The Table Urban Farm
Optimizing Produce Distribution for The Table Urban Farm: A food system study
Jeanine Kopaska Broek
Executive Summary
The Table Urban Farm launched in 2011 as a not-for-profit, multi-site farm in South Denver.
The mission of the farm is to offer community, nourishment and grace to those we connect with
in the cultivation process, offer the food to, and gather with for meals.
After a few seasons of sharing food using the community supported agriculture (CSA) approach,
we found that the CSA distribution method was not meeting our goals financially or relationally.
Additionally, hundreds of pounds of food were being dropped off at the food bank. We continue
to grow more thousands of pounds of food each season, sharing a portion through our own
distribution mechanism called Veggie Bike, a mobile food trailer that carries food and sets up for
distribution wherever the bike is ridden. The rest of the food grown continues to be brought to
local food banks.
The operations hub for the farm and food distribution is located in the Overland Park
Neighborhood which is a food desert. Learning more about this community through community
participatory research, interviews and available data would strengthen The Table’s ability to
serve the community. Identifying consumer food preferences and any untapped food outlets
would help optimize the farm production and distribution stream. Finding paths to more efficient
use of our resources while building community will reduce resource drain and improve work
satisfaction.