One of my personal motivations in building Fieldcraft is to make a positive impact on the future of food. I’ve traveled in all seven continents and nearly 100 countries. Ingredients can come from any corner of the world and be used in products that can go to every corner of the world.
Fieldcraft’s impact is essentially the how behind our vision—to connect people and markets and empower resilient food systems.
DEMOCRATIZING MARKETS
Even before the pandemic, years of depressed commodity prices have encouraged farms to diversify markets. Farms are foreclosing or filing for bankruptcy and much larger farms that can do big commodity at scale are taking over.
Fieldcraft is the alternative to big commodity. 84% of grower-owned operations on Fieldcraft are less than 1000 acres. The first tool we built for Fieldcraft was the “Grower Request” feature that helps connect supply and demand better, while enabling growers to secure contracts in new markets.
We also found that many of our early adopters were adding value and selling ingredients in order to capture more margin. Forward integration is a growing trend globally and one we’re excited about when we consider the before and after of Fieldcraft.
HARNESSING AGROBIODIVERSITY
Diverse markets mean more diverse fields. Rotations including specialty food crops reduce weed and pest pressure which reduces the need for chemical crop protection. Moreover, many of these crops offer growers an alternative to cultivated fallow fields, reducing erosion, building organic matter, saving soil moisture and providing natural nitrogen fertilizer for follow-on crops.
LEVERAGING TRANSPARENCY
Fieldcraft offers buyers full transparency from farm to foodtech—from the type of business and specific certifications, all the way to production methods and practices from no till to regenerative.
In many cases, Fieldcraft is creating entirely new markets including transitional Organic, the challenging three-year period when growers use Organic practices but are not paid the premiums. Buyers from small brands to global manufacturers search for Transitional. There’s no other place to find these growers and the suppliers working with them.
BUILDING THE FUTURE OF FOOD
Kristy, Fieldcraft’s Co-Founder and CTO, spent over a decade developing technology and data solutions and building localized platforms for small to Fortune 100 companies around the world. Our marketplace is host to a wide range of innovators and innovations. Here’s the latest suppliers joining Fieldcraft:
Ochs Ranch, a transitional Organic wheat grower
Rumi, an importer sourcing saffron from Afghan women
Renewal Mill, a woman-led upcycled flour startup
Geltor, a biodesigned plant protein manufacturer
I’m looking forward to where we’re headed next.