GroAction

Announcing the ‘Incubator’ – Sowing a Seed of Intent

Luke Miller Callahan — Sun, 18 Nov 2012 02:28:12 +0000

Alright everyone. I’m excited/nervous about what’s to come.

My plan is to bring you along with me as I ~~try to~~ build, with the support of others, a center for local, sustainable, business incubation. From here out we’ll call it the ‘Incubator’. The mission is to build businesses that can be replicated throughout communities in the developed world by first implementing them here in Portland, Oregon, USA. All of these businesses will be local, sustainable, models that build community resilience as our society decreases its consumption of fossil fuels. In fact, the long term vision is to understand exactly which business models are crucial to communities depending on their specific details.

The key here is that we will be building businesses that make towns and cities self sufficient, while providing jobs for community members.

I don’t expect this to be easy. In fact, I expect to fail, and fail often. But, in failing, I expect to learn, and evolve fast enough to keep in business. The keys that will dictate the success of these business models and ultimately the incubator, are as follows:

Funding -Whether through profits or partners, without this, we will have no power to realize our vision.
The Team – All must have the right attitude. The rest can be taught/learned.
Community Support - It does indeed take a village

Getting Started…

First, we’ll paint the big picture of what we want. Then we’ll hash out the current reality. After that, we’ll determine the initial strategy to get from here to there. Finally, we’ll continue to improve through our philosophy of constant iteration and evolution.

The Steps

Step 1: Outline Vision

Step 2: Current Reality

Step 3: Flexible Strategy

Step 4: Evolve and Iterate

Well, there you have it. The beginnings of what could be.

-LMC 11.17.12

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Concept: Urban Agriculture Incubator – Portland (0)

Concept: Urban Agriculture Incubator – Portland

Luke Miller Callahan — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 22:58:17 +0000

This has been kicking around my head for a bit. Always good to write down your ideas. Even better to share them publicly, so here’s what I’ve been thinking of. If you have any thoughts on it, I’d love to hear about them in the comments below.

Urban Ag Incubator

Mission

The mission is to create a center that trains people to become profitable urban farmers. Once successful, an introspection will be taken to replicate the model in cities throughout the US and developed world.

The following is my theory of what a successful urban ag (and other business) incubator will look like. There are undoubtedly things that will change as it is underway, but this is a point to start with and evolve from. I am open to discussion on every point.

The founding principles behind the incubator are to get started asap with a lean budget. Start making a profit asap and embrace the philosophy of measuring everything and continual improvement.

Vision

A profitable urban farm here in Portland on one highly visible, central location. Location should be north of Division, south of Ainsworth, East of the river, West of E 60th Ave.

Size:

.5 – 1.5 acres

Components:

Greenhouse: 25′ wide X 100′ .
walk in cooler,
tiller
simple shed/shop for equipment and storage.
misc. harvesting and washing equipment

Revenue models:

Nightly farm stand from 4-8p weeknights.
Sell produce to local restaurants and 5-20 farmer’s markets in town
Host workshops
more to present themselves once established

How it will work (theory to be improved once implemented)

Year 1

Hire employees to train as urban farm apprentices. Only accept those who will go on to start their own urban farm.

Teach them the ins and outs of the operation: growing, harvesting, getting new field into production, selling to markets and restaurants, etc.

Each month, give them more and more responsibility in the farm.

Create a learning process to teach them the basics first, then gradually add in more and more skills.

Field:

Growing
Harvesting
Selling at Market
Delivering to Restaurants

Office:

Planning Beds
Tracking Invoices
Inventory
Determining profitability
etc.

As the farm gets attention, potential land will be offered. Connect farm apprentices with land opportunities for next season.

Year 2

Apprentices become journeyman farmers. They start new farming operations, and form a co-op with the incubator. There could be some interesting competition that forms because of this, but it is in line with the goal of creating more farmers, so it is just something that will be dealt with as it arises.

2nd years also come teach X (2) hours per week the new apprentices. Perhaps one of the apprentices takes over as the manager of the incubator.

