Farmers, distributors, and aggregators can now bid online
Cornell Cooperative Extension of Allegany County is assembling bids from New York State farmers, distributors, and aggregators of any size on behalf of a collective of School Food Associations which includes the districts of Wellsville, Scio, Whitesville, and Genesee-Valley. The schools are cumulatively seeking to purchase over 5,900 pounds of fresh, unprocessed, in-season vegetables and fruits of the following varieties: Cauliflower, Broccoli, Zucchini/Summer Squash, Winter Squash, Onions, Bell Peppers, Strawberries, Blueberries, Sweet Corn, Green Beans, Carrots, Peas, Raspberries, and Blackberries.
Bidders must outline their proposed price per unit and total quantity for each item they are able to provide. The bid is a line-by-line bid. Bidders do not need to meet total quantities of an item in order to respond to the bid; to encourage farms of all sizes to participate, partial quantities are accepted. The bid includes a geographic preference, which awards more points to vendors based on several criteria: proximity to Allegany County, traceability, if the produce was grown by the responding bidder, and price. Awarded bidders must deliver produce to the Allegany County Jail (Belmont, NY) as produce becomes ready. The Allegany County Sheriff’s Office provides processing services (wash, chop, blanch, vacuum seal) to freeze in-season produce and will act as the food hub for these participating school districts during this project. Growers are not responsible for delivery from the Jail to the respective schools. One main barrier for implementing Farm to School in Allegany County is the short growing season, which can be overcome by processing and freezing produce while it is in season. School Cafeterias will serve these processed local vegetables in lunch meals throughout the school year.
For full information, please see bidding documents, which are available on the home page of Cornell Cooperative Extension of Allegany County’s website: http://allegany.cce.cornell.edu/ as of Friday June 17th, 2022. Bids can be sent digitally as a fillable pdf and emailed Laura Hunsberger, lkh47@cornell.edu, or printed and mailed to the Cornell Cooperative Extension of Allegany County office at 5435A County Road 48, Belmont, NY 14813. Bids are due by July 1, 2022.
If you have any questions or would like assistance, please contact Cornell Cooperative Extension’s WNY Farm to Institution Coordinator Becky O’Connor – (845)706-0293 or rao84@cornell.edu.
