New Website Eliminates Waste, Connects Farms With Nonprofits

Petaluma Bounty, the local nonprofit, set a new record last Saturday by gleaning more than 1,000 pounds of organic kale at Bloomfield Farms that otherwise would have gone to the farm’s compost pile.

The kale was distributed to various organizations dedicated to feeding people around Sonoma County, part of a new online endeavor called CropMobster.com, whose creators hope will help eliminate food waste that has become an intrinsic part of our agricultural systems.

That morning, 15 volunteers crawled out of bed early, donning their mud boots on the wet morning. In addition to Petaluma Bounty, the hardy bunch, including a half dozen kids who may have been more inspired by the opportunity to get muddy, came from another Sonoma County gleaning group, Farm to Pantry, as well as from the surrounding community - answering the online call of Bloomfield’s General Manager, Nick Papadopolous.

Working a highly productive community farm, Papadopolous and owner Michael Collins have struggled with the dilemma posed by unsold crops - around a third of the produce Bloomfield Farms takes to farmers markets comes back to the farm unsold. Until just a few weeks ago, most of this leftover food would have been composted. Now, Papadopolous is using the power of the Internet and community to accomplish some impressive results.

After a little creative experimentation with a “produce flash mob” via Facebook, in which $500 worth of produce about to be wasted yielded a $100 donation and was distributed to people in need, Papadopolous had a bright idea.

He approached longtime friends and collaborators, Joanna and Gary Cedar, for help taking the online concept to a much larger audience, where its benefits could be widely replicated. In a matter of days, the marketing and technology gurus behind Indigo Sun Studios and PressTree.com helped establish CropMobster.com.

The concept behind the site is simple and the service it provides absolutely free: farmers, ranchers, and other producers and purveyors of foods sign up with CropMobster.com, then post brief messages about “crop mob” opportunities, such as gleaning events, discounted sales, freebies and more. Consumers, nonprofit groups and others then sign up for email alerts, like the one which caught Petaluma Bounty’s attention.

In just a few weeks, CropMobster.com has produced some very exciting, remarkable results:

●      Prevented over 6,500 pounds of food from going to waste

●      Facilitated the delivery of thousands of servings of nutritious food to people in need

●      Connected members and supporters to with local nonprofits, food banks, and gleaning groups

●      Generated over $2,000 in income for local farms and producers from foods that would have otherwise been wasted

The kale from last week’s gleaning was distributed to the Committee on the Shelterless, Petaluma People Services Center’s Senior Meals on Wheels, Redwood Gospel Mission, Healdsburg Food Pantry, Salvation Army Adult Rehabilitation Center, and the Food for Thought AIDS Food Bank.

Want to come pick produce at Bloomfield Farms? Bloomfield Farm’s first UPick days of the year are coming up this weekend - April 13 and 14. Also, be sure to check out Petaluma Bounty’s annual Plant Sale is on Saturday, May 4. 

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