Finding a farm close where you want is made unnecessarily difficult by the site’s interface. The grouping of states in regions is a hindrance and once you get to your state, the farms can’t be sorted other than by their name, so you have to look through every single one of them to find the farms close to you.
Great idea, terrible execution.
But probably not a difficult fix. Websites can be updated.
Which is why I’m providing feedback. I really want this to work.
Who are you providing it to? Because I don’t think FlyingSquid made this website.
The great wide web. I don’t think it’s him either, but this is the channel I found.
People who produce bad design like that, are often resistant to change.
Or they’re inexperienced and don’t know any better.
Or they might welcome assistance from someone who knows how to do it, since their expertise is in farming and they don’t have a lot of money for web design. Such assistance could possibly qualify as a tax-deductible donation.
As a software developer making enterprise software, that simply isn’t true.
I have been responsible for making some pretty poor design choices and UX flows. I was never resistant to change and more just needed someone to say hey bro that’s dumb, I don’t why don’t we do it like this.
Now I know how to do X and won’t make the same mistakes again.
I’ve worked in IT for over 30 years. I have come across a lot of people who design terrible UIs and get all pissy when you suggest any improvements. I didn’t in any way want to imply that everybody is like that.
Thanks for coming back to reply. First I want to say that the downvotes you’ve received have been unnecessary imo and I think I should have added that my original comment was in my experience and purely anecdotal.
I guess it all depends on the person and whether they see constructive criticism as… well constructive or whether they see it as a slight against them. Like in any industry really.
it’s offended developers who have been forced to make awful UX/UI for sure. i had to change mine back to an upvote :)
I second this - though I agree that it definitely isn’t universal. Especially given that I’m exactly the opposite - I welcome critique and improvements to anything I write because I love learning and improving.
If they are, you can probably make a better site, that adds the feature you’re missing and can link to results on theirs.
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Cmd-F or Ctrl-F to search for cities. It’s imperfect, but I found seven hits for my city instantly. I could search neighboring cities and towns the same way.
To add to this comment, it’s not hard to find any of this information. “States grouped into areas” scroll to find your state, or again ctrl+f. “Hard to find cities” thankfully living in my area and being somewhat familiar with said area I can scroll down the list and find farmers in my general area. Short of putting in my address and searching for ‘closest to’ which I hate anyway, this isn’t as bad an interface as op suggests.
I’m still going to say it’s just not great design; it presents you a large map that is not interactable in any way, then below that are bits of that map again with ordinary hyperlinks below for each state and/or region. Just let people click on the first map, or just ditch it entirely.
Once you’ve clicked on a state, you get a list of paragraph format entries sorted in the most useless way: alphabetically by business name.
Who is this website for?
I agree whole heartedly, it could be done better. I’m just saying it isn’t complete garbage and if a little confusing still usable.
It’s for the creator of the website, so they can virtue signal while producing something of dubious quality. Most of these farms are already discover-able on better, more comprehensive indexes.
Name one?
That assumes you know all the place names of the region where you’re at. Someone that moved recently and/or lives in a tristate area (all of which are in different state regions in my case according to that map) is just faced with a very hostile design.
at least you have something my state doesn’t even have anything lmao, it goes to a boilerplate page that gives little info
My state (big ag state) has a whopping 3 and 2 of those are hemp. The one that isn’t just hemp doesn’t have an area listed, just the state.
I mean I’m glad there are any… but yeah, not a super great resource for some areas lol
This is great. Is there something similar for finding local farms regardless of race?
You could try researching CSAs in your area. There are a few near me that sell farm shares with weekly pickup of seasonal veggies during harvest season. I’m in northern California, and our rate is under $20 per week after we split it with another couple. We usually receive more veggies than we would buy during a weekly grocery store trip, plus our farm let’s everyone pick fresh bouquets each pickup as a nice bonus.
I’d love to learn more about the ones in NorCal. I’m in the peninsula.
CSA huh
Yup, stands for community supported agriculture. They’re often called co-ops or farm shares, but I think CSA is the industry term that you’ll have most luck with when searching around online.
