Local Dirt - connecting farmers and buyers

When Heather Hilleren worked for Whole Foods she noticed they had trouble finding and buying from local farmers.

By 2005, Hilleren had earned an MBA from University of Wisconsin Business School. As one of her class projects, she had developed a plan to use the power of an online interface to facilitate buying between local farmers, distributors, cooperatives, retailers, restaurateurs and even individuals.

Hilleren combined her savings,  a $600,000 National Science Foundation grant and  $1 million in new investment from O'Reilly AlphaTech Ventures in San Francisco and Boston-based Peak Ridge Capital.

She's using the money to get the word out nationally and to continue to build her offerings for her site, which she says has thousands of farmers, distributors and buyers. Hilleren wants to offer electronic ordering services for local grocery store buyers, who can simply go online, check local farmers' inventory and buy what they need. Eventually, she plans to charge a subscription fee--probably $360 per year--to wholesale buyers and sellers.

The site saves the average wholesale buyer about four hours a week, Hilleren says. In addition, it gives farmers a new sales venue, and it offers transparency. "People can actually find out when the product was harvested and what the growing practices were that went along with it," she says. "All products need to be identified, so people know what they're buying and where it came from."

Read the entire Article:
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/217449

Visit the Local dirt website:
http://www.localdirt.com/

What can you do with this information ?

• Run, don't walk to your local organic supermarket and ask them if they use this service, if not print out the website and the article listed above and give it to the manager. 
• Share this information with local restaurants that use locally grown produce.
• If you or someone you know farms organically send them this information.
• Read the FAQ page at the website to learn more about the program (they sell a lot more than fruit and veggies) http://www.localdirt.com/faq-a193.html
• The next time someone tells you the government just wastes our money. Mention that the National Science Foundation supports this site which is creating jobs for local farmers nationwide.
• Write an note to the Hillary thanking her for creating this service, a little encouragement goes a long way. http://www.localdirt.com/contact_us-a194.html
• Share this blog with friends and associates