Local wholesale food distributor Lone Tree Foods was recently awarded a contract to package local produce and dairy products for nonprofits and food banks during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lone Tree Foods works to increase market access, mainly for local produce and dairy farmers. The company works with several farms in the Butler County area, including Abie Vegetable, Jisa Farmstead Cheese, Pekarek Produce and Daniels Produce.
“The goal starting out and still to this day is selling to restaurants and grocery stores – just doing anything we can to increase the distribution model for the local scene,” said Chad Juranek, finance manager and one of Lone Tree Foods’ owners.
But business went bad when COVID-19 forced many restaurants to close or scale back.
“If you look at the local scene, there are a lot of restaurants really trying to support local growers, local producers,” Juranek said.
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Without those businesses, small producers can’t make ends meet. But, in May the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) stepped in and announced its Farmer to Family Food Box program. The program is designed to support smaller producers during COVID-19 and deal with a larger food insecure population.
Lone Tree Foods buys products from farmers, gathers the food into boxes and ships it. The USDA buys the food boxes on behalf of the food banks. While contracted with the USDA, Juranek said Lone Tree’s main staging area has been in Abie. There, food is consolidated, boxed and shipped to food banks in Lincoln and Omaha.
“When this USDA program came out we originally were packing in Lincoln. Because of the amount of product we had going through our Lincoln warehouse, it just made sense to take it to Abie because of location, logistics and labor,” Juranek said.
The USDA program is a win-win for small producers and food banks.
“We wanted to make sure we were able to keep moving, our farmers were able to keep product moving. And there’s a lot of people out there that need food,” Juranek said.
Juranek said Lone Tree has a good working history with No More Empty Pots, a food bank in Omaha. They also work with Catholic Charities, Lutheran Family Services, the Malcolm X Foundation and the Community Action Partnership, he said. He said one food bank told him there was a 400% increase in demand in March and April.
In a July 29 USDA press release about the Farmers to Families program, Community Action Partnership of Western Nebraska Community Health Services Director Sarah Ochoa said there has definitely been a need for food.
"We’re not seeing the same people every week, which is a good thing, people are coming when they need it,” Ochoa said.
Juranek said the USDA has been interested in partnering with companies that have the experience and ability to move food efficiently.
“A lot of government programs, they have to go through a very rigorous, thorough process to make sure that they’re getting absolutely everything," Juranek said. "Well, when you have an emergency situation like has been going on, you don’t get the luxury of time."
He noted that the process of applying for the program was grueling because of the time constraints.
Juranek said the USDA is re-contracting for another two month period in September and October, and Lone Tree Foods is right in the middle of that reapplication process. Although the program has been extended, Juranek said he thinks the program will go away eventually.
“Their plans are through the end of the year, but there are also monetary constraints. They have a budget, they don’t have unlimited funds,” Juranek said.
Although it is a short term measure, Juranek said he is happy to be involved.
“Being able to help out with something like this on both ends, I can’t tell you how gratifying it is,” Juranek said.
Molly Hunter is a reporter for The Banner-Press. Reach her via email at molly.hunter@lee.net.