Improve social determinants of health with local food

Access to good, wholesome food is a social determinant of health. Communities lacking access are often dealt poorer health outcomes and higher odds of chronic illness, like anemia, diabetes, hypertension, obesity, mental health issues, and developmental delays among children.

These conditions are detrimental to the people and families affected, and expensive for our healthcare institutions. In order to see positive health outcomes in vulnerable communities, we need to increase the amount, variety, and accessibility of healthy foods reaching its members. When fresh produce is prescribed or distributed via healthcare sites, they can transform community health. Incorporating local fruits and vegetables can amplify the impact of food as medicine programs.

That’s where the Common Market comes in. We make it easy to source from local farmers for your food as medicine program. When you source local, you get access to options that are full of flavor and nutrients, and you support a thriving regional food system. As innovative partners in local food, we will support your needs and bring highly nutritious, freshly picked local food straight from the farm to your site. We’ll take care of the backend logistics, so you can focus on the health of your community.

Our Food As Medicine Partners

Our Food as Medicine Partners

We work with healthcare sites, community benefits departments, and food as medicine programs across the country to address healthy food access needs. Our partners include:


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Why Local?

Local food increases the efficacy of your food as medicine program by providing a variety of nutrient-dense, high-quality options that meet the demands of community members and align with institutional values. Local sourcing connects you to a network of small and medium-sized farms and ranches in your region that are committed to regenerative farming practices and producing clean, safe food.

Your choice to buy local creates a wave of impact. When you purchase from our network of local farmers, you support values along:

  • Local economies
  • Farms led by people of color, women, veterans
  • Workers’ rights and wages
  • Animal welfare
  • Consumer health and nutrition
  • Regenerative agriculture, soil health, biodiversity
  • And more!

The Common Market is a Convenient Source of Local Food

At the Common Market, we make local sourcing for your food as medicine program easy and reliable by:

  • Picking up the food from the farmer and delivering it to your site
  • Creating strict food safety protocols including HACCP plans, recall plans, and everyday quality checks
  • Using a streamlined payment process with flexible billing plans designed to work for you
  • Pre-building boxes that can be easily distributed to community members
  • Providing guidance around best practices for incorporating values, like local, diversity and equity, and climate, into your food as medicine program
  • Putting farm, city, and state of origin information on every box maintain transparency and traceability with every delivery

Working with The Common Market is just as straightforward as any other distributor, with all the added benefits of local food.

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How to Make your Food as Medicine Program Local

There are just a few simple steps to follow to bring local food to your community. Here’s how it works:

  1. Connect with our team–simply fill out our interest form below!
  2. Create a partnership between your healthcare site and The Common Market
  3. Browse our local availability list and delivery plan for your region
  4. Place your order of healthy, local food
  5. Receive your order delivered directly to your site
  6. Use The Common Market marketing materials to promote local food and get patients excited about eating healthy

Local Food as Medicine Possibilities

The Common Market offers a variety of ways to integrate local food into your food as medicine program. Possibilities for collaboration include:

  • FoodRx Programs - Increasingly, states and institutions are sponsoring healthcare providers to prescribe fresh foods to patients as a part of their medical care. The Common Market can help! We deliver local vegetables and fruits to a convenient location and innovate to reduce barriers to access. Participants enjoy the variety of local food as it changes with the seasons.
  • Community Access Opportunities - Food insecurity is a public health crisis. Increasing community access to healthy foods through a partnership with The Common Market promotes good health and well-being, managed chronic disease, and improved food and nutrition security. Our partners often include a food insecurity screening on intake forms, then assess positive screens to determine who would most benefit from access to local, healthy foods.
  • Farm-Fresh Box Program - The Farm-Fresh Box Program is an easy way to encourage healthy habits and treat food-related illnesses before they begin. Farm-Fresh Boxes each contain 5-7 locally-grown fruits and vegetables, the perfect take-home offering, providing about a week’s worth of nutritious meals. We deliver the individualized boxes to your site for distribution to patients and community members.
Local Food As Medicine Possibilities

Let's Work Together

The Common Market is committed to your local sourcing success. Our friendly and educated team is here to partner with you every step of the way. Connect with us today to learn how to make local sourcing part of your food as medicine program.