New Apprentices come on board and utilize the same farmer’s markets, the same restaurants, etc.

Upon success in Portland, 1 new incubator launches in target city.

Other business models in incubator

Urban Composting:

Naturally, because of the space and need for compost, a soil business can be started here. The goal is to get a contract from one of the city trucks and be paid to have organic food scraps dropped here for composting. A vermicomposting business (comparable to http://pedaltopetal.com/) is created which supplies the Urban Ag Initiative.

Cob Heaters

Build simple cob heaters in greenhouses to bolster production in winter, and teach the right individual how to build a cob heater and launch the business.

Rooftop vs. Land

Rooftop

pros:

Replicable in highly urban areas.

Garner lots and lots of press.

cons:

Higher cost to setup (and operate)

Probably take longer to actualize

Land

pros:

proven as a model for profitable urban farms

much less liability

easier for the public to interact with farmers

cons:

not as sexy as rooftop farming

So, there it is. This is certainly something that I would like to move forward on. We’ll see what comes of it…

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Announcing the ‘Incubator’ – Sowing a Seed of Intent (1)

A Thousand Gardens in Africa – Interview with Slow Food President, Josh Viertel

Luke Miller Callahan — Fri, 11 May 2012 17:35:54 +0000

Leader in Sustainable Development: Josh Viertel

Click here to listen to the Interview

Right click here to download the MP3 version of this interview

Click here to Subscribe to the iTunes GroAction Podcast

Synopsis

As orginally posted in this audio-only Interview with Josh Viertel of Slow Food USA on Seed Ratings, seed review website.

Josh Viertel, president of Slow Food USA, joins Luke Callahan to discuss the ambitious initiative, A Thousand Gardens in Africa. The project entails creating new gardens in schools, villages, and urban fringe areas. The gardens will cultivate local varieties using sustainable and organic methods. Perhaps most importantly, the project is promoting seed exchanges within the communities in order to encourage resilience among the farmers.

Resources Mentioned

Slow Food USA

A Thousand Gardens in Africa

About Josh Viertel

As president of Slow Food USA, Josh is working to create a world in which all people can eat food that is good for them, good for the people who grow it and good for the planet. He previously co-founded and co-directed the Yale Sustainable Food Project at Yale University. The project transformed the university’s cafeteria to a menu based on sustainable, local foods, built an organic farm on campus, and developed food and agriculture curriculum and programs for undergraduates. Prior to his work at Yale, Josh started Mamabrook Farm, a small organic vegetable farm that provided food to local restaurants and farmers’ markets.

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Strategies for mobilizing our workforce towards urban agriculture with Michael Ableman (1)

People-Centered Economic Development — Business: Localization – Changing capitalism to serve people and planet

Irena Efremovska — Fri, 04 May 2012 09:26:47 +0000

“What if some businesses were to do things differently? Rather than accept that the responsibility of business was to return a profit to shareholders, what if it made other people the central focus and instead invested in the local community and social objectives?” — asks Jeff Mowatt, the Director of P-CED, People Centered Economic Development.

People-Centered Economic Development in a tweet…

Essentially, People-Centered Economic Development [P-CED] is an economic paradigm measured in human terms rather than financial return, a social business.

It is perhaps best expressed in our 2006 ‘Marshall Plan’ :

‘This is a long-term permanently sustainable program, the basis for “people-centered” economic development. Core focus is always on people and their needs, with neediest people having first priority – as contrasted with the eternal chase for financial profit and numbers where people, social benefit, and human well-being are often and routinely overlooked or ignored altogether. This is in keeping with the fundamental objectives of Marshall Plan: policy aimed at hunger, poverty, desperation and chaos. This is a bottom-up approach, starting with Ukraine’s poorest and most desperate citizens, rather than a “top-down” approach that might not ever benefit them. They cannot wait, particularly children. Impedance by anyone or any group of people constitutes precisely what the original Marshall Plan was dedicated to opposing. Those who suffer most, and those in greatest need, must be helped first — not secondarily, along the way or by the way.’

What does the inspiration come from?

