A Practitioner Network for Investment, Collaboration, and Regional Impact
Across the Heartland — Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and northwest Arkansas — communities are reimagining how food systems can drive economic vitality, public health, and regional resilience. At the center of this effort is the Heartland Food Business Coalition (HFBC) — a multi-state team of organizations and supporters committed to helping small and mid-size farm and food businesses succeed in local and regional markets.
The HFBC exists because the opportunity — and the challenge — is bigger than any single organization or funder can tackle alone. By aligning coalition members’ on-the-ground expertise with strategic philanthropic and public investment, HFBC creates a powerful platform for lasting regional change.
The Coalition invites practitioners and funders to join in building and sustaining this effort to advance:
- Business Support that Works
- Regional Coordination that Builds Systems
- Capital with Purpose
Contact the HFBC’s facilitator, rural Missouri community development corporation New Growth, to take next steps: info@newgrowthmo.org.
A Coalition with Momentum
Originally organized in 2023-2025 with USDA investment, this practitioner network has already demonstrated the power of collaboration. The Heartland Regional Food Business Center coordinated more than 30 partners across five states, delivered technical assistance at scale, and directed investment into community-based food enterprises.
As federal funding shifts, the network’s transition to the independent Heartland Food Business Coalition ensures that hard-won momentum is not lost. Practitioners and philanthropic and public investors can sustain and expand a high-performing model rather than rebuild from scratch.
The Challenge We Address Together
Despite growing demand for locally produced food, small and emerging farm and food businesses continue to face barriers that limit their development and durability:
- Fragmented access to technical assistance and business support
- Persistent financing and funding gaps for equipment, facilities, and working capital
- Shortfalls in regional infrastructure, such as processing, storage, and distribution
- Historic underinvestment in small and unconventional enterprises
The fact is, most food and agriculture business support prioritizes large-scale commodity production and global supply chains. This leaves community-based enterprises underserved and regional resilience underbuilt.
HFBC fills the gap by ensuring entrepreneurs receive the right resource at the right time, while aligning partners and funders around shared strategies for strengthening local and regional food economies.
Built for Collective Impact
The Heartland Food Business Coalition brings community development organizations, technical assistance providers, food hubs, lenders, universities and extension services into a coordinated regional network.
For coalition members, HFBC is a force multiplier — expanding reach, strengthening referrals, reducing duplication, and creating a unified platform for learning, advocacy, and growth.
For funders, HFBC offers a high-leverage investment vehicle; one that aligns multiple organizations and initiatives around common goals and objectives. Investment in HFBC members and work on shared HFBC goals and objectives ensures dollars support not just individual programs, but durable systems change.
What We Do: Three High-Impact Strategies
HFBC advances its mission through three interconnected strategies that benefit both entrepreneurs and the partners who serve them.
- Business Support That Works
Coalition partners deliver hands-on technical assistance — from startup guidance to growth planning — including:
- One-on-one coaching and mentorship
- Financial readiness and capital navigation
- Market access and buyer connections
- Training for value-added production and compliance
- Regional Coordination that Builds Systems
HFBC acts as a regional backbone, aligning efforts across five states to:
- Build distribution capacity and collaboration
- Identify and fill gaps in processing, distribution, and other infrastructure
- Reduce fragmentation in business support
- Enable cross-state learning and scaling
- Capital with Purpose
Through grant making, financing partnerships, and advocacy, HFBC helps channel investment for:
- Processing, storage, and cold-chain capacity
- Delivery and logistics systems
- Market expansion and value-chain coordination
- Entrepreneur-led infrastructure projects
Together, members and funders are building an entrepreneurial ecosystem where local food enterprises can start, scale, and sustain.
For members, HFBC collaboration strengthens service delivery and improves outcomes. For funders, it ensures investments translate into stronger businesses, local jobs, and measurable impact. Members gain a trusted structure for collaboration. Funders gain confidence that their support advances coordinated, strategic change rather than isolated projects.
Together HFBC members and funding partners can generate multiple returns: economic vitality, improved food access, community wealth, and regional resilience.