Mainebiz

V O L . X X V I N O. X X V I I I D avid Stone launched Forager to promote the local food movement by cutting out the middlemen between farmers and grocers. Online since 2017, the app connects food producers — everyone from veg- etable growers and poultry breeders to fishermen — directly to stores, reducing distribution headaches and putting more local ingredients on the shelves. e digital supply system didn't break through overnight, however. "Early on, it was really hard to get people to change," says Stone. "Change is hard. It's been very hard." en came COVID-19. Forager was making inroads in the Northeast before the pandemic struck. In March, progress came to a halt. "Stores were too busy trying to fig- ure out how to keep their employees safe, how to stock toilet paper, how to set up e-commerce so people could buy online," Stone says. But over time, the pandemic – with its restrictions on travel, indoor activities and social gatherings – has given a boost to the local food move- ment. People have become more health conscious, those in the industry say, and want to know where their food is coming from. In the last three months, Forager has seen a dramatic increase in demand. "We're getting a lot of interest all across the nation because of the need to differentiate, and because consumers are speaking in volumes about the desire to eat healthy local food for their immune systems," Stone says. Forager's digital platform is free for producers, who input their product information, including prices and avail- ability. Buyers — grocers and co-ops — pay a fee to join, and order from local producers through the platform, which also keeps track of things like inventory and sales trends. After a couple years of development, Forager launched in March 2017. Five months later it was named by the Forbes Technology Council as one of eight P H O T O / T I M G R E E N WAY N OV E M B E R 3 0 , 2 0 2 0 14 David Stone, executive chairman and founder of Forager, at Winter Hill Farm in Freeport, one of hundreds of suppliers to partner with Forager. He is seeing the Forager app finally catch on as the pandemic fuels the local food movement. We're getting a lot of interest all across the nation…consumers are speaking in volumes about the desire to eat healthy local food for their immune systems. — David Stone Forager advantage Forager, an app that connects farmers directly to buyers, is finding its footing as the local food movement grows during the pandemic Home food B y M au r e e n M i l l i k e n

• Cover