Farm co-ops I think focus on local farms.
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“Can” cost less is doing a lot of work there. I would guess it would mildly annoy people in power, but TBH this isn’t a way to save money. If it really was, it would be common practice already.
There are lots of people who frequent local / smaller farms for things like access to organic foods / rarer crops / community support, but I’ve never known it to be cheaper than the industrial produce one can get at your nearest supermarket. Supermarkets clobbered local guys for a reason and pricing was a huge part of that.
Can’t speak to the cost, just found my local place and their FB link is offline.
a way to save money. If it really was, it would be common practice already.
I cannot overstate how dumb Americans are about shopping. The local Publix (expensive) just put the Winn Dixie (medium prices) out of business, because the Publix is newer and prettier.
Meanwhile, there are 8 other groceries that are cheaper than either. Even the Aldi isn’t busy.
Been in a few big box stores lately, prices stunned me. “People pay for this shit?!” Dude on here posted his fish tank purchase. Spent loads buying: little rocks, sticks, big rocks. I just decorated a terrarium for nearly free.
I buy almost nothing new, hell, I find a lot of my stuff. We had to get a new washer and fridge last year, paid $400 for both off FB Marketplace, nicest I’ve ever had in life, minimum $2,200 at the hardware store. Not going to listen to Americans whine about high prices when they’re complicit.
Apologies, you triggered my Rant Card.
As a fellow American, I can simplify this (Americanize it) even further.
I cannot overstate how dumb Americans are
about shopping.Apologies, I’m just pissed off in general about my country, as I’m sure you are too.
American here. I love finding a good deal. My ex-wife, however, was put-off about buying used, she was more worried about how others saw her than actually saving money.
I would guess it would mildly annoy people in power, but TBH this isn’t a way to save money. If it really was, it would be common practice already.
Bidets are a cheaper, well known, better way to clean your asshole after taking a shit, yet the common practice of Americans is still to choose to smear their own shit around their asshole with dry disposable paper cloths.
The flaw in your argument is that you think people, Americans at that, wouldn’t ignorantly continue to pay more for the convenience of not having to think where to buy their produce, because they can get it from the local Walmart 15 minutes away, instead of saving $20+ and driving 2 more minutes.
Americans are notoriously lazy and stupid, as evidenced this past November.
Holy shit…your thoughts on bidets are spot on…I just got one and hate not having it all the time due to travel.
-am American but want nothing to do with this hateful bullshit going on currently
I got one cause of how my friend put it to me when she told me to get one. She asked me “if you get shit on your hand, are you just gonna wipe it off with a paper towel and go about your day, or are you gonna wash your hands? Now when you take a crap, why are you just smearing it around instead of washing it?” And it stuck with me and I’ve bought bidets from then on out. A 12 pack of TP lasts me a year, and I only use it to dry my ass. It’s the best thing in the world.
I laughed at friends and family during covid, cause I had a nice clean ass, and everyone else was fighting for toilet paper.
The crab speaks a deep truth.
I’d pay more just to cut out corps.
My buddy’s sister is a cheese monger. 10/10
I would really like an Imperfect Foods replacement. Originally, IF was scratch and dent ugly veggies on discount with some consignment items. Post covid, prices crept up and then you had to pick and choose to get a deal, but you could still get a good box for under $40 every 2 wks that also included things like farro and yogurt. Misfit Marketplace bought them out and it took on a Whole Foods by mail vibe. Double to triple the regular grocery store prices. It would be $80+/week for the same box content which is galling. And it’s not the groceries, it’s MM. Who is paying $3 for 1 cucumber? $4 for 2 apples? $8 for a single pound of grapes or a pint of blueberries?
New potential produce sources are most welcome.
I had to drop Imperfect Food as well from the same problems. It was just more expensive than I needed. I haven’t found a replacement yet unfortunately. We are now just buying food as needed. I have been interested in a CSA but haven’t done it yet
The unbagged produce was fresher than grocery store and didn’t rot on the shelf in 3 days like post COVID produce from the grocery store tends to do.
So this post has potential.
