Progress 09/01/23 to 08/31/24

Outputs
Target Audience:As identified by our own previous research and research of others, the key audience for our efforts during this reporting periodwas small to mid-size farms where annual sales of agricultural products are less than $350,000 and between $350,000-$999,999, respectively, who are selling through food hubs. The target audience also included food hubs' wholesale buyers such as schools, restaurants, and grocery stores. We have accessed these groups primarily through our relationships with our partner food hubs' managers. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?There are not results ready to be disseminated to communities of interest during this reporting period. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Objective 1.We are actively collecting feedback from and collaborating with our food hub partners who are making sales and tracking their inventory with this version of the platform. We will continue iterative development over the coming months as our hub partners continue to use the system to service their buyers. There is more work to be done on the product database including: (1) enabling product variants to facilitate units and package sizes/types; (2) common names, scientific names and product attributes; (3) mutually exclusive date ranges, along with integrating options to "carry forward" the prior week's inventory for shelf-stable products; and (4) grower-desired listing details, e.g., bed feet planted and dates, known input costs, etc., to allow growers to analyze their year-end production and profits. Back-end Updates: We will continue to update the back-end system, as informed by our Phase I findings, including: (1) allowing buyers to filter upstream availability from farms or hubs; (2) allowing hubs to be granted administrative power over all farm members' inventory to help their less tech-savvy producers or producers without/with limited access to internet and technology; (3) adding product categories and subcategories for produce and other related merchandise; and (4) adding the ability to stipulate product stock/quantity by variant, and to track unsold products. Front-end Updates: User-facing components that will be updated include: (1) a refined product list with new variant details like prices by weight, packaging, and size; (2) new shop features, such as filters for produce, grouping by sellers, a cart preview, showing pricing for multiple variants, and nesting similar products from different sellers; (3) a public seller profile, with updated shop changes, details about the types of produce grown, and a "Coming Soon" or featured products page; and (4) updates to harvest and pack list to meet seller needs. Objective 3. Continue testing and validation of our Produce+ platform with commercialization partners. This effort will follow the same general approach as our pilot testing effort, but with a larger and more involved focus group of key stakeholders and users. This will not begin until the conclusion of our current pilot testing. During that time, we will collect both qualitative and quantitative feedback, having users rate on a 5-point Likert scale the ability of the platform to affect the following key metrics for farms: (1) Time spent on administrative, non-farming tasks (e.g., inventory management); (2) Ability to access buyers/ increase sales; (3) Self-perceived quality of life; and (4) Perception of improved ability to scale. We will have buyers rate on a similar 5-point scale, the impact of the platform on their: (1) Ability to access local product; (2) Ability to access product from small- and medium-sized farms; (3) Percentage of total purchasing budget that could be fulfilled locally through small- and mid-sized farms; and (4) Communication of product-related information. The team will continue to interate and work closely with our food hub partners to create software that is beneficial and useful to help them grow their businesses.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Objective 1. Build a fully operational Produce+ online marketplace and software platform. Work towards this objective has been steady and successful. While there is still work to be done, out team has produced a first iteration of the functional Produce+ online marketplace and software platform that is comprehensively providing farm-level inventory management, cross-seller product aggregation, and e-commerce capabilities. Additional milestones hit include: (2) allowing price-by-weight and estimated sizes; (3) harvest and packing lists, organized by variety and package type, filtered by product category, and used to create bills of lading. Objective 2. Secure commercialization partnerships. Secure commercialization partnerships and onboard 1-3 food hubs, each serving 8-20 small- to mid-size farms and 30-100 wholesale buyers, for a targeted total impact of 50 small- to mid-sized farms through the pilot. This objective has continued to be a success throughout the project. The Rooted Farmers' team has continually emphasized relationship building and prioritized the needs of our farmers and producers. Our team has built strong connections with three food hubs who we have been working closely with throughout the development process; Seasonal Harvest of Green Bay, WI, Blue Ridge Farmer Collective of Roanoke, VA, and Profound Foods of Dallas, TX. These hub managers have provided invaluable feedback regarding the functionality, user experience, and design of the product. As mentioned above, our team members had the chance to visit Seasonal Harvest and Profound Foods to gain insight into the functionality and workflow of these groups and to better understand their needs. One hub is fully onboarded and is using the current Produce+ system to make sales, and two more hubs are in the process of onboarding with the intention of utilizing the system for their food hub management and sales in the coming months. Through this process of onboarding and collaboration, we discovered that meeting more regularly with our hub managers would be necessary for faster paced progress.

Publications