Mainly by the work of Carl Rogers’ person-centered therapy which it places into the context of business and economics. The wotk of Fritjof Capra, Peter Drucker, Alvin Toffler an Erich Fromm is also acknowledged It was conceived by founder Terry Hallman in a white paper he delivered in 1996 to President Clinton.

What are some of the current and future projects we need to keep an eye on?

Ukraine’s children in state care have been the major international focus and we continue in advocacy for action on their behalf with support from local activists,4 since Terry Hallman’s death.

In the UK, our focus on microeconomic development will be found in community projects which invest financial surplus into further social objectives. Renewable heating is a current example.

What is the best part about being part of the P-CED community?

Seeing the impact of business with a social purpose enter the realm of mainstream business thinking. For example, Creating Shared Value.

What is P-CED biggest success so far?

Sourcing the Tomsk Regional Initiative for USAID in 1999, a successful microenterprise development project which created around 10,000 new micro businesses. Our impact on childcare policy from the ‘Marshall Plan’ for Ukraine which was to show a 40% increase in domestic adoptions…

The P-CED biggest challenge

The repercussions from our article describing ‘Death Camps, For Children’ and the hostility it created. Learning to stand one’s ground when challenged or threatened

And the three tips for starting a change making business directly from The P-CED are…

Place compassion and integrity ahead of celebrity.
Offer trust even after it proves misplaced.
Walk more than talk.

A thing or two YOU can do, to support The P-CED…

Replicate it. The P-CED concept was placed in the public domain, free to use, for social purpose!

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Is Starting a Social Business Possible even when Your Pocket is Empty?

Erick Chrispin - The True Maisha — Wed, 02 May 2012 08:58:25 +0000

“An example of a brave woman social entrepreneur from Tanzania”

Do you also believe that you can make a living with starting up a small social business although you don’t have any start up capital in your account/ pocket at the beginning? The answer is yes – I believe so after I came across this Tanzanian woman. This is an example of a persistent entrepreneur that didn’t have any cash in her pocket at the beginning, but she managed to get resources to start a business. Now she is making a living and employing a number of people from the community in her tailoring small business.

The story started like this: As the economic crisis stroke, her life became so tough as she couldn’t afford to buy her daily bread. Then she decided to choose action as an option and do everything she could do in order to make a living and help other people who were facing similar challenges. She decided she had to start her own social business. The first challenge that came on her mind was that she didn’t have capital to start any kind of business.

Instead of giving up she chose the opposite! She engaged in proactive exploring, researching, talking to people and meditating… all will the intention to uncover opportunities how she was going to get resources to start her action. Her first decision that helped her shape her actions in finding a way, was when she decided to think of the business idea to deal with. She decided she had to start a small tailoring mart, and engage people from the community. The next challenge was: she didn’t have any skills in sewing so she had to think further.

WHAT DO YOU HAVE IN YOU?

She started thinking on what she has personally as her nature. Here is where a secret was found and opened all the doors for her to get resources and capital.

She discovered that she had a lot of friends but more than that she had a unique ability to make connections with people in a very short time. As she meets a new person, she is naturally very good in making a quick rapport with new people on her presence. She decided to leverage that talent and social connections to get support for finding resources and starting her business.

THE SUPPORT FROM YOUR SOCIAL NETWORK

She thought and decided to face one of her best friends who was good in tailoring and asked her like, “please friend of mine can you train me how to measure people for a new dress of any design to be sewed?” Her friend accepted to train her for free as she was her best friend. This took short time for her to master the skill. She didn’t learn how to sew it was only taking measurements.

After that she started her next step, which was to make a deal with her friend who was good in sewing but she didn’t have customers in her small industry in town. The deal was that she will be bringing her orders with readymade measurements to be sewed and after finishing she will be paying her the sewing costs. Her friend accepted such a deal because she thought her work will be more valuable as she will be having more customers.

