FULTON, Mo. — Locally-owned community grocery stores and local farmers markets are at risk. Maybe not today or tomorrow, soon though. Amazon’s purchase of Whole Foods Market Inc., Aldi’s aggressive move to add or remodel stores, and European chain Lidl’s pricing strategy are just some of the industry events impacting grocery shopping and purchasing for families, restaurants, schools, and other institutions. When and how this impact happens depends on tech savvy solutions farmers and food buyers are willing to engage in.
Kim Harrison and Olivia Vann do not want to see their favorite community grocery stores that source local foods and local farmers markets disappear like the corner hardware and bookstore did. So, they developed an online service linking farmers and food buyers called 2BuyAg http://www.2buyag.com. 2BuyAg modernizes and streamlines local food buying for all types of farmers and food buyers. 2BuyAg is free for farmers to use. Buyers pay a nominal convenience fee at the time of purchase.
2Buy Ag launched in 2017. It was born of necessity. Harrison (the mother) and her husband own Harrison Valley Farms http://www.harrisonvalleyfarms.com/ near Fulton, Missouri. They’ve produced and marketed pasture-raised and grass-fed beef and lamb since 2007, selling at farmers’ markets and to restaurants, food hubs, and individual buyers, driving back and forth across the state making deliveries.
“The wear and tear on our family was just too much,” states Harrison. “We met ourselves coming and going. And it’s hard to do all the marketing, maintain the sheep and cattle, too.”
Harrison thought there’s got to be a better way. She turned to her daughter (Vann) to help think how the farm could streamline marketing, making it easier on themselves. She also realized her problems were not unique; all producers face the same issues. Together they developed an online way for farmers and food buyers to discover each other, communicate, negotiate price, make the payment, and arrange for delivery.
Why 2BuyAg?
2BuyAg’s online community and marketplace can be used anytime, anywhere. It works for all farmers–small to large and all buyers–families to institutions. It also works for farmer to farmer transactions. 2BuyAg has no warehouses, no inventory to manage and no truck fleets. Any food buyer or farmer can create a profile on 2BuyAg, then create a post for the item they want to buy or sell. Using 2BuyAg’s filters, food buyers and farmers make the connection that is right for them. 2BuyAg is a viable way to create and strengthen relationships between farmers and food buyers so critical to maintain parity for farmers.
— Kim Harrison, 2BuyAg
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