US: Online startup directly connects local farms to buyers
“I went into finance after college (Columbia University – political science), but my heart just wasn’t in it,” Goggin said. “So we decided that promoting small agriculture was something we could grab hold of.”
What Farmers Web (Goggin and two colleagues who were long time friends) aims to do is connect small to mid-size farmers within 300 miles of New York City directly with buyers, obviating the need for a middleman wholesaler.
Suppliers outside of the city cannot always deal directly with the multitude of restaurants, institutions and small grocers that usually make their purchases from a wholesale market in lower Manhattan. And those buyers cannot always take the time to research local farmers within delivery distance.
Jennifer Goggin (right), founder of Farmers Web. Photo Credits: Farmers Web.
Farmers Web connects suppliers and buyers through an online website that lets participating farmers show what produce is available and at what price, and buyers can shop from the ease of their desktop. Farmers Web provides the service for a five percent transaction commission and there is no signup or subscription fee.
Goggin said that contributing to a sustainable living zeitgeist was definitely part of their effort.
“No one was doing anything like this,” she said. “We were starting from scratch and it took more than a year to build the initial website. The coding is difficult.”
To learn more: https://www.farmersweb.com/
Source: Seedstock