1. Idaho Botanical Garden capital campaign detail
2. City of Good detail

BOISE — A planned expansion of the Idaho Botanical Garden includes a food hub in partnership with the Boise Farmers Market and nonprofit meal distributor City of Good.

“Our primary goal is to increase access to local food and to support our local farmers,” said Erin Anderson, botanical garden executive director.

The east Boise garden’s updated master plan calls for expanding the site by 10 acres to a total of 25, and building a 22,000-square foot visitor and event center to include space for the food hub.

Boise Farmers Market, which each year leases space in parking lots near 15th Street and Shoreline Drive downtown, would move to the botanical garden, executive director Amber Beierle said. The market would occupy part of the new building and some outdoor space.

About one-third of the $15 million total project cost is in hand and fundraising continues, Anderson said. Groundbreaking is targeted for 2025.

The planned building’s combined event and food hub space is about 10,000 square feet, of which the hub would take about 3,000.

Food hubs manage aggregation, marketing and distribution of products grown by regional producers. Ideally, a farmer whose supply may be too small to meet the needs of large buyers can gain access to them by way of a food hub.

Boise has not had a sizable hub for about six years though long-established Global Gardens operates a hub and is a Boise Farmers Market partner.

For the planned hub, free usage of space, a nonprofit setup and the lead organizations’ established constituencies and operations are among the anticipated advantages, project leaders said.

“We want to make it a critical part of business for our farmers,” said Beierle, the farmers market executive director.

Farmers already sell directly — including at the farmers market, which has seen higher attendance in recent years — but “the way we are doing it now is a little disparate,” she said. The food hub would provide a central location for buyers and sellers, availability to producers throughout the week and other advantages.

Equipment for processing fresh produce for distribution is planned.

“You have a lot of small farmers who don’t have access to, or money for, equipment,” said Britt Udesen, City of Good executive director. The hub will “help farmers grow their businesses.”

A $1.5 million grant of American Rescue Plan Act funds is helping to build partnerships and programs tied to food insecurity and the planned hub. The grant is distributed by the city of Boise and administered by City of Good.

Hub organizers aim to bring in more local food system participants, Beierle said.

“This nonprofit partnership allows us to purchase directly from our local farmers while getting food into the hands of food-insecure Boiseans,” she said.