FALL NEWSLETTER: A FarmDrop Dream Comes To Life

Dear ,
Colder days, changing the clocks, the leaves falling from the trees--there is a bittersweetness each year in the change of season. The shift from our gardens and grocery stores bursting with produce, and the months of bustling farmers markets and outdoor gatherings, to a quieter, more introverted time of year can come with a pang of loss. And yet, when we open our FarmDrop markets each week we are reminded of the astonishing and fortunate bounty of our local food systems that sustain all year long. Tomatoes may be out, but jewel-toned storage squashes and root vegetables are in. Pasture raised cuts of meat and poultry for roasting and stewing, slow rise breads, small batch dairy, bright & punchy microgreens--to name a few--keep us connected to, and fed by the incredible producers in our communities throughout the winter months. The abundance is ongoing, and at FarmDrop, the problem we are always solving for, is access.

This Fall 2021, FarmDrop began fulfilling its long time dream to make this abundance available to community members experiencing different limitations to accessing our local bounty. Some seniors are limited by their ability to drive to market, for which we have enabled a delivery driver role that will in turn, help bring gig-economy dollars into circulation in our rural communities. Other seniors and families are getting by with the help of limited federal benefit dollars. With support from Farms for Food Equity, the Sewall Foundation, and Maine Technology Institute, we have created a customized EBT+ / Pay Later online market with free and reduced price products. Customers can shop and checkout, and products can be paid for at pick up, in different ways, depending on each market’s social innovation program design. This technology is available to all our markets and will be adopted and implemented on a market-by-market basis as determined by Market Hub Managers and the demand of their customers.

FarmDrop believes strongly that dignity and choice should be staples of our local food economies. Being that we are an e-commerce solution for local food systems, convenience should be at the top of the list when it comes to food access. FarmDrop’s EBT+/Pay Later program will continue to develop into a full Online EBT solution in 2022.

Together with our ten markets and nearly one hundred producers, we are making choosing local food an affordable, convenient and dignified experience for all. Every time you shop with us, you support this mission as well. For this and for your ongoing enthusiasm about resilient local food systems, we thank you.

Cheers,
Hannah & The FarmDrop Team

Blue Hill, Deer Isle, MDI, Linneus, Unity, Lisbon, Portland, Cape Elizabeth, and Linwood/Nunda WNY FarmDrops will be rolling out their social impact programs at different times, and in different ways. Our Linneus hub is the first to accept EBT payments in person!

All Market Hub managers, farms and nonprofits working with FarmDrop are committed to farm viability and food equity.

We’d like to thank Maine Technology Institute, Sewall Foundation and Farms for Food Equity for their grants supporting FarmDrop L3C to develop the social impact solutions for FarmDrop.us market hubs and their communities.

FARMDROP TEAM HIGHLIGHT: Meet our fearless leader, Hannah Semler

In 2016 our co-founder and CEO Hannah Semler, was the Gleaning Coordinator for Healthy Acadia, one of the first homes to FarmDrop, after it left the Blue Hill Wineshop. Healthy Acadia continues to host our MDI FarmDrop in Town Hill, ME. Hannah’s job back then was to harvest or rescue surplus from farms and bring it to food pantries and meal sites in Hancock County (See Downeast Magazine’s article on Hannah’s work – Here). During her time at Healthy Acadia, she also organized the largest free public meal ever, alongside the Food Recovery Coalition — a Portland-local coalition of food rescue and food security organizations–and Feedback Global, founded by Tristram Stuart, author of Uncovering the Global Food Waste Scandal.

“It has been five years since the Feeding the 5000, Portland, ME event in 2016, and I couldn’t be more excited to celebrate that great win for Maine’s food system, with another great win, which is FarmDrop.us”, says Hannah.