Then after negotiating with her friend, she started visiting a number of her friends in different offices in town with a very cheap measuring tape in hand trying to convince them that she has established a tailoring mart business. The goodness of her business is that she can measure you where you are and you pay an advance half a cost from which she buy materials and after sometime she brings back your well sewed dress. This allowed the customers to buy your new clothes without moving to a market.

She started doing like this and a lot of people in her community liked her service and they became her devoted customers who brought her more customers. Now already she had a capital and started making profit which enabled her to later buy many new tailoring machines and established a big premise where she employed a number of good tailors and trained people from the community who were eager to learn. She remained a manager and marketing officer to find customers and measuring them in their places. As I am writing she is said to be making a living out of such business. She used her social business to make a living out of her empty hands, and to help other people make living too.

Don’t stop starting up your business because you don’t have capital; try to think out of the box on how you are going to raise money for your brilliant business idea. Your opportunities are just behind the corner. Think on how you are going to uncover and seize the opportunities!

Good luck! Today is a great day to and start thinking outside the box about how to make a living.

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Choose Action as an Option: Social Entrepreneurship in Tanzania by Erick, The True Maisha

Erick Chrispin - The True Maisha — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 18:56:49 +0000

Get ready for a journey to Tanzania!

Erick Chrispin, Social Entrepreneurship Trainer, Motivator and Blogger tells us how it’s like to inspire people to choose action as an option in the beautiful Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

What inspires you to teach people to choose action as an option?

In my life I have tried both main perspectives of learning which are: theoretical based learning approach and practical or experiential one. I discovered that theoretical is a prior stage of learning whereby you can’t have a tangible knowledge if you end up there. This means that you can know something in detail by its theory and at the same time you can’t perform it in a physical world because you are lacking an important stage of learning from experience - that is learning by doing.

My work is not teaching as usual in academic institutions whereby they end up in a theoretical part. I have chosen to train whereby I concentrate much on giving people practical skills from which they can quickly go and practice it easily to accomplish the important stage of leaning by doing.

This philosophy of mine is basically what inspires me to teach people to choose action as an option and action is the only approach which will realize change in the world.

What is the best thing about being a Social Entrepreneur in Tanzania?

Tanzania is a very young developing country; it is in a transformation period from socialism to capitalism mode of economy, in this transition there is a lot of unsettled social system which influence people to become selfish, accumulating much for themselves, the impact of this competition is a big class of people in a very lower class suffers from stiff poverty, they need help from able people socially, politically but mainly economically. The best thing about being a social entrepreneur in Tanzania is that there is a very big opportunity to establish social enterprise due to the fact that there is a lot to do with social context to the extent of easily getting brilliant social business ideas.

Erick’s biggest success so far…

As I have chosen to indulge myself on teaching, training, motivating and inspiring people to choose the right path towards positively changing their life and the society they came from, I have succeed to talk to many categories of people for instance, youth, entrepreneurs, workers from different companies and organizations, students, women etc. most of people I have talked to they gave me good feedback that their life is positively changing, in every platform I use to speak and train I get an inspiring feedback and evaluation which makes me move on every day, I am a co founder of Global learning for development partnership company www.gldp.co.tz which is basically offering trainings, I am running a blog www.truemaisha.blogspot.com which is doing well as a leaning platform, I am a Global change courses trainer of Social Entrepreneurship, Leadership and management and Trainers at MSTCDC Dar es salaam Tanzania. I am now writing a motivational swahili book titled SIRI YA USHINDI (A SECRET OF VICTORY) To me these are big success which inspires me move on every day.

The biggest challenge and what Erick has learnt?

The biggest challenge is on the beneficiaries of my service, Tanzanians do not have a culture of learning by themselves which makes it hard for me and others like me to access a good number of people who could learn from me. And those who attend they are again not comfortable to implement by action what they have learnt, this situation is cultural wise.

What I have leant out of this challenge is that for a culture to be changed we need to be creative as trainers, persistent and keep on going until it is changed because it is very possible to do whatever we think we can.

What can you do to support Erick, the True Maisha, and the Tanzanian Entrepreneurs?

