{"id":305676,"date":"2026-10-13T10:46:18","date_gmt":"2026-10-13T10:46:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/305676\/"},"modified":"2026-10-13T10:46:18","modified_gmt":"2026-10-13T10:46:18","slug":"mapping-new-routes-from-farm-to-table-in-pittsburgh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/305676\/","title":{"rendered":"Mapping new routes from farm to table in Pittsburgh"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pittsburgh\u2019s Public Source is an independent nonprofit newsroom serving the Pittsburgh region.\u00a0Sign up for their free newsletters.<\/a><\/p>\n

By Aakanksha Agarwal, Pittsburgh\u2019s Public Source
October 2, 2026<\/p>\n

Ben Buchanan learned butchery from older workers in a succession of shops. As that generation retired, he saw farmers left with fewer places to take their animals and shops struggling to find skilled replacements. When the pandemic disrupted the meat industry in 2020, he pushed to finish a mobile meat-processing trailer he had been building. \u201cI really gotta get this thing done and get out there and start doing my thing,\u201d he recalled thinking.<\/p>\n

Alongside its butchery and mobile meat-processing work, his Mt. Lebanon-based company Unified Fields<\/a> trains workers and helps others open or improve processing facilities, narrowing one of the gaps in Southwestern Pennsylvania\u2019s food economy. Across the Pittsburgh region, producers also face obstacles finding land, paying for equipment, arranging deliveries and securing buyers.<\/p>\n

Those concerns brought growers, food businesses and advocates to Sherwood Event Center on Oct. 1 for Pittsburgh Local Lab: The Future of Food Production<\/a>, organized by the community resilience nonprofit Mechanism<\/a>. The conversation in Wilkinsburg was a step in a foundation-funded process that will include a roundtable later this month, but which depends for its ultimate success on community consensus that a stronger local food economy is crucial.<\/p>\n

Their discussion showed how problems compound. A grower needs a lease long enough to justify improving the soil. Farms might combine harvests to fill larger orders, but someone must organize deliveries. A butcher needs workers and equipment, then customers willing to buy more than the most desirable cuts.<\/p>\n

Connecting the people and programs working on those problems is a central concern, said Laura Masulis, Mechanism\u2019s senior program manager leading the regional project. \u201cThere\u2019s amazing talent and expertise and connections already in the region,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The region has a Greater Pittsburgh Food Action Plan<\/a>, while Chatham University\u2019s Center for Regional Agriculture, Food and Transformation<\/a> (CRAFT) provides business assistance.<\/p>\n

\"\"Laura Masulis, Mechanism\u2019s senior program manager, at Mechanism\u2019s Pittsburgh Local Lab: The Future of Food Production, on Oct. 1. Masulis says there\u2019s amazing talent and expertise in the region\u2019s local food economy, and she hopes to help build connections between individuals and organizational support. (Photo by Stephanie Strasburg\/Pittsburgh\u2019s Public Source)<\/p>\n

But business owners and nonprofits described difficulty finding assistance, understanding requirements, knowing whom to contact and addressing perceptions that food companies are risky investments, Masulis said. That leaves people navigating separate sources of help while trying to grow food or keep a business open.<\/p>\n

Clare Clark, a coalition manager at the Pittsburgh Food Policy Council<\/a>, pointed to opportunities for \u201cconnecting farmers to land opportunities\u201d and \u201cinstitutions to local producers,\u201d including larger buyers such as schools and hospitals.<\/p>\n

It starts with land<\/p>\n

New York-based Mechanism, formerly the Urban Manufacturing Alliance, began hosting listening sessions around Pittsburgh last winter. A seven-person local group helped guide the project, which identified interest in sharing workers, buying supplies together and combining deliveries. \u201cWe\u2019re working on two levels at the same time, trying to get some quick earlier wins and then also some longer-term bigger investments happening too,\u201d Masulis said.<\/p>\n

At the local lab event, Mechanism\u2019s Director of Program Strategy Tanu Kumar moderated a\u00a0 panel with Buchanan, Clark and Chatham professor Chris Murakami, who teaches students to examine farming, the environment and food production.<\/p>\n

Murakami brought students from his agroecology class at Chatham University to the gathering, encouraging them to move from \u201cworking in the food system\u201d to \u201cworking on the food system\u201d by examining how land, ownership and access to buyers shape local food production.<\/p>\n

