Food Hub Connect

An interconnected network of farmers, food banks, pantries, food aggregators and other organizations to enhance local food supply chain and fight hunger.

There are billions of dollars of wasted fresh produce every year, but still millions of Americans with inadequate access to fresh, healthy food. It turns out that local food supply chains are not efficiently structured, which leads to a limited connectivity between local farmers and buyers, such as food banks, food hubs, and farmers markets, which then leads to wasted produce and “food deserts” in underserved communities. There is no solution for these local farmers and buyers to connect in a standardized marketplace through a common technology and meet their supply and demand benchmarks. 

Demand side challenges:

According to the USDA, more than 34 million people (around 10.5% of the population) were food insecure in 2021, meaning they lack a consistent source of food. 

Supply side challenge:

The New York Times, in an April 11, 2020 article, reported that small-to-midsize farms across America are being forced to destroy tens of millions of pounds of fresh food due to an inadequate food supply chain. These small-to-midsize farms are operating with razor-thin margins and are struggling to remain in business, and lack the means to reach an expanded network of local/regional customers. To sell products, these farmers primarily rely on either farmers markets or on customers physically coming to their farm.

According to the Food hub Feasibility Study by Foodshed Alliance, 2018, 77% of farmers in NJ are interested in increasing their sales, but barriers include high customer acquisition cost and lack of intuitive infrastructure. 

Build an online marketplace, Food Hub Connect, to connect local farmers and buyers, such as food banks, food hubs, and farmers markets, in a fragmented food supply chain, allowing local farmers to sell otherwise discarded produce. 

Farmers and food hubs are currently using a multitude of independent solutions to buy and sell products, and must adapt with each new customer. Food Hub Connect will allow seamless integration of various parties in the food supply chain, and allow access to real time information using blockchain and API technology. This platform will centralize other software platforms that intend to connect farmers and end buyers, bypassing the need for individual methods of communication between the farmer and end buyer and provides a greater range and variety of farmer produce available. 

Developing an organized mechanism to connect local farmers with additional customers will help small and mid-size farms sustain a more profitable business and increase their chances of survival – thereby helping local economies. Concurrently, this mechanism will allow food banks, food hubs, and farmers markets to source fresher and cheaper produce to urban centers, therefore alleviating high levels of per capita food insecurity. 

Avika Bansal, co-founder and Head of Product, is a senior at Carnegie Mellon University studying Chemical Engineering and Biomedical Engineering. She is an Innovation Scholar through the CMU Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, and has been an executive board member of the Undergraduate Entrepreneurship Association for 4 years. Avika has been advocating for hunger in NJ since 2016, and has hosted multiple food drives in partnership with the Community Food Bank of NJ (CFBNJ) and the YMCA. She was awarded the Distinguished Finalist for the Prudential Spirit of Community Award, which was given to only 6 high school students among 30,000 applicants in NJ for exceptional work in community service. Avika was also the first ever appointed Student Ambassador for CFBNJ, where she presented to schools in several NJ counties to raise awareness about food insecurity, and hunger in NJ. 

Anusha Bansal, co-founder and Head of Design and Development, is a senior at Livingston High School in New Jersey. She is also founder of registered 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, Blissful Us, which focuses on making a difference in the world of STEM education, inequality, food insecurity, and literary arts. This past summer, she was team lead at the Jerome Fisher Management & Technology Summer Institute (M&TSI) program at Wharton. She is a Congressional Award Gold Medal recipient. 

The co-founders learned more about the local food supply chain while volunteering with the Community Food Bank of NJ (CFBNJ), which is NJ’s Largest Anti-Hunger and Anti-Poverty Organization. Avika is a strategic advisor for Urban Agriculture Cooperation (UAC), is a nonprofit whose mission is to enhance a localized food system for historically underserved growers and consumers lacking healthy food access. 

Food Hub Connect is the only open source connectivity network using blockchain technology. Current market solutions only provide point to point solutions, i.e. there is no information sharing or scalability across the network, making connectivity expensive and elusive. Food Hub Connect utilizes open source software, blockchain technology, API connectivity, and connectivity to food banks and hubs. We want to create a network utilizing all the available information and infrastructure to build the most impactful food distribution system.

In the next three months, our first priority is to have a prototype tested and developed. We would do so by recruiting more team members who can help us with building the software. We will begin to establish partnerships with other farm software providers so we can plug their technologies into the system in time for pilot launch. 

Our ideal vision is to recruit another college or high school student who could help to develop the initial software as a volunteer! It would be great to empower another student to contribute to the cause of fighting hunger in the US. However in case that does not pan out in time, we estimate that $5,000-$8,000 would be spent in a three month time period to pay a part time software developer. Once the technology is developed, we will launch with Robert Wood Johnson Barbanas Health, Urban Agriculture Cooperative, and the Foodshed Alliance with no cost. The Phase 2 Launch would be to scale the network by marketing the product to other food hubs and farmers in the Mid Atlantic region. 

As we talk to more customers along the way, we will be able to refine and advance the quality of the product. In order to get to that level, it might take another 3-5 month period for the software development team. 

As this is a product focused on social impact, we will be applying for grants and other federal funding that can help set up a website, both mobile and desktop applications, and hopefully more team members.

Blockchain technology and APIs to allow flexibility of various small business owners to connect to a central marketplace.

Food Hub Connect is a highly scalable model due to its open source technology and blockchain functionalities. Any user across the country will be able to connect to it and create their marketplace. By the end of the year we expect to serve at least 40 farmers, 5 food banks and hubs, and 5 farmers markets. 

Our most challenging technical hurdle would be maintaining a consistent use of the software from both farmers and food hubs, which could stem from three different factors. First, it is of the utmost importance that this product remains as simple and intuitive as possible in order to attract the most customers. The end goal is to provide convenience and introduce stability into the customers lives. 

Second, we might face some resistance from farmers, who are typically creatures of habit. It could be difficult to prove to them how this solution will significantly improve their sales and distribution, and eventually their quality of life. Luckily we are able to integrate with the software providers they already use. 

Third, in order to grow the business, we will have to recruit more farmers on a consistent basis. Farmers are busy people and difficult to reach both geographically and in terms of communication. We hope that our product proves useful enough to these farmers that word will spread and people will be willing to use it.

We have established partnerships with Robert Wood Johnson Barnabas Health, which is the leading academic health system in New Jersey, Urban Agriculture Cooperative, which is a nonprofit based in NJ which provides support to farmers and consumers, and the Foodshed Alliance, which is a non-profit devoted to promoting sustainable farming, and increased access to locally grown, fresh, healthy food in northern New Jersey.

Sellers pay 1-3% commision on each transaction, while buyers don’t pay any transaction fees. This will incentivize more buyers to use the platform, therefore increasing sales. 

After proof of concept, we want to get to a point where we want to make this product break even which we think we can achieve with 4-5 farmers and 1-2 food hubs. As previously mentioned, we will continue applying for grants and other federal funding.