Kickstarter

CitySprout: A Distribution Revolution

Bringing farm fresh food from the country into neighborhoods in the city.

If Community Supported Agriculture collaboratives and farmers markets had a baby, CitySprout would be it! We want to change how U.S. cities get their food by putting city-dwellers in direct contact with farmers from surrounding areas. With CitySprout, we can bypass the complex distribution networks and wholesalers, and create a more convenient, affordable, healthy, and environmentally friendly market for urban communities to get their produce, dairy and meat.

One of the realities we face is that where there are farms there are few people, and where there are many people, there are seldom any farms. Unfortunately, for people living in the city, the options for locally grown, farm-fresh food are slim, and come with many constraints.  Farmer’s Markets are only open on specific days, in specific places; CSA’s  are not only inconveniently located, but many require a full prepayment for an entire season’s worth of goods.  This is unfortunate for those who feel that they only need a fraction of the amount of food given, and are interested in farm fresh food on an as-needed basis.

CitySprout’s solutions:

We will provide a marketplace to expand the reach of rural farms and close the distance between urban customers and food producers. In addition to everything mentioned above, CitySprout is a more environmentally friendly alternative to traditional U.S. food distribution and transportation.

How CitySprout Works

Step 1: Head to CitySprout’s website and select your region. You will see several times and drop-off locations that you may choose from.  For example, if you live in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, you may see that there are several drop-off locations spread throughout the borough; one for each day of the week.

Step 2: Select the share that is most appealing to you based on price, food selection, time and location. You will immediately be presented with information regarding the participating farm making that particular delivery, as well as imagery and descriptions of that share’s food items. From there making your purchase is as easy as one click. 

Step 3: Once enough people have bought in to trigger your chosen delivery, you will receive an email confirming your purchase which will include a code which will be used when picking up your order. On the day your share is delivered, you will be sent an email reminder. After that it’s simply a matter of meeting the CitySprout truck at the stated time and location, receiving your share in an easy, reusable CitySprout box, and enjoying your food.

CitySprout Benefits

For the consumer:

• Location: City living is no longer a barrier to participating in community supported agriculture.
• Convenience: No more long, troublesome commutes to your not-so-local farmer’s market or CSA. We help your food come to you. With multiple farms competing for multiple times and locations in your neighborhood, there is always a convenient drop-off available.
• Membership: With CitySprout there is no need to prepay for an entire season. You can buy a share one week when you need to, and skip a week when you don’t.

For the farmer:

• Growth: CitySprout farms are no longer restricted by the size of their local community. Our farms are given the opportunity to grow, produce more food, and sell at a larger volume.

• Fair compensation: In appealing to an urban market, farmers can sell their food at a higher volume than in their rural community, while offering city dwellers a more affordable option by selling at competitive rates.

For everyone:

• Sustainability: Agricultural production, distribution, and transportation as they are currently practiced in the U.S. has many negative social and environmental impacts. American food distribution is highly centralized, the amount of stops a simple tomato makes from the farm to your plate is enormous, with each stop requiring, trucking, refrigeration, packaging, handling etc. The carbon footprint for U.S. food distribution alone is staggering. CitySprout’s model decentralizes food distribution and drastically reshapes the way food gets to your plate, significantly reducing carbon emissions by minimizing the distance your food has to travel to get to you.
• Value: Participating farms will earn a greater profit with CitySprout than they stood to make either through merely selling to their local communities or through dealing with wholesalers and distributors. At the same time, CitySprout customers can enjoy healthy, local food at a price they can finally afford.

CitySprout improves how we buy and sell our food

We envision CitySprout becoming one of the nation’s largest food distribution networks. A CitySprout operating in every major city in the United States will radically reshape food distribution on an economic, social and environmental level. By creating a frictionless marketplace between farmers and large urban demographics, CitySprout will drastically reduce the carbon footprint caused by more traditional means of food distribution. In making locally grown food available on this scale, CitySprout will improve national health and dietary nutrition. Most importantly, CitySprout will give privately owned, polycultural farms a chance to thrive and again take their rightful place as a true backbone to the U.S. economy.

What you are funding:

We currently need to raise at least $25,000 dollars to fund the following:

Website Development: For CitySprout to function properly we will have to deploy a user-friendly website to properly organize our farmers, consumers, and drop-off locations.

PR and Marketing: Getting the initial word out about CitySprout will be no small task. Funds will go towards marketing efforts both on the web and in print, as well as promotional events.