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The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

farmer's market

This Farmer’s Market Vendor Has Accepted Bitcoin for 5 Years. Here’s How Things Have Changed.

Back in 2017, before much of the general public had given cryptocurrency a second thought, Alessandro Stortini started accepting bitcoin as a form of payment at his local farmer’s market stand, La Pasta.

Since that time, virtual currencies have become mainstream as everyone from grandmas to pro athletes have jumped into the world of crypto. In fact, from 2017 to 2022, the number of crypto wallets went from under 12 million to over 81 million by January of 2022.

If you’re like me, you’d figure with almost seven times as many cryptocurrency wallets out there, the number of people looking to spend their virtual currency to buy pasta at their local farmer’s market would have gone up. Not so, according to Stortini.

“We got way more customers paying with bitcoin in 2017,” Stortini said.

Stortini told me the reason for that is because back in those early days, crypto owners were more willing to use it as a form of payment.

La Pasta’s QR Code for accepting crypto payment

“There was more buzz back then and more people not doing it as an investment, but instead just spending it.”

According to Stortini, as bitcoin and other crypto markets crashed in 2017-18, many continued to spend their cryptocurrency as they tried to unload it. However, as cryptocurrency values hit the stratosphere in recent years, that’s all changed.

“More people are holding than ever,” Stortini said. “It’s harder to get it out of people than back then.”

Stortini operates at 18 different farmer’s market locations across the Puget Sound region per week and gets, on average, one or two cryptocurrency transactions per day at each location. The type of coin varies depending on the location.

“Edmonds (a city north of Seattle) is the more heavy crypto market. Edmonds is all bitcoin. West Seattle and Capitol Hill are really obscure coins. A lot of Monero and trendy coins like Doge.”

Stortini, who’s helped a couple of his fellow farmer’s market vendors get set up to take crypto payments, says accepting bitcoin and other coins has just gotten easier over the years.

“It’s just like scanning a Venmo. A lot of the vendors at this point have a QR for their Venmo or for other things.”

So what does Stortini do with the virtual currency he gets from his customers? Like other crypto enthusiasts nowadays, he’s long on bitcoin and other coins.

“I’ve never cashed out any of this stuff we’ve taken through the business. But, with one or two transactions a day, it’s better to let it sit.”

Online Grocery Farmdrop Raises £10M to Expand Local Food Delivery

When I lived in London last year I used to get really excited when I saw a pale pink van pull up outside my flat. Because inside that van was a selection of local, (mostly) organic vegetables, fruits, cheeses, and bread from ethical grocery delivery service  Farmdrop.

Yesterday Farmdrop raised £10M ($13.3M) in a Series B round from investors including the founder of Skype, according to the Guardian. This brings their total funding to £17M ($22.6M). Founded in 2014 by Ben Pugh, an ex-broker, the London-based company plans to use its funds to expand to the north of England and double their delivery area. They currently deliver to London, Bristol, and Bath.

According to their website, 80% of Farmdrop’s produce comes from within 100 miles of their delivery radius. Their meat is all free-range, and at least 70% of the price of each head of lettuce or grass-fed burger goes back to the producer. According to Pugh, the average retailer only pays farmers at most 50% of the final price. And if that weren’t enough, Farmdrop’s vans are also electric!

In addition to fruit, vegetables, and meat, Farmdrop offers more variety than, say, an Imperfect Produce or Good Eggs. The 2,000 products on offer also include organic home cleaning products, baby food, pantry staples, beer and wine, and bakery items.

By eliminating wholesalers and retailers from the supply chain, Farmsdrop is able to offer high-quality food at a price that is pretty competitive with big retailers — and it hasn’t been sitting on a shelf for days on end.

Farmdrop doesn’t require a subscription or a minimum spend (though they do add £4 to any order under £30). Customers can choose a 1-hour delivery window for a small fee (it’s free if their order is over £80), or else select a 6-hour time slot. The day before delivery, the driver will send an updated 60-minute window for their arrival.

Clearly Farmdrop doesn’t have the instant gratification or convenience of a 2-hour Amazon/Whole Foods/Albertsons/etc grocery delivery. (The fastest turnaround they have is next-day delivery, which is available for orders before noon.) However, their recent raise signifies that there are enough people that don’t mind dealing with a little extra inconvenience in exchange for ethically sourced, high-quality produce.

For those who don’t want to/don’t have time to trek to the farmers market but still want to buy local foods, Farmdrop, like Good Eggs and Farmstead in the U.S., is a good option. Though it seems they have updated their van aesthetics.

App Connects Consumers With Farmer’s Markets To Encourage Local, Fresh Shopping

Farmer’s markets are prime opportunities for consumers to directly interact with the people responsible for growing their food. However, fewer varieties of produce and unfamiliar harvest options can at times make the markets feel overwhelming and confusing for the average supermarket shopper. And while farmer’s markets are great for occasional purchases, they aren’t as friendly as grocery stores for convenience and meal planning. A new smartphone app, Seasonal Food Guide, is looking to change that.

Seasonal Food Guide, developed by GRACE Communications Foundation (GRACE), is a national database that allows users to look up what foods are currently in season from local farms. The guide includes comprehensive database on over 140 types of fruits, vegetables, herbs, legumes and nuts. Seasonal Food Guide educates users on when produce is in peak season and has maximum flavor based on their geographical location – and includes all 50 U.S. states.

“Today, people want to know where their produce is coming from, how long it will be in season and available at their local farmers market or grocery store, and what’s in season at other times of the year or in other neighboring states,” said Urvashi Rangan, Ph.D., Chief Science Advisor with GRACE. “We built the Seasonal Food Guide app to put those answers right at your fingertips.”

