The vast majority of the American food industry is comprised of just a few corporations that function on a mass-production basis. Consequently, many farmers are faced with the likelihood of having to merge with, for example, Tyson, in order to alleviate the financial burdens of self-run marketing and management. Thankfully, many individuals and organizations have sought ways to support independently-owned, local farms. And recently, through the creation of the online platform Farmplicity.com, a group of students at Washington University have made it their goal to make the process even easier.
Jolijt Tamanaha, sophomore and CEO (pictured, middle, left), along with fellow Wash U. students, Drew Koch (right), Lauren Ortwein (middle, right) and Andrew Lin (left), have created the website Farmplicity.com that aims to simplify the interaction between St. Louis restaurants and local farmers within a 150-mile radius of the city. The website will officially launch next Tuesday, April 16, but those who are interested in the organization can join the website’s email list here.
Many restaurants around town already embrace the local food movement; however, finding where to locally source each ingredient can take a prohibitive amount of time. By using Farmplicity.com, restaurants will be able to minimize bills and clerical procedures, thus bolstering both profit for the business and meaningful bonds with the farmers.
Despite the impact this project will have on St. Louis restaurant-goers and chefs, the more significant goal for Tamanaha and team is to support the small-scale farmers who make this movement possible. “We’re acting as the facilitator to increase efficiency,” Tamanaha explained. “I’m interested in tackling the public issues that politics or policy, alone, cannot solve.” While Farmplicity isn’t a free-trade organization, Tamanaha believes that the website, “deals with the mechanical part of the movement so that chefs and farmers can spend more time together.”
Farmplicity is already working with a number of farms such as Rensing Farm, Hammer’s Farm, Leafy Green Farms and Price Farms, as well as Andy Ayers of Eat Here St. Louis, who will also be selling his locally sourced products through Farmplicity.
“It’s about the people that spend their lives harvesting the ingredients,” Tamanaha said. “We want to make that as accessible as possible.”
This article appears in April 2013.