A wave of new mobile apps connect consumers with farmers
GrownBy connects consumers with farmers markets across the U.S.
Accessing fresh local produce from farmers can now be as simple as a click and swipe.
In the U.S. farmers markets and community supported agriculture (CSAs) have been thriving, partly driven by challenges related to food access at the height of the pandemic. As a result,
a slew of mobile apps that connect consumers with farmers and vice versa recently launched.
This past spring the Farm Generations Cooperative launched GrownBy 1.0 a mobile app that lets consumers across the country buy produce directly from their local growers. The app is owned and developed by members of the co-op who also sell their produce on the platform. The Cooperative began as a program of the National Young Farmers Coalition.
Lindsey Lusher Shute the CEO of the Cooperative says farmers who sign up and sell via the app have the option of joining the Cooperative.
In 2018 “we started thinking about ways that farmers could start together by growing their businesses. We got the cooperative off the ground and raised funding to build an alpha product,” says Shute, who is also a co-founder of the National Young Farmers Coalition and runs Hearty Roots a farm in Hudson Valley, NY.
GrownBy was funded by foundations and the United States Department of Agriculture and beta-tested on 18 farms across the country. Shute says the app is comparable to an Etsy or Airbnb with the goal making it easier for consumers.
GrownBy works where any farmer or consumer can sign up and connect to nearby CSAs based on zip code. Consumers pick up directly at the farm (the app includes a detailed map of location along with a contact person at each farm). GrownBy makes 2 percent on sales. As of June there were over 60 farms registered and over 1,200 consumers who had registered.
While GrownBy is owns by growers there are a number of similar apps in the pipeline or on the market.
· Beet & Pear is a mobile app launched by NYU graduate students that markets itself as a social network to connect farmers and farmers markets and consumers.
· Harvie is a service that helps customize CSAs for consumers.
· WhatsGood is a mobile app that links consumers with local vendors including farmers, fishermen and artists with the goal of building local communities.
When it comes to picking and choosing what app to use, simplicity is important for most farmers. Andy Mattimoe, owner of Garden Next Door Farm in Swanton, Ohio, chose GrownBy for its ease of use. He heard about the app from a member of the National Young Farmers Coalition and likes that it was created by farmers.
Andy Mattimoe takes photos of vegetables at his farm in Ohio to upload onto a mobile platform.
Garden Next Door primarily offers CSAs and also sells at the Toledo Farmers Market.
“I didn’t want to start an online store because I like online stores. I wanted to start an online store because I want to sell stuff that I like to grow and Grownby is pretty simple. I just take a picture, post it up there and put a price and there’s functionality to track inventory.” Mattimoe notes that the alternative is that customers and friends and family would text him and he’d text them back. “With this app everyone sees the same menu and then I can easily hide a product if it is unavailable and unhide it when it’s available again,” he says.