Free to iPhone and Android users, the app collects data from the Natural Resources Defense Council and state departments of agriculture and university extension programs across the US. Users have the capability to set reminders for when their favorite foods are in season as well as browse recipes, fun facts and information about the environmental impact of growing each type of produce.

“Whether you’re a local food lover, parent or cook, this quick and easy guide can help you find local, seasonal food that’s fresher and tastes better,” said Gabrielle Blavatsky, Project Manager of Seasonal Food Guide. “It can also inspire new recipes for almost any seasonal food in your area,”

GRACE, a New York based nonprofit, launched the app during 2017 National Farmer’s Market Week. The foundation looks to increase awareness of the current industrial food system and advocates for more sustainable alternatives.

Maine’s Forager the Latest to Use Tech as a Farm-to-Table Solution

Much like the zeitgeist term “Internet of Things, the use of the popular slogan “farm to table” is confusing marketing speak widely subject to personal interpretation. The farm part is fairly easy to understand, but table conjures up the image of local tomato grower driving up to your home and placing a pound of heirlooms on your kitchen counter. If only that were the case. Yes, it’s a “Portlandia” skit come to life.

In broad brush strokes, the world of farm-to-table is two businesses—tech-driven B2B logistics platforms that connect farms to retailers and restaurants, and the far-more-challenging niche world of home delivery of farm-fresh produce.

Speaking of Portland—the one in the Northeast part of the U.S.—a new enterprise called Forager is an app-based ecosystem that offers a farm-to-table solution connecting local growers to retailers, restaurants and market vendors. Forager allows commercial buyers of fresh farm goods to see what local farmers are growing and have in stock, and then place orders accordingly. Forager CEO David Stone says the system eliminates what he calls a “manual, paper intensive, error-prone process.”

“More and more people are putting local food on their plates,” Stone told a local Portland TV station. “[The farm-to-table movement] is growing really fast, but the technology hasn’t really focused on it yet.”

Stone’s goal is to make Forager a nationwide platform, but in its early days the technology is being utilized by farmers in Maine and New Hampshire. His immediate goal is to get the technology in the hands of growers throughout New England and upstate New York.

B2B farm-to-table solutions abound focusing on the part of the value chain that put fresh goods into the hands of resellers. Pointing to the glut of innovators looking at this growing part of the food tech industry, the 2017 Food + City Challenge featured such F-2-T solutions providers as Bucketload, Farm Fare, and Origintrail. There also are plenty of tech newcomers to support this new-ish-IoT supply chain. Companies such as Fresh Surety provide technology that calibrates freshness of goods as they travel from grower to marketplace.

A few daring entrepreneurs have attempted to tackle the business of delivering those farm-fresh goodies to consumers—essentially a specialized grocery delivery service. Any of the countless supermarket-to-home services will deliver a bunch of celery or a pound of oranges, but those selections hinge on the untrained eye of your average Instacart employee. For field-to-home goodness, subscription-based startups such as New York’s Farm to People and Texas-based Farmhouse Delivery have heavily curated weekly services that bring seasonal produce to your door.

Cost is the significant issue for bringing that ear of corn picked that morning directly to your kitchen. With low margins and an elusive target market, companies such as Farmhouse Delivery charge a one-time membership fee and weekly or bi-weekly service of a medium bushel (five-seven items) for $27.00 or a large bushel (nine-11 items) for $39.99. For better margins and a higher per-customer order, Farmhouse also delivers prepared foods, meat, poultry and dairy items. The target for such services is the subset of families who want to eat healthy and have the resources to buy local and organic without a weekly trip to the farmers market.

At the other end of the farm-to-retail-to-table spectrum is a potentially large and socially responsible opportunity, but one that is far less sexy. Solutions for getting fresh food to underserved “food deserts” attracts neither visionaries nor startup capital, leaving such programs as the St. Louis Metro Market, a non-profit that converts city buses into mobile farmers markets, as a placeholder for future social entrepreneurs.

Amazon Using Delivery Arm To Accelerate Mom + Pop Food Shops

Amazon has long been known for its desire to own all parts of online commerce and with the growth of AmazonFresh, its grocery delivery, it has extended its reach into millions of kitchens. But the online giant has also been intentional about its support for the little guy – from startups to small companies, Amazon is often seen providing a platform for anyone to expand their reach. Like their startup platform LaunchPad, which serves up physical products from startups to millions of Amazon consumers, AmazonFresh is now offering artisanal and “local” fair to customers on the Eastern seaboard.

The shop local and farmer’s market movement has faced growing competition from online commerce, particularly the move to automate grocery ordering & delivery. But it’s not a perfect replacement because it often doesn’t allow for customers to find local produce or handmade items similar to the ones they’d find at their local farmer’s market.

And then there’s the farmer/artisan perspective. Many of these small businesses do less than $50k in revenue every year and are unable to grow beyond their geographical region do to economies of scale. That’s where AmazonFresh comes in. The company’s delivery arm offers a vehicle and a platform to serve up items like specialty cupcakes, unique and local meats and nitro coffee.

The companies who have already signed on to participate in the AmazonFresh delivery program have already seen an increase in sales and are reaching new customers they otherwise would have no way to engage with. In a comment to the Washington Post, Amazon spokesperson commented on the program’s early success, “Many of these companies began with Amazon in mid-September and only six weeks into the program have seen sales that will be significant and impactful to their businesses.”

From a convenience perspective, it’s easy to see why it would be appealing for a consumer, who might not always get to the weekly farmer’s market, to be able to have access to local and fresh goods while also supporting small mom and pop operations. And for Amazon, the company knows that few people do their entire household shopping at a farmer’s market or small marketplace, so they’re offering the best of both worlds – large superstore goods and artisanal and specialty items – and benefitting from customers seeking the convenience of all-in-one shopping.

Read more about the AmazonFresh farmer’s market approach at The Washington Post.