The Tendo View

I love when technology solves a real problem and brings together people or businesses that otherwise wouldn’t find each other, or, at least, wouldn’t find each other easily. That’s what Local Dirt is doing for those interested in finding, buying, and selling local food.

I find this interesting not only because I’m a consumer but also because I’m a partner in a small farming business and have often been stymied by the question, “How do I …?” As a consumer, I was frustrated by not being able to find fresh local food. Ironically, the crops cultivated in the agricultural community in which I lived were grown primarily for processing or for seed, not fresh for market. Really, the only way to find fresh local produce, nuts, or other products was by roadside signs.

For example, there’s a family-owned apricot farm in a neighboring town. Bremmer’s Farm has delicious fruit, and I looked forward to buying a small lug of apricots every summer. However, the season is short, lasting anywhere from one week to a month. Had I not been driving the county back roads and seen the hand-lettered signs adorned with metallic ribbon (the kind used to keep birds out of fruit and nut trees), I never would have known about this local gem.

With Local Dirt, though, I could search for a particular food product, such as apricots, or a seller in my area and then order the product online for pickup at a local farmers’ market or farm. The system automatically generates the purchase order and emails it to you, the buyer. All that’s left to do is to pick up the order and pay the seller. The system works similarly for businesses, except they search under a “wholesale” section and can have the products delivered on a given date.

In addition, Local Dirt is providing local food-related information on its blog, called The Local Farm. You can go there to learn more about Local Dirt’s process, as well as trends, initiatives, and research.

Besides connecting farmers with businesses, distributors, and buying clubs, Local Dirt is tapping into the growing trend of people (locavores, as they’re called) interested in eating more locally grown and eco-consicous food. In case you were wondering, a lot of locally grown food from small farmers is organic.

Local Dirt is a great example of finding an audience (or multiple audiences, as the case may be), filling a genuine need, and creating a community in the process. To me, this is technology at its best—improving business, stimulating local economies, and providing access to great products.