Olean’s New Farm Fresh Delivery Service
Olean’s New Farm Fresh Delivery Service
Light Work Farm Helps Bring Products from Over 100 Local Farms Straight to Your Door
Photos / Light Work Farm
For anyone who has ever been disappointed by the ending of farmer’s market season, Light Work Farm has recently introduced a solution that bridges the gap between the end of one season and the start of another! Last month, Light Work Farm officially launched their Olean Farm Fresh Delivery Service, which brings over 100 local and regional farm products right to your door. Owner Stephanie Beneng is thrilled to offer a service to provide Olean area residents with fresh food while helping local farmers do more business year ‘round.
Beneng has been a part of the Olean Area Farmers Market for several years and developed many strong relationships with participating farmers. She explained, “I spent a lot of years getting to know the farmers there, and we’re always talking about where customers are gravitating toward and what changes we need to make to try to reach more people.” She noted that local farmers were missing out on the local delivery trend, which inspired Beneng to try a delivery service “even at the smallest scale.” She said, “I just had to see what the demand is and see if we can get people’s interest that way. It’s very exciting to be just jumping in and giving it a try!”
In December, Beneng did two trial runs of the delivery service and officially launched it at the beginning of January. Currently, the service receives more than a dozen orders per week, and most of those orders are repeat deliveries to happy customers. “It’s really exciting, especially for the farmers who are participating that don’t have any access to markets whatsoever during the winter,” she added.
So how exactly does the delivery service work? Customers living in the Allegany, Hinsdale and Olean zip codes can order online via the GrownBy website or app: https://grownby.app/farms/Ci6rKF1zSEIAduj9iBvx. However, anyone can place an order for local pick up at Canticle Farm in Allegany. Orders must be placed before midnight on Sunday nights for delivery ($7) or pick up (free) the following Tuesday. “I can’t say enough good things about GrownBy as a platform,” said Beneng. “It is a cooperatively owned, farmer-owned platform, so their whole goal is that we’re all in this together and design this in a way that’s going to work for all of us.”
Customers can choose foods from a variety of vendors, who may be familiar faces from the Olean Area Farmers Market. Products include baked goods from the Savage Wheat Project, grassfed beef from Mascho Homestead Farms, cheeses from God’s Country Creamery, dried beans from Genesee Valley Bean Company, kale, parsley, and mustard greens from Canticle Farm, root vegetables from Dirt Rich Farms, and more. While Light Work Farm typically offers fresh in-season produce, customers can preorder tomato plants and fruition seeds from Light Work Farm now via the GrownBy app.
Beneng said the response from her customers has been overwhelmingly positive. “The customers are thrilled with it,” she said. “I think that that’s a long six months to go without any easy access to local, fresh food. The more customers that are having a positive experience, the more we’re going to slowly build from that because it’s mostly word of mouth that makes people want to try something new.”
For Beneng, access is key when it comes to providing residents with fresh food options. “One of the most important things to me is being able to reach more people who don’t have access to transportation. That’s something that I think about a lot in my role as manager at the farmers’ market and at times when I’ve been a vendor,” she explained. “I’m always so aware that the market is only open for five hours on a Saturday, and how many people are there that work on Saturdays that can never come and how many people are there that can’t get there that quickly?”
Speaking of access and options, Beneng is pleased to share that GrownBy is the only platform where farmers can accept Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits online for free. “My account just got its approval this past week,” said Beneng. “I’m really looking forward to being able to accept SNAP benefits electronically for these orders.”
Importantly, Beneng’s goal is not to grow bigger in terms of geographic reach, but rather to provide a model that other communities can replicate. “You have to get to a critical mass of purchasers within a certain radius that are close by to make this work. I’m hoping that we can continue and develop models that will work in our little rural communities to do this.”
Will the delivery service continue once the Olean Area Farmers Market reopens? “All options are on the table,” Beneng said. “I know how busy the season gets and that it’s not unreasonable to think that it might become too much. But if this project could get enough momentum, my hope is that it’s going to keep going because I do think that it helps farmers market customers to have another option on weeks they can’t go.”
To learn more about Light Work Farm and Olean Farm Fresh Delivery Service, visit www.lightworkfarm.com and follow them on social media.