreed otherwise.
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Please note: We cannot guarantee any volumes or definite sales and in order to maintain customer expectations, we expect you to deliver produce even if only 1 item has been sold. Please take this into account when thinking about listing your produce with us, and also the distance and time it will take you to travel to deliver to us each week.
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You will need to provide us with an invoice either weekly or monthly, and we then pay you by bank transfer at the start of each month for the previous month's sales.
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You manage your listings, so can adjust the produce, quantity available, and prices each week, depending on what you can supply.
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You receive your order by email on Wednesdays and can prepare exactly what's been sold, so there's no waste.
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We ask that you deliver any produce sold to us in Kelly Bray by 10am on Fridays.
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You set the price for your produce and we add an 18% markup, so you receive 85p of every pound spent by our customers.
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We pay producers by bank transfer after the last trading Friday of each month.
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All Food Hubs producers become members of Tamar Grow Local, and have a say in how the cooperative runs.
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