Our Roots
Planted Firmly in Southwest Washington Communities
sustainable local farmining
Farmers Feeding People
The hub started with a board of local producers formed in 2019. Farmer members of the Southwest Washington Growers Cooperative lead the Southwest Washington Food Hub as board and committee members, technical advisors, and even in the warehouse. The hub is a product of Southwest Washington farmers wanting to help build resilient regional food systems and offer an alternative to traditional food distribution services.
Who we are
Our Mission
We believe through partnership and collaboration, we can create new markets, achieve sustainability, and overcome barriers. By providing access to multiple producers, we can build a more consistent and broader range of products for local consumers, further driving market interest, and creating a sustainable local food system.
Our Vision
Sustainability
swwa growers cooperative
Supporting the community that supports us
The Southwest Washington Food Hub
For decades, Southwest Washington farms were anchored by regional crop contracts that kept thousands of acres productive and connected to a processing market. When those contracts disappeared in 2016, farmers across Southwestern Washington faced a real question about what came next. The answer they built was the Southwest Washington Growers Cooperative, and the Food Hub became its consumer-facing expression: a farmer-guided operation that aggregates produce, meat, and dairy from across the producer network and moves it directly into the communities where those farms operate. Rather than depending on a single buyer or a distant processing chain, the Food Hub distributes that risk across a cooperative structure and a local customer base. It runs on a model that’s practical by design — one coordinated system, multiple farms, and a shared commitment to making local food genuinely accessible rather than aspirational.
Southwest Washington Grain Project
The Grain Project grew out of the same movement that started the cooperative: Southwest Washington farmers losing thousands of acres of crop contracts, and asking what came next. Co-op members began growing malting barley in 2019, building a program that would eventually span thousands of acres across spring and winter plantings. That work laid the groundwork for a larger infrastructure investment — a grain-handling and rail transload facility at the Port of Chehalis, made possible through state, county, and federal funding. The facility reached completion in early 2026, giving the region a critical link between locally grown grain and wider commodity markets. The cooperative is currently working to secure an operating agreement and establish the grain contracts and logistics that will define the next chapter of this effort.