Episode 007
Interview with Jeff from FarmPlate.com
Have you ever wanted to find who the local food producers are in your area? How about if you are in Arizona and you want to find a genuine apple butter producer in Washington—where do you start looking? Meet our guest today, Jeff from FarmPlate.com. Farm Plate is your one-stop online shop to find local food artisans and producers.
Farm Plate is a totally free comprehensive database that is your ticket to finding real people who are passionate about the food they produce. Whether you are looking to find a maple syrup producer in Vermont, a spice farmer in Texas, a farm-to-table restaurant in Montana, a wild mushroom forager in Minnesota or an artisan cheese maker in North Carolina—FarmPlate.com is the place to start. Besides, when was the last time you were inspired by a typical online search engine?
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What we talk about:
-What is FarmPlate.com?
-You can search Farm Plate by city, state or by ZIP code
-It is a free data base for consumers
-Whole foods and Whole communities
-Great example of famers using innovation
-Going from the tin can to the bag—a nationwide movement for freshness
-Farm Plate gives the artisans and small producers the ability to bring their own faw or value added products to market
-You can look the producer in the eye and get your questions answered
-Small producers can leverage transparency across economies of scale to their advantage
-Farmers are retiring at a high rate of speed. Farm Plate dedicates a whole page to profile young farmers, their passion and their sense of calling to the mission of producing food
-Estimates say that we need 100,000 more farmers to replace those that are retiring
-There are several models for young people to get into farming
-Apprenticeship is a great way to learn about farming in a low risk environment
-Highlight several of the young farmers on the Farm Plate profile page:
-Allyson Angelini egg producer in CT
-Deva with the shinny boots and a rake in Queens, NY
-Jenna Woginrich, great blogger and photographer
-Two brothers working perennials in Vermont
-Former media artist in Austin using his calories to make calories
-Jeff mentions that the typical young farmer on Farm Plate is highly educated, a good thinker, very innovative and a visionary
-Wilson mentions a great quote from Jenna Woginrich, “I became a farmer because I realized that the only way novels are written, symphonies are composed, and wars are fought is because someone else is out there growing food” (Woginrich, 2012)
-Jeff talks about the passion at FarmPlate HQ and what it is like working with a go-getter like Kim Werner who launched FarmPlate.com in Sep 2011
-Getting to meet local farmers
-Are local communities embracing their local farmers? “Yes!”
-Cities are great for farmers because they have the demand, the markets and direct access to the customer base
-Big cities require a lot of inputs, and every system has some waste in it. But the new entrepreneurs are taking what was brown and turning it into green
-Using technological advantages to develop better systems
-Farm Plate gives a Rocky Mountain customer total transparency to a Southern marmalade canner or a Vermont Maple Syrup producer. This transparency is highly advantageous for the smaller producer.
-You can support your local farmer without spending money: do a write up for them (trust me they are busy), leave a rating, etc
-How are new entries are vetted for FarmPlate.com?
-Putting the right kind of pressure to help validate the e-commerce markets at scale
-Positive reviews really develop a sense of community
-Small farms and small businesses can leverage effective marketing through FarmPlate.com
-More exact search terms will yield a more exact result
-FarmPlate.com plus some research, it is possible to get fresh food for much of the year!
-The most interesting and unexpected food producer Jeff has come across in FarmPlate.com entries
-Last word with Jeff
Links:
www.FarmPlate.com
National Young Farmers Coalition
Glossary
Farm Plate Blog
Wilson
Pro Deo et Patria
Works Cited:
Woginrich, J. (2012, May 01). The Farmplate young farmers series: Jenna Woginrich from cold antler farm. Retrieved from http://www.farmplate.com/blog/farmplate-young-farmers-series-jenna-woginrich-cold-antler-farm