So every “farm” in my region is actually a community plot you can rent space in or a non profit outreach…no farms to purchase from.
Sadly and unsurprisingly, nothing near me. On the bright side, we do have a farmer’s market so I’ll just continue to patron that and say that if you have one near you, definitely check them out!
UK here but in my experience farmers markets cost vastly more. Shame because if a farmer just asked for cash and I can fill a sack of potatoes myself for less cost than a supermarket I would go for it. I don’t need a fancy hipster shop front.
Problem with farmers market is it costs farmers to have the stall there (rent the space), to move all their produce and they even need to man it. Which is bassically what a supermarket does, but in bulk so it’s cheaper. In theory you would have to go directly to the farms for a discount.
Farm shops, so literally on the farm. Are also very expensive! The ones I see are usually targeting the middle class market so I don’t really go there. I would go to a barn if it was cheaper than a supermarket
Honestly a shame with those farmers. Unfortunately why I had to include “in theory”
Stalls cost jack around here. $30 for the main market downtown, $20 at either flea market. Manning it ain’t much when you have a family doing it for free and it’s only on Saturday.
Lots of deadlinks and farming alliances with mission statements.
Not a lot of links to buy food from farmers.
Yeah, this isn’t being maintained. All the ones near me are dead websites.
My local link was dead but easy enough to find on FB. I’m going to drop by when I’m in town, see what they got.
Just Google “CSA <your city>”
In Taiwan, we had “day markets” where local farmers and fishers sell produce directly to you from the previous day’s harvest. Every city has at least a few dozen day markets as well. It really serves the community and not big corps.
Some veggies still have live bugs(ladybugs) on it. That’s how fresh it is.
It also cost 1/4 the cost in a corporate grocery store.
We (the US) have farmers markets in a lot of places. They can have very specific times that I always forget about. Around here in the northern climate, the farmer markets stop during the winter or move indoors and shift to selling more jarred and canned goods. My neighborhood has a coop, but it’s more expensive than the grocery store and with a worse selection. We have options here, but they require more thoughtfulness.
That was a culture shock for me when I moved to the US. I knew that back in the day, in rural areas of my country, the markets only opened once a week. I was shocked to find that happen in urban/suburban areas in the US. Back home I could just go to the closest market any day. Morning news would have a report comparing prices in different markets across the city, so you could pick the one that has the best price for what you need that day.
Thanks so much for this! I don’t mind scrolling and clicking either.
+1 for this, it isn’t that hard to do a little scrolling and if you really need it, use in-page searching and choose a city or town within your state.
Well, only 2 within reasonable distance. One only sells microgreen kits. The other appears to be a supplier for restaurants, etc.
I zipped them an email to ask about private sales. But, definitely nothing on their website about sales and shipping to the public.
Thank you! I did not know that. Last news that I heard about black farmers was about then getting screwed by massive ag conglomerates.
Region 5; Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin. Why are Ohio and Wisconsin grouped with the same link?
I imagine for the same reason Iowa and Nebraska are on the same page. https://blackfarmersindex.com/reg-7-iowa-and-nebraska
Wisconsin and Nebraska have such a small list that they’d be a waste of a page, I guess.
I kind of figured that was the reason, but seems like such a weak reason.
Im pretty happy to get an locally grown products. Im lucky though as we have lots of farmers markets and its not hard to sign up for a monthly box.
Here in Germany we have similar projects, but it seems the producers/farmers often have absolutely no idea how to anticipate or meet the demand of their customers.
Like, I’m very aware that farming is a seasonal business, you can’t really grow much salad during the German winter without a greenhouse. Perfectly fine. What is not fine is dumping basically your entire salad harvest for that season in a 4 week window onto paying customers.
You’ll get 8 salad heads per week for a month or two, almost inevitably throwing or giving most of it away, and then you’ll get 5 kilos of some roots for the next 3 months.
Monthly box subscriptions have always been that though. You’re getting whatever they can’t shift.
It sorta works this way here. They try their best but there will be a lot of kale. They have this thing were you have some ability to substitute as well
Why do they have to be black? America is bizarrely obsessed with race, I’ve never seen anything like it both in person and on the internet.
