This report is part of a multi-volume technical report series entitled, Running a Food Hub, with this guide serving as a companion piece to other United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) reports by providing in-depth guidance on starting and running a food hub enterprise. In order to compile the most current information on best management and operations practices, the authors used published information on food hubs, surveyed numerous operating food hubs, and pulled from their existing experience and knowledge of working directly with food hubs across the country as an agricultural business consulting firm. The report’s main focus is on the operational issues faced by food hubs, including choosing an organizational structure, choosing a location, deciding on infrastructure and equipment, logistics and transportation, human resources, and risks. As such, the guide explores the different decision points associated with the organizational steps for starting and implementing a food hub. For some sections, sidebars provide “decision points,” which food hub managers will need to address to make key operational decisions. This illustrated guide may assist the operational staff at small businesses or third-party organizations that may provide aggregation, marketing, and distribution services from local and regional producers to assist with wholesale, retail, and institution demand at government institutions, colleges/universities, restaurants, grocery store chains, etc. Undergraduate students pursuing coursework for a bachelor of science degree in food science, or agricultural economics may be interested in this guide. Additionally, this reference work will be helpful to small businesses within the food trade discipline.

How will the U.S. dairy industry look under deregulation? How has California become the nation's leading dairy producer? Why have consumers preferred the real thing over artificial dairy products? This book will help readers make sense of the American dairy business, whose complexities and eccentricities so often seem to defy understanding. On the brink of far-reaching changes in federal dairy policy, it gives a much-needed account of how market forces and government intervention drive the most regulated and complicated agricultural industry in the United States. The first comprehensive book on the topic,Marketing and Pricing of Milk and Dairy Products in the U.S. considers every aspect of this complicated puzzle. Looking at dairy products from milk and yogurt to butter, cheese, and ice cream, it explains supply and demand, dairy cooperatives, federal milk marketing orders and price supports, local and state regulations, and international trade. Finally, in a clear and compelling manner, the author proposes reforms that would benefit the dairy industry, especially a move toward less regulation.