For you support TRUE MAISHA is by contributing some good ideas which will make it more better and advances, also spread it to many people in any way so that everyone can learn out of it and positively change his/her life. Also find, connect or prepare a platform whereby I can come and present the content of True maisha live as its author,

You can support Tanzanian Entrepreneur by giving them access to skills and motivation about entrepreneurship for them to discover the opportunities and create brilliant ideas which will enable them expand their business.

Please visit www.truemaisha.blogspot.com for more learning.

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The Edible Bus Stop

Irena Efremovska — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 19:28:29 +0000

It all started near the bus stop on Landor Road, London SW9…

Simon Goldsmith, the Co-founder and Vice Chair of The Edible Bus Stop, brings us the story about the super cool project, taking place in London.

Get ready for inspiring actions that aims to create a lush organic growing space for edibles & non-edibles.

Changing the world, one humble bus stop at a time!

The Edible Bus Stop in a Tweet…

@EdibleBusStop helps communities grow through the transformation of neglected spaces into oases of edible co-creation & neighbourhood pride

Where does the inspiration for The Edible Bus Stop come from?

Originally the project came from the response of the community to protect a rare area of public space from development. From this we found the project inspired the community to connect and co-create beautiful public spaces, illustrating the importance of resilient and caring communities. This is now a major inspiration to keep us moving forward.

What are some of the current and future projects and activities that we should keep an eye on?

The Edible Bus Stop loves a creative challenge.

Within a few months of successfully launching and creating the first Edible Bus Stop the team created what was probably the worlds largest project for International Park(ing) Day and is rolling out the Edible Bus Stop project to communities along the 322 bus route in South London. Also the team is part of the Chelsea Fringe, creating gardens in public spaces that will be exhibited in unexpected areas of London during the world famous Chelsea Flower Show. Don’t worry.. we won’t stop there.. watch out for future exciting projects…

What is the best part about being part of The Edible Bus Stop Community?

There is a huge amount of energy, support and recognition from peers certainly helps keeps up our motivation to look creatively at any opportunity.

Just some of Team Incredible Edible!

What is The Edible Bus Stop biggest success so far?

In the 12 months since we began we have had many successes. The original Edible Bus Stop site probably is our proudest achievement, something we see in our neighbourhood on a daily basis, somewhere where there is always a wonderful conversation with a passer by saying how much they love the space.

What is The Edible Bus Stop biggest challenge and what have you learnt?

Every project we do is different, so we have to learn on the the job how to deal with challenges that arise. Often we find that our initial visions for a space or project takes far more work than we originally envisage, yet we always put the extra effort in to make sure each space we create is a wonderful space for the community to fully enjoy!

What 3 tips would you give to people who want to engage with change making projects?

Get stuck in and get your hands dirty. The best way of learning in life is by doing. Community gardening is all about doing; digging, planting, watering, weeding and harvesting, all connect you personally to what you are nurturing, at every stage you learn and this learning is embedded and ready to use at any time in the future.
Connect and listen. Often you’ll find some of the most interesting people in the community involved in change making projects. These are often the people you should look to for advice, bounce ideas off and even mentor you. They are usually well rounded and non-judgemental able to support and advise you along the path you want to follow (or hopefully lead!)
Feel good by doing good. Young people as well as older ones rarely take the time to recognise the values that are important to them. The more we reflect upon our values the more likely we are to recognise them and behave in ways that align with them, making our lives happier and more fulfilled. Young people should also take time to reflect their own values, they may find these relate less to the stuff that is constantly advertised to them, rather they may find their values are based around empathy, love for others the wish to connect and support others and possibly to protect nature.

Curious to find out what YOU can do to support The Edible Bus Stop?

Share the love.. for community gardening.. it’s just such a great way of strengthening communities, produce tasty, healthy food and enable people to connect directly to deeper community and environmental issues.

photo by Mak Gilchrist

Connect with the Edible Bus Stop on Facebook, Twitter.

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PS. Thanks for coming and reading us! And, we must say you look wonderful today

If you or someone you know is making a positive impact in the world, direct them to GroAction to do it more efficiently.