Because they still get shut out of opportunities based solely on their skin color, names, and application photos. So they work together to create their own opportunities and are rightfully proud of that. America can stop worrying about race when we finally end racism.
Do you have a recent example of someone who was denied an opportunity, that is afforded to everyone, based solely on their race?
2024 hiring link, PDF Warning, EDU domain
The studies go on and on. The sheet brigade may not march in your town anymore but they’re still in positions of power pushing down on minorities.
I didn’t doubt it’s still happening somewhere; just curious how wide spread it is. I read the third link. It was interesting. I wasn’t aware the Justice department spent almost 2.5 years going after lenders.
That’s the mentality that perpetuates it though
Alright let’s break this down Barney style. You have group A and group B. Group A decides to pelt Group B with oranges every time they leave their house. So Group B moves in together and buys communal umbrellas to live as unmolested as possible. And you think that is perpetuating Group A’s conduct.
You don’t get it buddy, but that’s alright. Best of luck to you.
No I get it. Fox news screams reverse racism every time group B tries to go around the racist power structure instead of work inside it, and instead of critically examining that you’ve just accepted it as a truth.
I don’t watch fox news, it’s not even on TV where I live. But nice try lol.
Murdoch has news outlets in most of the world.
Sure, it can seem on the surface like wanting to support people of a particular race is in itself a kind of racism, or at least a situation that emphasizes unfair distinctions.
Unfortunately, race does still matter in America, even if we personally disagree with it or want to ignore it. The health and economic research data make it very clear that people of color in America, especially black people, experience harder lives in almost every category. This is due to both recurring experiences of present-day prejudice and discrimination, as well the inter-generational impacts of wealth inequality and psychological trauma.
You might already know about this, but redlining is one example of the way that patterns of discrimination can creates a systemic effect, which, in turn, can impact the physical and financial effects on a family across time. These kinds of systemic effects can then make it harder for current generations of these families to recover and live safe lives today though, we personally might celebrate that the policy doesn’t exist anymore, and even though we personally might say that we don’t support people acting like that anymore.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redlining
No one really has to do anything, but some people might choose to support groups of people or organizations who they think might have experienced similar kinds of hardships in their families, and might be glad to have a way to try to do something different with their money than give it to another multinational corporation every time.
Yeah I’ve heard these arguments. I still hold my opinion. America needs to move away from the race obsession.
Completely fair - do you have a counterargument? I’d be interested in hearing the other side.
Constantly talking about race makes race a topical issue.
As in
- Not talking about race will solve the lingering systemic race issues, or
- There are no lingering systemic race issues, so we should stop talking about it?
Not OP, but keep seeing the world as if it is “us vs them” or “black vs white” or “right vs left” or “rich vs poor” will not help find common ground and compromises. There is no compromise for racism, but people putting more attention on it will only promote looking at the situation in a way where the difference matters.
Oh no the US is a shitshow of systemic racism, like super ridiculous on every level. There is such a wild undercurrent, surface levek and then an even weirder like super liminal racism where it just has to be mentioned.
Watch like any late night and they will make a self depricating white person joke, middle aged white guy thing. Just stfu about all of it, address the systemic issues with actual actions and then just you know…live as neighbours as americans.
So the US is a shitshow of systemic racism but you want everyone to stop talking about race? Sounds like a way to never fix the problem.
Right but as far as I understand it the supermarkets and wholesalers screw all farmers over equally race isn’t a consideration.
I’ve gone to farmer’s markets and although the stuff is good, some of it is pricey. There are stuff like lettuce and stuff that are cheaper but most of stuff like berries and fruits are more expensive.
yeah unfortunately small or independent farmers simply can’t ever compete with factory farms.
But on the bright side, that money (usually) goes right back into your local economy, instead of lining the pockets of some rich asshole from five states away who has a chain of grocery stores.
It does, as long as those farmers are giving back and trickling it down, sort to speak. It isn’t the case for everyone, try not to buy from assholes if you can.
