Thank you for your interest in the Gorge Farmer Collective - a farmer-owned cooperative!
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Our 2024 Producer Application is now live. Click the buttons below to download our Application & Producer Guide.
We aim to streamline our regional food chain in a way that “lets farmers farm.” We operate robust, year-round, direct-to-consumer and wholesale online marketplaces, serving as a one-stop-shop for individuals, families, restaurants, schools, hospitals, and grocery retailers to easily access our products. For our producers, that means the ability to consolidate dozens of accounts into one delivery and one payment - GFC will take care of distribution, invoicing, accounting, marketing, and customer relations.
If you’re a farmer, rancher, fisher, or value-added food business in any of the Gorge’s five counties or surrounding areas, you’re eligible to apply for Cooperative Membership: this means you own a share in the business, have voting rights, and will receive dividends in years with excess profits.
We look forward to bringing more of our producer friends aboard this year, to further our Cooperative movement and realize the full potential of what we can achieve when working together.
Community Partners
It takes a village! Our collaborative efforts extend beyond our dozens of Cooperative farmers - we work with many local community partner organizations to do what we do, and we wouldn’t be here today without support from the following:
Beyond their taprooms, Double Mountain owns an old fruit packing warehouse outside Hood River where they brew cider, store kegs and supplies, and lease out cold storage space to our Cooperative. We couldn't do what we do without this invaluable cold storage infrastructure and their team's forklift skills!
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Freebridge Brewing is our rockstar pickup host in downtown The Dalles, whose goal is to bring the people in our community together over stunning craft beers and artisan food. Owners Steve & Laurie are local food advocates, and we’re working with them closely to develop our wholesale distribution program. Grab a pint and a pizza at your next GFC pickup to support two local businesses at once!
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Our Goldendale pickup location. Because food is medicine!
Gorge Grown Food Network is a local nonprofit whose mission is to build an inclusive, resilient regional food system that improves the health and well-being of our community. We partner with Gorge Grown to supply fresh fruits and vegetables to their Veggie Rx program, providing medical patients on a limited income with healthy foods on a weekly basis. Gorge Grown has been integral to our Cooperative’s growth by providing technical assistance for grant writing, facilitating Gorge-wide food systems collaboration through their Food Security Coalition, and by laying the foundations of a thriving regional food movement that we continue to build upon, together. You can donate to this community cornerstone nonprofit here.
Founded in 1889, the Columbia Grange No. 87 in Lyle is the oldest grange in the State of Washington in continuous operation in the same building. The Lyle Grange hall graciously hosts our Lyle pickup, where Grange Manager Annie will greet you with a smile and help you with your items. You can support the Grange Hall restoration project here.
The Mt. Hood Town Hall has long been the center of the upper Hood River valley community– first built as a school in 1914 and incorporated into a nonprofit organization in 1985, it continues to thrive as a community center. The Mt. Hood Town Hall served as our pack site, upper valley pickup host, and bulk-buying Fall Haul event locale in 2021. This year, the Town Hall serves as a pickup location with Building Manager Kristin making sure all your needs are met during pickup. You can lend your support by volunteering or donating here.
The Mt. View Grange in White Salmon is a place to educate, recreate, and enrich lives. Founded in 1890, the Grange aims to support farmers and bring neighbors together, with a keen interest in living in harmony with our natural environment and advocating for sustainable food systems that leave the planet better than we found it. In 2021, we partnered with the Mt. View Grange to host our White Salmon pickup site, and in 2022 we now also rent their facility as our aggregation and order packing hub.
The Oregon Food Hub Network is part of the Oregon Community Food Systems Network and is a partnership with the Oregon State University Center for Small Farms & Community Food Systems. This working group serves as a peer learning community of local food hub projects around the state: businesses or organizations that aggregate, distribute, and market locally grown and made food products. Food Hubs connect local and regional agricultural producers to wholesale, retail, and institutional buyers they can’t reach on their own. We are grateful to collaborate with and learn from this statewide network of food hub leaders thanks to the Food Hub Club!
Randonnée Coffee Co. hosts our pickup in downtown Mosier. Swing by for a cup of small batch, craftily hand-roasted coffee and a sweet treat!
The Rockford Grange is a community organization with its roots in agriculture. Established in 1913, this community resource was instrumental in bringing needed services to rural areas, and to this day continues to serve as a meeting place, event host, and more. We partnered with the Rockford Grange in 2020, our inaugural year, as our packing and pickup location, and they'll be hosting our Hood River pickup again in 2023. Learn more about becoming a Grange member or make a donation here.
We partnered with the Ruins as a pack location winter of 2022 - rent this stunning space for your next event and check out their locals-centric Tuesday concert series!
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Our Stevenson pickup location. Working with regional artists and craft makers, Traverse PNW Market has curated a market to highlight a sampling of the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area. Showcasing locally crafted beverages, provisions, gifts and novelties, that pay tribute to all the ways we may traverse this magical region.
Treebird Community Market & Food Hub
Treebird’s upcoming Community Market & Food Hub is a mission-driven, full-service retail
grocery deli, butcher and food hub that works directly with local farmers and producers in the Columbia River Gorge and beyond. We are thrilled to partner with these fine folks and access their food hub infrastructure, which includes general warehousing space for cold and dry storage, cross docking capabilities, bulk supply purchasing, and a commissary kitchen to scale up our Cooperative. Our Hood River pickup was located in their parking lot in 2022, and we are excited to partner with Treebird more closely in the future: we both have complimentary, mighty visions regarding the accessibility and viability of our local food system, so stay tuned to see what we accomplish together! You can support their movement by donating here.
Underwood Conservation District
The Underwood Conservation District (UCD) engages landowners and land users throughout Skamania and west Klickitat Counties in the conservation, enhancement, and sustainable use of natural resources through voluntary stewardship. UCD provides technical assistance, cost-share assistance, project and water quality monitoring, community involvement and education, and support of local stakeholder groups within the district. The district works with willing and interested landowners in implementing conservation practices. UCD helped us secure our second refrigerated trailer, and is our neighbor at our Mt. View Grange pickup location with their community Farm Tool Library program. Support this awesome organization with a donation!
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