Open Food Hub
Food e-marketplace in Cloughjordan Smart Village
Description
An Open Food Hub is a community of farmers and local producers who have joined forces to sell their produce through a community-owned open-source software app designed specifically for the sale of food. The “Hub” sells items (to the public or other businesses) by more than one supplier, and can be likened to a physical farmers market where customers can access food grown and supplied by different local farmers, as well as baked goods, handicrafts and even produce imported by local wholesalers. Food producers create an online shop on Open Food Hub through which they can receive payments and make sales through other shops on the app. Wholesalers, on the other hand, can integrate with existing systems, manage buying groups and supply produce through national or regional networks of food hubs and shops. Finally, communities can gather producers in the area for the establishment of a virtual farmers’ market.
Technology
Open Food Hub is an open-source application that is accessible by mobile devices and computers, and that has been designed as an affordable tool for the sale of local products online. Users can register and create an enterprise profile, add products, place orders and create and manage groups.
Target
Open Food Hub is in use in more than 20 countries. In the Smart Village of Cloughjordan, an Irish community that has for decades relied heavily on the extraction of fossil fuel peat, and that needs to re-imagine the local economy to meet the requirements of a just transition by 2030, farmers and the rural community are using the app to create food collectives, to manage food hub stocks and to take their farmers’ market online with pre-purchases.
Business model
The local Open Food Hub is open to all members of the Cloughjordan rural community.
Impact
The Open Food Hub contributes to the community and local development in Cloughjordan by enabling livelihood diversification and opening up opportunities for the development of new local food enterprises. Opportunities are created for producers and food enterprises to meet and collaborate in training and other events, shortening the long supply chains, increasing local food security and strengthening the resilience of the community.
Partners
Open Food Network, local organizations (Cultivate, WeCreate Enterprise Centre, Sustainable Projects Ireland, Cloughjordan Cohousing Cooperative), local business (Cloughjordan FabLab), food outlet/short supply chain (Cloughjordan Community Farm, North Tipperary Online Farmers’ Market), peer-to-peer networks/Communities of Practice (FabLab Network, Open Food Network, Community Supported Agriculture Network, ECOLISE).
Four Betters
Better production
Better nutrition
Better environment
Better life