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Open Source Permaculture – help to build the most comprehensive free resource for Permaculture education

Irena Efremovska — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 16:37:28 +0000

Sophia Novack, the force behind Permaculture Media Blog and Permaculture Directory

‘What does your backyard look like right now?’ – asks Sophia Novack, a documentary film student passionate about creating a more sustainable world.

It has the potential to become a thriving edible garden, but only if you’ve got the right resources. If you had expert support at your fingertips, and free resources to teach you how to grow a sustainable backyard garden, why wouldn’t you?

That’s what the Open Source Permaculture Project is all about.

With Open Source Permaculture, you could have just the support you need to make that garden a reality. Open Source Permaculture is a crowdfunding campaign supporting free, open access education to sustainable design.

Permaculture is a school of design rooted in ecological ethics and principles. It can be used to design anything from a sustainable garden to green architecture.

Photo by Southernpixel Alby

Open Source Permaculture intends to become the most comprehensive multimedia resource of free, quality materials for Permaculture education.

It would offer people all over the world the ability to easily learn sustainability skills on their own. The current project includes the creation of an Open Source Permaculture Q&A website and wiki, as well as a free Urban Permaculture Guide eBook.

Who doesn’t want open source education on sustainable design? I’m all in.

Why the Open Source Permaculture Project?

We believe that sustainability is for everyone. That’s why we’re creating Open Source Permaculture, a free online resource for anyone who wants to create a more sustainable world. Imagine having all the resources you need at your fingertips to enhance the sustainability of your home or land. Anyone (including you!) could learn how to grow an incredibly productive backyard permaculture garden, just like this one:

Now it’s your turn – What can you do?

Fall in love with Permaculture, if you haven’t done that already, and hurry up to support the Open Source Permaculture on Indiegigo - It’s the final countdown, 8 days left until the campaign ends.

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PS. Thanks for coming and reading us! And, we must say your hair again looks wonderful today

If you or someone you know is making a positive impact in the world, direct them to GroAction to do it more efficiently.

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Yummly – every recipe in the world

Irena Efremovska — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 19:42:19 +0000

Imagine having a digital kitchen where you could connect with thousands of people passionate about food, share tasty experiences and information about the food you love and bring in transparency in the food system…

Today we add a Yummly flavour to that imagination. David Feller, the Founder and CEO of Yummly, the food game changing platform, tells us their story.

Yummly in a tweet…

Yummly is building the digital kitchen platform…making life better/easier/more fun for everyone who cooks. Think Pandora for the kitchen.

What are some current and future projects and activities that we should keep an eye on?

So much! Some things you’ll have to wait and see…but we are definitely planning a total site reimagination/redesign. It will connect users with recipes in a more intelligent, emotional and social way with easier exploration and recipe discovery. Also look out for even more recipes and sources, and mobile apps.

The best part about being part of the Yummly community…

Our Yummly community is actually multiple communities! We have Facebook Pages for every conceivable food weakness. Chocolate is Yummly, Bacon is Yummly, and Cupcakes are Yummly are a few favorites. These communities revolve around that food and every day we post recipes, photos, and other interesting tidbits for fans to engage with. We have pages for specific diets as well, like the Vegan Recipe Box on Yummly where we deliver all of the best vegan recipes and users share stories, cooking tips, and other creative ideas.

What is Yummly biggest success so far?

Reaching over 4M unique visitors a month and a constantly expanding user base is validation that people love to use our product.

We are helping millions of people figure out what food to put on the table every night – and making it fun!

Yummly biggest challenge

Since we are leading the way in semantic recipe search, this is new territory. Our software has been mostly built and tested in-house from scratch. Also, there can always be constant improvements, and it is never a perfect product. Understanding recipes at a deeper level is not easy!

And the three tips for starting a change making business directly from Yummly Founder are…

1. Do it for the right reasons;
2. Understand that there is never only one correct answer to any problem;
3. Always keep your ear to the ground and be open to any new ideas.