Clark said a starting point is land access for growers. Lots can have steep slopes, poor sunlight or contaminated soil, while short leases discourage growers from investing in improvements. \u201cIt\u2019s a difficult landscape to navigate,\u201d Clark said.<\/p>\n

The Pittsburgh Food Policy Council\u2019s land-access committee is developing a guide to land options, applications, timelines and costs. Clark said housing and community gardens should coexist, adding, \u201cBut there\u2019s a lot of work there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"FourClare Clark, a coalition manager at the Pittsburgh Food Policy Council, talks about connecting farmers to land opportunities. (Photo by Stephanie Strasburg\/Pittsburgh\u2019s Public Source)<\/p>\n

Murakami described reviewing records of former Allegheny County farms being converted into housing developments while working for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Longer leases and opportunities to buy land would help growers protect investments, he said.<\/p>\n

Buchanan drew attention to efforts to replace farmland with townhouses that add to the number of people who need food. \u201cWhat are all these people going to eat?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

Cooperation and its challenges<\/p>\n

Once growers have land, working together could help them reach more customers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Murakami described a produce-selling pilot connected to Chatham\u2019s BRIDGES project<\/a>, which links Eden Hall Farm with Pittsburgh urban growers. The idea was to combine crops from several small farms into a subscription service in which customers would receive regular boxes containing produce from participating growers. A farmer who could not supply enough variety alone could contribute to a fuller box assembled by the group.<\/p>\n

But combining crops also meant coordinating collection, transportation and communication, while accounting for everyone\u2019s time. The original subscription plan proved difficult to put into practice, Murakami said. \u201cThe biggest challenge was just the logistics and transportation of it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He also described a shared-fund model: Growers would set aside a portion of produce sales and decide together how to use that money, including for equipment or other farm improvements. The aim is to make selling together support the farms\u2019 longer-term needs.<\/p>\n

Selling together<\/p>\n

Meat processors face similar questions. Buchanan described a Washington County processor facing substantial planning expenses before construction on an expansion. \u201cMeat processing is a very capital intensive industry,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s not a tech unicorn, it\u2019s not gonna generate 10x returns.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once operating, a processor still needs buyers for everything it produces. Steaks may sell quickly, while trim \u2014 the smaller pieces left after larger cuts are removed \u2014 accumulates in freezers instead of being sold as ground meat.<\/p>\n

Buchanan proposed collecting trim from several small processors and finding dependable buyers. This way, government agencies and other large purchasers could buy more local meat, he suggested.<\/p>\n

\"AAbdulkadir Chirambo of Mwanakuche Community Garden shares stories from his urban farm that serves the local Somali-Bantu community at Mechanism\u2019s Pittsburgh Local Lab on Oct. 1. (Photo by Stephanie Strasburg\/Pittsburgh\u2019s Public Source)<\/p>\n

Masulis said much of the existing purchasing and delivery network serves large companies at a scale small producers cannot easily match. Combining orders and sharing transportation could help smaller businesses reach buyers.<\/p>\n

Will planning be worth the effort?<\/p>\n

Farmers and processors also need support to participate in planning, panelists said. Attending meetings can mean lost income, while livestock still needs care.<\/p>\n

Clark said organizers must \u201cmake sure that their time is adequately valued,\u201d including paying participants and involving them as partners in grant-funded projects.<\/p>\n

Masulis said a healthier regional system would mean:<\/p>\n

More successful farms<\/p>\n

More local purchasing by schools, hospitals and restaurants<\/p>\n

Better wages and working conditions.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not like it\u2019s going to be all locally grown and made,\u201d she said. But a larger share could be.<\/p>\n

Mechanism\u2019s work to gather input and develop proposals runs through November, supported by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. Putting proposals into practice depends on further funding and community support. An Oct. 22 roundtable<\/a> will bring findings to funders and policymakers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t want to own any of this long term,\u201d Masulis said. \u201cThe hope is that we\u2019re sort of catalyzing other local folks to take some of these ideas and approaches and move them forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aakanksha Agarwal is a wine, travel and lifestyle writer from India. Formerly a Bollywood stylist, she now resides in Pittsburgh, and can be reached at aakanksha.agarwal1988@gmail.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This article<\/a> first appeared on Pittsburgh\u2019s Public Source<\/a> and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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