We will see a lot more of this. There are plenty of first generation
urbanites who want easy access to the farm. This gives it to them.
In fact this new ease of access outright encourages just that. You
will know what is available before you head out. In fact you can pay
for it before you even leave home. In that way you can plan your
route.
More important it helps shift farming over into organic and allows
the farmer to expand his offering list. He is no longer dependent on
the wholesaler or single retail outlet.
Recall that it is possible to generate $200,000 gross sales with a
modest land base of several acres alone while applying industrial
farming to any other lands.
There is even a business here in which an independent delivery
service picks up the large orders and delivers them to the customer.
Even better, some of the farms handle it by going the rounds and
picking up a single order put together this way.
Farmers Online: Old
Traditions, Modern Technology
By Susanne Willgren,
Epoch Times June 18, 2013
GOTHENBURG,
Sweden—Swedes are going online to virtually roam through farms and
choose their crops. No, it’s not FarmVille. It’s Min Farm (My
Farm)—an online pilot project connecting local small-scale farmers
directly with customers.
Large-scale food
production is often anonymous, and some small-scale farmers have been
trying to set themselves apart with food packaging telling their
stories. Information about the farm and the methods of production are
meant to make the customer feel closer to the product.
Now this is possible
through the online platform, Min Farm.
Personal contact
between customer and farmer is at the heart of the project. The
customer knows who is handling the animals, and what the animals are
fed. Internet shopping is not typically viewed as a social activity,
but Min Farm also allows farmers and customers to meet face-to-face.
Customers are encouraged to visit the farms if they wish.
Swedes using Min Farm
now know the people growing their food—like in the old days, but
through modern means.
“You can see how the
social aspect is important for both groups,” said Petter Hanberger,
one of the project founders. “The feeling of fellowship and being
together is important. It’s easy to underrate it.”
Last weekend, the
first customers visited the first farm in person through the project.
“There have been so many preparations,” Hanberger said, “so
it’s fascinating to finally get started for real.”
The pilot project
began in Jamtland, northern Sweden.
It was an Irishman,
Stephen Lynam, who came up with the idea a little over a year ago. He
lives in a small cottage outside of Umea in northern Sweden, growing
his own food and living a self-sustaining lifestyle as much as
possible.
He wanted to lease a
lamb or some chickens from a local farmer for his cottage. As he
spoke to farmers in his community, he learned many were interested in
getting closer to their customers.
Lynam’s background
in IT made him consider an online platform.
Hanberger, who works
in advertising and design, got on board, and they got to work. It is
still a small-scale operation with 10 customers and eight farmers,
but there are already plans to develop the project further in other
parts of the country.
The customers are
mixed, but many families have contacted the project, as well as older
people.
“For someone in
their seventies, it’s fascinating to see how it looks the way it
did when they were young,” Hanberger said. “This project brings
that aspect back, and many of the older people participating can see
this.”
One of the project’s
customers, Eva Alfredsson, wanted her food producers to be less
anonymous, and she thinks others will follow what she sees as a
growing trend to reconnect with the source.
“I was surprised by
my own enthusiasm,” said Alfredsson, a Ministry of Enterprise,
Energy, and Communications worker. “At heart, I think it’s about
being part of a context, [about] knowing where the food comes from.”
She said it is about
“having a relationship with those who produce it, a mutual
dependence.”
Alfredsson estimates
she is able to get 10 percent of her household’s food through Min
Farm. Currently, it is possible to order beef, pork, lamb, eggs,
timber, honey, potatoes, flour, and grains through the network.
Availability still
makes it difficult to do the majority of a household’s grocery
shopping through Min Farm. It is possible to get eggs once a month,
but potatoes and grains are only delivered at harvest time. Customers
need plenty of storage space if they want to have potatoes and grains
outside of harvest time.
Alfredsson thinks it’s
a good start on the path to sustainability.
“We are failing to
turn society in a truly sustainable direction on a political level,
both nationally and internationally,” she said. “We can’t seem
to make the decisions needed. That means that lots of grassroots
solutions appear. They may not be optimal, but people are taking
development into their own hands.”
The animal ethics
perspective is what Alfredsson finds most positive about the project,
but she also sees it as a way to support local farmers who want to
uphold good quality and care for their animals, but who find it hard
to compete against companies focusing on low prices.
Pig farmer Per Jonsson
participates in the project. In 2008, he and his brother took over
the farm that has been passed down in his family since 1849. The
brothers also run a carpentry business to make ends meet, but their
dream is to live completely on profits from their pig farm.
In the future, they
hope to have a butcher shop next to the farm. They also plan to let
their customers come to the farm and make their own sausage.
“We had a similar
idea [as the Min Farm project] before, but the guy who started it is
much better with computers,” Jonsson said. “You should stick to
what you’re good at. We raise animals, and we’re better at that.”
The program, still in
its infancy, has not made a large impact on Jonsson’s business yet,
but getting help with marketing has freed up some of his time for
other pursuits.
Cutting out the
middleman, farmers earn more for their goods. At the same time,
people become more aware of what they eat. Jonsson thinks this is a
major advantage, and he thinks a market exists for this kind of
initiative.
“Small business
people like us need to find different ways to survive,” he said.
“We can’t make bulk products, sell enormous quantities at a low
price and compete with foreign actors.”
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