Read moreSponsors want to know why ‘grocery store on wheels’ isn’t more popular in Chattanooga
The Benwood Foundation’s program to promote locally grown food will shut down at the end of the year, almost four years after the initiative was launched.
Gaining Ground started in April 2010 with a three-year mission to establish a local food economy, link consumers with regional food growers and raise awareness about locally grown food. Benwood spent $2 million on the program, which was extended through 2013.
“It’s a trendy issue now, but it wasn’t when they started,” said Joel Houser, executive director of Crabtree Farms, which will be continuing some of the work Gaining Ground did. “There was a lot of foresight that went into that, and it’s thanks to that program that we are where we are.”
In the early days, Gaining Ground worked with about 40 or 50 farmers and restaurant owners, and that’s grown to more than 250 today, said Gaining Ground program director Jeff Pfitzer. The number of regular, full-time farmer’s markets in Chattanooga grew from two to six, and the larger markets are growing sales between 30 and 50 percent every year.