When Violet Town’s Kirsten Larsen and Serenity Hill launched Open Food Network in 2012, a pandemic wasn't in their wildest dreams.
Hold tight - we’re checking permissions before loading more content
And yet, they knew a shock to mainstream food supply chains was coming.
But when it did inevitably arrive, they had an alternative distribution system in place to keep farmers afloat and fresh food on local plates.
Introducing Open Food Network - an online network of farmers, wholesalers and community-run virtual farmers’ markets.
The platform aims to put the power back in farmers’ hands, equipping them to sell their produce at a realistic price, directly to consumers.
This means, to support your local farmers, all you have to do is jump on to the platform, search for your region, and make an order.
Listing more than 800 farmers across Australia - including several in Shepparton and surrounds - the site has taken off overseas, established in 13 countries across the globe including in France, Canada and the UK.
And with widespread closures of traditional farmers’ markets and restaurants forcing producers to look for alternative distribution networks, the need for the platform is only growing.
“We knew the mainstream food system was incredibly brittle and we shouldn't be relying on imported food,” Ms Larsen said.
“This platform was designed to keep farmers in control of food regardless what happened in supply chains, while encouraging locals to support regional supply networks.”
Partners Ms Larsen and Ms Hill met in 2005 while working for the Department of Sustainability and Environment in Melbourne.
Both were largely focused on food system research and policy, and soon became frustrated with the state of the agriculture sector.
“I could see people were trying to embrace sustainable agriculture but there was only so much they could do when commodity markets gave farmers such poor returns,” Ms Hill said.
“Kirsten and I saw the potential in exploring alternative markets to get a greater farmgate price to farmers.
“Because where the supermarkets were returning around eight to 10 per cent of the retail price to farmers, some alternatives were managing more like 60 per cent.”
In 2012, Open Food Network was born.
It was built on four key principles - it would be open source, transparent, diverse and support networking.
“We ensured the platform's code was available for everyone to adapt and improve, as it's better to work with people than compete with them,” Ms Hill said.
“We also wanted transparency, both in the supply chain and the pricing of products.
“And where many platforms can use a ‘cookie-cutter model’, we aimed to empower individual producers to be flexible and adapt to their local context.
“Finally, we wanted to support farmers to network, selling through multiple supply chain partners on the site, not just their own shop.”
The couple began searching for the necessary software to launch the project – and discovered it didn’t exist.
Luckily, Ms Larsen had studied computer engineering and software development in the 90s, so she began building the platform herself.
Their first "experiment" was Violet Town permaculture farmer David Arnold.
While on one of their trips to Ms Hill’s family farm in Warrenbayne, Mr Arnold offered for the couple to take a portion of his fruit back to Melbourne to sell to their friends.
That delivery was the first of many and before they knew it, they had set-up 12 pick-up points across the city, with metro customers clamouring to get their hands on the Violet Town farmer’s fresh produce.
“We realised this could revolutionise food distribution,” Ms Larsen said.
But while the vision was there, the software just wasn’t cutting the mustard.
Luckily, Open Food Network was already attracting overseas interest.
“Our board urged us to get more people involved, so we sent out position descriptions,” Ms Larsen said.
“They went viral.
“Suddenly we had all these people from around the world saying, ‘This is fantastic, this is what we need, we want to help'.”
These included software developers who pitched in to help transform Open Food Network into the sleek, streamlined site it is today.
“We were also contacted by people from the UK who had up to 15 years’ experience operating food hubs but were using obsolete software,” Ms Larsen said.
“They threw their support behind us, as did France and Canada. Now Open Food Network is operating in 13 countries, with more in the pipeline.
“These people are co-founders and co-builders.”
Unfortunately, Ms Hill and Ms Larsen said they had received slim financial support in Australia, with VicHealth the main source of additional funding.
“We argued for the health sector that it would increase access to fresh fruit and veg. But we haven't been successfully getting money from the agriculture sector,” Ms Hill said.
“The agriculture sector's policy in Australia is very focused on export commodity, not interested in local food supply, even though local and regional food supply is critical to a resilient food system.”
Eight years down the track, the duo is settled in Violet Town, where they are raising their two children, Charlie, 4, and Eaden, 2.
They have also taken over the family farm in Warrenbayne, where they are currently exploring regenerative farming practices.
And, on the side, there’s Open Food Network.
Thankfully, they’re not alone in keeping the thriving platform running.
“It's tough but it's not just us,” Ms Larsen said.
“Our Australian team has really stepped up so now we know if we get hit by a bus, Open Food Network will be fine – which is a gratifying realisation.”
By sharing the load, the couple has built a global community with a non-hierarchical, self-organising approach.
It's apparently so unorthodox it has already attracted the attention of a number of PhD students and research projects.
As for the future of Open Food Network, the duo has several dreams.
In addition to maintaining a food distribution network, Ms Hill and Ms Larsen hope to use the platform to mentor farmers.
In mid-June, they will be running a webinar for north-east farmers and other potential food enterprises.
“We will be educating them on alternative supply chains, shocks to the system and regenerative agriculture and landscape management,” Ms Hill said.
And there’s one more goal: “We want Open Food Network to one day be available to everyone, everywhere in the world,” Ms Larsen said.
The webinar will be held on Wednesday, June 17 from 6.30 pm to 8.30 pm and can be accessed via bit.ly/ofn-ne-farmers
To learn more about Open Food Network, visit openfoodnetwork.org.au