It’s farm to table made easy, thanks to an online application created by a woman in Bend.
It all started when Kami Semick wanted to find local sources of meat.
“It was a matter of knowing a friend of a friend who had the phone number of a rancher,” Semick said.
With a background in the tech industry, Semick decided to make this process easier herself; creating an online platform called Food4All.
Semick says Food4All makes connecting local producers with current and potential customers simple.
“We’re enabling consumers to find and buy from those producers,” Semick said. “So it could be that customers can place a pre-order and then come and pick it up at the farmers market, they can place a pre-order and pick it up at the farm, so the farmer is really dictating what the terms of the fulfillment are.”
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Used by about 1,400 farms and ranches across the United States and Canada, Food4All benefits customers and producers alike.
A small fee with each purchase makes the platform free for producers to use.
“The customer just selects the items, adds it to the cart, sees what the options are, is it delivery? Is it shipping? Is it local pick-up? And then can quickly and easily checkout,” Semick said. “You [producers] can manage your products, your prices, you can decide what channels you’re selling your products through.”
Rainshadow Organics in Sisters is one of multiple Central Oregon producers utilizing Food4All.
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Farm liaison Alison Holland says by purchasing from small farmers, customers are keeping money in the Central Oregon economy.
“Some grocery stores have a large organic section of which a teeny tiny bit is locally sourced,” Holland said. “But if you shop directly from a farmer then 80% of your dollar stays in Central Oregon, in Deschutes County.”
The option to know where and who your local food comes from, created by a local herself.
“We wanted to support their entire business and make that easier,” Semick said.
