Food access organizations from across Jefferson and Clallam Counties gather monthly for the Peninsula Food Coalition (PFC) meeting, a collaborative regional network now co-hosted by Clallam County WSU and Jefferson Community Foundation. The PFC has been working since 2014 to improve food access, reduce silos, and develop collaborative solutions across the North Olympic Peninsula.
This month’s convening took place in person on June 4th in Blyn and brought together food banks, community-based meal providers, social service agencies, tribal partners, farm to school programs, agricultural advocates, and community organizations collectively serving thousands of local residents each month. Participants shared updates on their work and explored common challenges and opportunities related to food distribution, storage, transportation, local purchasing, and the potential for meeting emerging community needs.
A key area of discussion focused on the potential for coordinated bulk purchasing and local food processing. As global and national supply chains are impacted by increased fuel prices, in turn impacting transportation costs of commodity foods, local food banks and coalition members identified opportunities to strengthen food security while supporting the regional agricultural economy. Through strategies such as collaborative purchasing agreements, pre-season contracting with local farmers, and infrastructure development for processed, PFC partners acknowledged the long-term value of increasing the amount of locally grown and processed, shelf-stable food products.
Participants discussed examples from other regions, including programs that combine commodity ingredients with locally grown produce to create affordable products for schools and food access programs. The group explored what similar models could look like on the North Olympic Peninsula, with ideas ranging from locally sourced canned and processed foods to cooperative purchasing systems that help smaller organizations access larger-volume pricing.
The coalition also highlighted ongoing needs for expanded warehousing, cold storage, transportation capacity, mobile distribution models, and strategies that bring food directly to where people need it most. With this regional coalition, the PFC allows for the exchange of ideas, models, and programs across counties, and grows the potential for shared and coordainted solutions to these issues.
As a next step, the Peninsula Food Coalition is considering forming a bulk purchasing workgroup and seeding plans for a regional gathering in late 2026 that would bring together farmers, food access organizations, institutional buyers, and community partners. The goal will be to better understand regional demand, identify promising products and crops, and explore pilot projects that strengthen both food security and the local food economy.
The monthly Peninsula Food Coalition gatherings continue to serve as a collaborative space for both established regional food banks and grassroots food access programs to grow relationships, share ideas and concerns, and move together with innovative collective action toward a more resilient regional food system that ensures all members of our community are well nourished.
Learn more about the Peninsula Food Coalition at: https://jcfgives.org/peninsula-food-coalition