A thing or two YOU can do, to support Yummly…

Use Yummly, become an evangelist for our product and help us hire great people who believe in our mission. Tell your mom, your hairdresser, your mailman, etc.!

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Enough talking. We are getting hungry now. Come to Yummly and discover the magic you can do tonight with your fresh local ingredients.

Wondering how to find fresh ingredients? Check Foodtree or start growing food yourself and learn all you need with the GroAction Urban Farming Course.

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Foodtree: Know More – Eat Better

Irena Efremovska — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 17:43:58 +0000

Our food system is not completely broken. It’s just poorly designed.

For a person that sees the glass as being half full, this means tones of opportunities to contribute to redesigning and building transparency in the food system… all while enjoying tasty local food!

Today, Derek Shanahan shares the story of Foodtree, a winning startup that allows you to discover and share where to find great food. Know more – eat better!

Foodtree in a Tweet…

Foodtree‘s a place to discover and share great food, where it’s from, who it’s from, and where to find it.

Some of the Foodtree actions you need to keep an eye on…

Right now we’re looking for food advocates to contribute photos of their favorite foods and tell us where they found it and where it’s from, if they know. In similar fashion, we encourage leading food business owners to claim their profiles, build out their list of “connections” and show the world where to find their stuff or where they’re sourcing from.

We use photos to build a growing understanding of how the food system fits together and what relationships exist within it.

Sharing photos using Foodtree’s free iPhone app or website does something positive for the food community; it connects the dots and celebrates the people and stories behind the food we eat. Our app lets users share into Facebook and Twitter as well.

We’re in the midst of some exciting partnerships with organizations like Food Alliance, Certified Humane, Animal Welfare Association, and others to bring their constituants on board and to make the foods they certify easier to find. In addition to that, we’ve just opened our QR codes to businesses outside of Vancouver (our hometown)…in Vancouver these QR codes are on restaurant menus and in grocery stores, showing shoppers and diners where their food is from and who’s responsible for it.

Foodtree’s a young and ambitious company, so keep your eyes peeled because we move fast!

What’s the best part about being part of the Foodtree community?

Foodtree’s a place for food advocates and an effort to build some transparency into our food system, so being a part of that is rewarding, fun, and worthwhile for a lot of reasons. It’s the forefront of the food movement; a participatory, open collection of food insights, photos, and stories. It’s a real attempt to highlight the best aspects of our food system and to lay the groundwork for a better tomorrow, in which it’s weird not to know where your food is from.

What’s Foodtree’s biggest success so far?

It’s been a rewarding journey so far on so many levels it’s hard to say what our biggest success is. We’re an endeavor in which the smallest wins can be monumental. That person who jumped on their bike because a local farmer shared a photo of a morning harvest and said they’d be available later that day at the market is a small thing, but transformative every time it happens. The first time we saw our QR code on a menu and diners checking out the provenance of their meal felt pretty incredible.

Alongside that we’ve welcome farms, restaurants, and other food business owners onto Foodtree from all over the world; North America, Europe, and Australia. Every day’s exciting, and we know we still have a long way to go!

Foodtree’s biggest challenge so far?

I think the biggest challenge we’ve faced has been couched in the ambitious nature of our endeavoring to really impact the food system in a big way.

The food system is a big, chaotic system and we’ve learned to embrace that and plan for that. Instead of thinking about the bigger problems we see in the way food works today, we’ve increasingly focused on smaller problems we can tackle directly, knowing that the big vision will always drive our decisions along the way.

Three tips for people looking forward to starting a change making business:

Surround yourself with ambitious, thoughtful, experienced people who are willing to help you along the way.
Change is made by executing on the small stuff.
Adopt an action-first attitude. Put yourself in motion, get involved, and start the work right away, learning as much as you can as quickly as you can.

Few things you can do now to support Foodtree

Download our iPhone app or sign up for an account at http://www.foodtree.com and begin sharing the food you buy and dine on with our community. Participation is the true driver of change, and each contribution from you gives anyone who comes after you a little more insight into their food.

Don’t forget to send tasty tweets to Foodtree on Twitter.