![Meating in the Middle: Crofter Market to connect farmers, consumers](https://i0.wp.com/cdn.tsln.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2023/02/facebook-thumbnail-1200.jpg?w=1170&ssl=1)
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Unlike the on-demand world we live in, where drones deliver AirPods to your doorstep or takeout meals arrive the next day at the push of a button, the process of buying meat can seem antiquated.
Most meat consumers are faced with two options: buy from the grocery store or begin a complex buying process locally – involving social media leads, word of mouth, large quantities or often long delivery times.
Bobby Clayson, an entrepreneur and software engineer from Salem, Utah, witnessed this inefficient process firsthand when pandemic waves wiped out beef supplies on store shelves. A self-proclaimed “enthusiastic carnivore,” he thought there had to be a better way to get local meat to local consumers. So he builds Crofter Market, an online portal connecting meat producers and consumers. “It could be described as an online farmers market or an ‘Amazon for food,'” Clayson says. “It’s designed to connect consumers who want to buy local with farmers and ranchers instead of going through a bunch of middlemen.”
Before that, Clayson’s only experience with the beef supply chain was as a consumer. But when he started researching the industry and talking to ranchers, he quickly learned about the problems in the beef production chain. “I dug in and found that livestock producers are really struggling as middlemen in a fragile supply chain,” he says. “They are left at the mercy of the big four processors who are making record margins on meatpacking, while farmers are challenged to barely make ends meet.”
It was obvious to Clayson that the solution was to help breeders sell directly. He used his experience building online solutions (in 2018 he co-founded a company called TaxBit, which provides tax and accounting ease for cryptocurrency, and built it to a billion-dollar company before selling his shares) found partners in the world of beef production, and set to work creating the Crofter Market. The name is an allusion to the old British word for “small farmer”.
“The business platform we are building will connect producers and consumers – we are not distributors, we do not set prices. We’re just facilitating the technology to bring the two sides together.” Products will not be limited to meat; anything that is legal to sell directly to consumers in the state will be allowed. Any manufacturer can create an account, set their prices and facilitate pickup, delivery or shipping,” Clayson says. “We’re focusing on farmers first because we think they’re struggling the most right now, but any kind of production is allowed.”
All beef must be state or USDA approved and all accounts must be approved by site managers. The site will use a rating system and some level of arbitrage. “You have to be a good producer and you have to do your job, or you’re not going to be around long,” Clayson says.
Development of the app began last year with a team of four, including Clayson, a front-end developer, a back-end developer, and a user experience designer. Clayson spent the last half of 2022 researching the market. A Utah State University white paper on direct marketing of fresh produce served as the basis for his training. From there, he began conducting personal interviews with ranchers and formed the group Save Our Ranchers to host listening groups, facilitate ideas, and bring together a network of like-minded people to affect change in the supply chain. meat.
The site is currently under development with the goal of a beta launch in April. “We’re going to release this to a select group of people—buyers and sellers we’ve hired—to test and debug before we roll it out publicly,” Clayson says.
The initial launch group will be breeders who already sell to local consumers, but who may have difficulty overseeing the entire process themselves. “We’re going to let them focus on what they’re good at, raising meat, and make it easier for them to sell,” Clayson says. At the same time, Clayson has amassed a list of approximately 1,000 dedicated customers from the self-sufficient and “prepper” communities. They are what Clayson calls “activist consumers”—people who are concerned about the country’s food supply and who are dedicated to shopping local. They will have access as test customers when the beta version launches. He hopes for a full public release by May.
“We plan to get to a point of mass appeal with both manufacturers and customers involved, and as we do that, the market area will grow and spread,” Clayson says. “We want to make sure it works in our immediate area first, and then we’ll campaign to get it out there.” Ranchers from Wyoming, Montana, Arizona and Texas have expressed interest in joining the site. Anyone interested in following Crofter Market developments or joining can go to SaveTheRanchers.com to receive notifications and updates.
The majority of the project was self-funded by Clayson, along with support from friends and family in the area. It also gained the attention and support of breeders across the country.
One of them is Carson Jorgensen, a sixth-generation sheep farmer from Mount Pleasant, Utah, who is also his state GOP chairman, an elected position in which he leads all elected and unelected members of the Republican Party. When he heard about Clayson’s proposal, he offered to help in any way he could.
Last year, Jorgenson joined Clayson at Save Our Ranchers events, where they discussed with thousands of people the idea of Crofter Market, ESGs—or environmental, social and governance investing, which refers to a set of standards used by socially conscious investors to check of businesses and potential investors, as well as corporate manipulation, market imbalances and food security.
Jorgensen and his family raise about 5,000 sheep and move about 15,000-20,000 lambs a year in their place. He is currently researching the logistics of shipping meat from San Angelo, Texas, where they process their lambs, back to his area to market through the site. “As crazy as it seems, it still makes more sense to bring it back here and sell it directly,” he says.
The beauty of the Crofter Market is that it won’t depend on one farm or ranch. “It just creates an opportunity for people to sell directly through their platform. This is very similar to what Amazon did with consumer goods.
Jorgensen says he believes Crofter Market will bridge the gap between food producers and local shoppers. “This is much needed – the idea has been tried in many ways, but most of the attempts have been by one manufacturer or business on a single website. The fact is, breeders really can’t do this for themselves. Most of them don’t understand the technology and most don’t know how to run a business of this scale.” He says Clayson — a technical expert with a passion for helping ranchers — was the connection he needed. “This seems to be a good conglomerate of people who can and will work together in their areas of expertise.”
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