3 ms·

Efarm. Indian Farm-to-House supply chain. (Needs a US copycat).

17 points by rokhayakebe 18y ago

shaunxcode 18y ago
Seriously - what a great idea! I have wanted to work on something like this for some time now. There are already food co-operatives which have distribution centers and managing teams of volunteers/recipients worked out. Now we just need to combine something like what the article describes with that infrastructure. The only thing is unless you are shrewd there is not much of a mark up to be made so I see it as being more of an awesome project to work on and less of a "start up".
- daydream 18y ago
  You're right that there's not much money to be made - the cost is in the distribution. There are companies here in the US (such as Boston Organics) that provide this service, but the higher cost of labor/transportation (gas and refrigerated trucks, in some cases) when compared to India is what hurts. You either end up with small profit margins, or a cost to customers such that those who are interested don't perceive the service as being a good value. Now, that being said, I could see this working if you targeted a geographically small, very dense area, and had your distribution center there. Then you could get deliveries from farmers and not have much distance to transport the goods yourself. I'm thinking an area the size of say the Mission/Noe Valley/Castro/Potrero Hill in San Francisco. How well this all scales, and could you make a big business out of it - well, we've had a bunch of supermarket delivery businesses that have come and went, haven't we? But I bet someone smart could come in, innovate on what's already been tried here in the US, and make a nice living for a small group of people.
jonmc12 18y ago
This is roughly the business model of a company I co-founded in Austin in 2005 - http://www.greenling.com/ http://www.greenling.com/ Initially we marketed it as 'Farmer's Market to your Doorstep'. The model was fairly well established when we adopted it. For instance in the bay area there is Planet Organics, and several other competitors that have been around for years. The model was also found in Seattle, Oregon, Denver, and several other 'green' locales. I'd imagine today there is some kind of farm to market logistics service in most major metropolitan markets. Additionally, there is a non-profit version of the model called co-ops. Here members are supposed to be stakeholders in a farm, and there are simple logistic systems to distribute produce, etc to each of the members residences. In India the customer base is likely different. US Customers for the commercial farm-to-market concept are generally out of greenness (ie, consideration for the earth, or organic farming) or convenience (particular families with newborns). Members of the non-profit co-ops are likely driven by support for local farms and greenness factors.
- bmj 18y ago
  Co-ops, or CSAs, are becoming increasingly popular, as are "buying clubs" for farms that don't offer CSAs. I could see something like this to work well with small farmers who don't offer CSAs but still hit the farmers' market circuit.
anthonyrubin 18y ago
CSAs are one alternative in the US. http://www.localharvest.org/csa.jsp http://www.localharvest.org/csa.jsp The above site provides a search feature to find local CSAs as well.

17 points by rokhayakebe 18y ago

Seriously - what a great idea! I have wanted to work on something like this for some time now. There are already food co-operatives which have distribution centers and managing teams of volunteers/recipients worked out. Now we just need to combine something like what the article describes with that infrastructure. The only thing is unless you are shrewd there is not much of a mark up to be made so I see it as being more of an awesome project to work on and less of a "start up".

daydream 18y ago
You're right that there's not much money to be made - the cost is in the distribution. There are companies here in the US (such as Boston Organics) that provide this service, but the higher cost of labor/transportation (gas and refrigerated trucks, in some cases) when compared to India is what hurts. You either end up with small profit margins, or a cost to customers such that those who are interested don't perceive the service as being a good value. Now, that being said, I could see this working if you targeted a geographically small, very dense area, and had your distribution center there. Then you could get deliveries from farmers and not have much distance to transport the goods yourself. I'm thinking an area the size of say the Mission/Noe Valley/Castro/Potrero Hill in San Francisco. How well this all scales, and could you make a big business out of it - well, we've had a bunch of supermarket delivery businesses that have come and went, haven't we? But I bet someone smart could come in, innovate on what's already been tried here in the US, and make a nice living for a small group of people.

jonmc12 18y ago

This is roughly the business model of a company I co-founded in Austin in 2005 - http://www.greenling.com/ http://www.greenling.com/ Initially we marketed it as 'Farmer's Market to your Doorstep'. The model was fairly well established when we adopted it. For instance in the bay area there is Planet Organics, and several other competitors that have been around for years. The model was also found in Seattle, Oregon, Denver, and several other 'green' locales. I'd imagine today there is some kind of farm to market logistics service in most major metropolitan markets. Additionally, there is a non-profit version of the model called co-ops. Here members are supposed to be stakeholders in a farm, and there are simple logistic systems to distribute produce, etc to each of the members residences. In India the customer base is likely different. US Customers for the commercial farm-to-market concept are generally out of greenness (ie, consideration for the earth, or organic farming) or convenience (particular families with newborns). Members of the non-profit co-ops are likely driven by support for local farms and greenness factors.

bmj 18y ago
Co-ops, or CSAs, are becoming increasingly popular, as are "buying clubs" for farms that don't offer CSAs. I could see something like this to work well with small farmers who don't offer CSAs but still hit the farmers' market circuit.

anthonyrubin 18y ago

CSAs are one alternative in the US. http://www.localharvest.org/csa.jsp http://www.localharvest.org/csa.jsp The above site provides a search feature to find local CSAs as well.