How Can We Improve Local Farmer Access to the Open Food Network?

Support
1

Hi everyone,

I am curious about how we can better support small scale, local farmers to get onto platforms like the Open Food Network. While it is a fantastic tool for connecting farmers directly with consumers…, I have noticed that many smaller producers in my area are either unaware of the platform or find it challenging to join and manage their presence.

What strategies have worked in your communities to engage and onboard local farmers: ?? Are there any specific resources;;, workshops or outreach efforts that helped them overcome barriers like technology access or lack of digital skills: ?? Additionally, I would love to hear about any success stories where farmers saw significant benefits after joining the platform especially in terms of reaching more customers or improving their operations. When I searched on the internet for the solution to my query, I found this https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/opag-2022-0088/html. but it is not helpful for me.

Looking forward to hearing your insights and ideas. Let’s collaborate to ensure the Open Food Network is as accessible as possible to all local food producers !!

Thanks !!

Derek Theler

2

Hi - thanks for your participation here, and for looking into using the OFN platform.
Each ‘instance’ of OFN around the world that uses the platform, is an autonomous organization. All these instances are not-for-profits or platform cooperatives., And so instances vary - some have paid staff to provide user support, others rely totally on volunteers to do this. I think it would be accurate to say that no OFN instance has significant funds to put into promotion or marketing. So, our promotion really lags behind privately funded & operated e-commerce platforms, which typically have large marketing budgets.

In Canada (where I am) we have used the following approaches to growing our user base:

  • partnerships with farm organizations (giving a discount to their members for OFN use)
  • participating in trade shows of farming and food system conferences (we demo the platform from the trade show floor)
  • building our social media following, and then linking with influencers around specific promotions

Eventhough we’ve been at this for almost 10 years now, I would say that these strategies are only moderately successful here. The most successful approach is word of mouth (despite all our social media options). So growth is slow.

3

Hi @drekthler
We use this template to onboard producers who need help with the online work.
There are some success stories here
Where are you based? Email me if you would like to discuss more
nick@openfoodnetwork.org.uk