The Green Pantry works with nearly 40 Alberta producers to offer fresh vegetables, frozen meats, dairy products, grains and cereals, and more
Consumers looking for a closer connection to central Alberta producers can now do so with a few clicks of a button, thanks to a Lacombe-based online marketplace.
The Green Pantry is “like a virtual farmers’ market,” said co-founder Susan Crump.
“It’s a place for you to get your local food,” said Crump. “But instead of only being able to get it once a week at a farmers’ market, you can go online and order your product any time you want to.”
The Green Pantry (www.thegreenpantry.ca) offers fresh vegetables and fruits, frozen meats, dairy products, grains and cereals, and pulses. Crump and partners Sheryl Rae and Colleen Woods work with nearly 40 producers, primarily from central Alberta.
Read Also
Farming Smarter receives financial boost from Alberta government for potato research
Farming Smarter near Lethbridge got a boost to its research equipment, thanks to the Alberta government’s increase in funding for research associations.
“Most of it would be from within 50 miles of Lacombe, but we have gone a little bit farther afield to get a specific product that isn’t grown or produced around this area,” she said.
An example would be dried beans grown in southern Alberta.
Green Pantry has close to 400 customers registered on the site, and fills between 40 and 60 orders every week, delivering them to Lacombe, Red Deer, Stettler, Sylvan Lake, and Rocky Mountain House.
“It varies a little week to week,” Crump said. “Some people order every week pretty consistently, and other people will come on once every two or three weeks or maybe even just once a month.”
As an on-demand service, producers pick or package only what is ordered every week, resulting in less than one per cent food wastage.
“Most of our stuff is picked Wednesday night or Thursday morning, and it gets to the customer by Thursday night. You just can’t get any fresher than that,” said Crump.
While the biggest demand is for field-grown and greenhouse vegetables, The Green Pantry also offers products that are hard to find in the grocery store; including bison, elk, and hormone- and antibiotic-free beef.
“Most of our meats are hormone free and antibiotic free, and quite a bit of it is pasture raised as well,” she said. “That’s certainly an attraction for some of our customers.”
Her customers want a more direct connection with farmers, she added.
“They want to have that relationship because they feel more comfortable knowing that it was grown potentially down the road and how it was grown.”
Local is also a big draw.
“A lot of people are interested in supporting that local concept as well, whether it’s farmers in your area or shops in your town. I think people like the idea that that keeps the money in the community.”
For farmers, the service offers a new market without the marketing legwork.
“Farmers have a hard enough job just doing all the things they have to do to produce their food,” said Crump. “We thought we could take on a bit of that burden and do some of the marketing for them. It can take a huge amount of your time.”
Crump and her partners are no strangers to farming. Crump was an agrologist with Agriculture Financial Services Corporation and now does project administration for the Alberta Crop Industry Development Fund, while Rae is the executive director of the Alberta Federation of Agriculture. Woods is a registered nurse.
But even with her strong rural ties and farming background, opening The Green Pantry has been “a real eye-opener,” said Crump.
“When we first started this business, I certainly knew some of the products that were grown around this area, but my eyes have really been opened at how much and what variety of food is grown in central Alberta,” she said. “It’s just a testament to the fact that we can live pretty much off the food that is grown around this area.”
