Online farmer’s market enables local, subscription-based food communities

Farmigo connects local farms with groups such as workplaces, schools and community centers for custom delivery subscriptions direct to a convenient community location.

It may be feasible for a large hospital to build and operate its own organic greenhouse, but that’s simply not an option for countless other organizations and communities, however much they might want similar produce. Enter Farmigo, a site that connects local farms with groups such as workplaces, schools and community centers for custom delivery subscriptions direct to a convenient community location.
Farmigo actually launched back in 2009 as an online software provider to help farms manage their community supported agriculture (CSA) subscriptions, and it now works with more than 300 farms in 25 states across the US. Earlier this month, however, it kicked off what it calls “the first online farmer’s market” connecting local groups and organizations directly to local farms for a personalized online marketplace for local, fresh-from-harvest food. Members of each food community shop their dedicated Farmigo farmer’s market online (Farmigo’s site offers an example here), pick and choose their preferred items, and then have their orders delivered weekly to their food community site within 48 hours of harvest. Farms reap 80 percent of the sale of the food, compared with only nine to 20 percent when they sell to traditional grocers; Farmigo gets 10 percent for each transaction. The video below explains the premise in more detail:
“The Internet has been collapsing supply chains and rewriting conventional business models for nearly two decades, but until now it has had limited impact on the food industry, which is ripe for change,” explains Benzi Ronen, Farmigo’s founder and CEO. “There has never been a better time to disrupt the status quo, and Farmigo is poised to fundamentally change the way food is purchased and distributed.”
The first food communities are now rolling out in San Francisco and New York, with Los Angeles, Seattle, Portland, Denver, Chicago and Philadelphia soon to follow. Meanwhile, New York-based Farmigo seeks out individuals who want to help bring Farmigo to their own workplace, school or community center. Sustainability-minded entrepreneurs: one to partner with or emulate in your part of the world?