Farm to Table – Northern Ontario allows farmers to post products for sale
By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com
A new Facebook group is helping farmers sell directly to customers who may want to cut back on grocery store visits during the COVID-19 outbreak.
Farm to Table – Northern Ontario brings farmers from northern communities together with consumers.
“This is totally about farmers,” Sean Barrette told Farms.com. He’s a local singer/songwriter, public relations communicator and one of the group’s founders. “This is a tool for (farmers) to reach customers and I hope it means they’re going to be able to expand their market share. They’re the hardest working people out there, and choosing that life is a calling.”
Barrette and Craig Young, a local chef, started the group in March to help address the concerns of where food was going to come from during these times.
The group has more than 3,400 members and more are joining daily. In addition, people are reaching out to Barrette and Young to see how they can help.
Dr. Sara Epp, a professor from the University of Guelph, is having some graduate students compile a database of local farms and products.
This information will help make finding specific items easier, Barrette said.
“They’re going to assist with the database to map these farms,” he said. “We’re going to have something nice and neatly wrapped up in a bow to help (consumers) find the farm they’re looking for. That (help) came right out of the blue.”
Local politicians are joining the group and asking their supporters to do the same, Barrette added.
The Facebook group benefits farmers, consumers and other members of the supply chain, he said.
“I am a consumer, so I’ve been eating a lot of really great local food lately,” he said. “Craig is a chef, so he’s going to be able to make great use of these ingredients when the time comes. And (the group is) hopefully increasing farmers’ market shares. We have tons of people asking where they can get local honey, beef or other foods.”
Farms.com has reached out to Epp for comment.