The newly launched online marketplace Veggie Trader is best thought of as a Craigslist for not just vegetables, but also fruits, herbs, nuts, seeds and plants. People with home gardens can create listings to sell produce they are themselves unable to consume to others who may lack the ability to grow food in their own backyards. Simple and brilliant.
You have to register to use the site, but is free to join. Users list the produce they would like to swap and name what they would like in return. A simple zipcode search makes it easy to find local produce right in your neighborhood. There is also a wanted section, where you can post request for certain items (artichokes in Bushwick, anyone?).
Since the site is still very fresh, there are currently not that many listings, but with an increasing number of users there is tremendous potential. Veggie Trader fills a need in a marketplace where more and more consumers want local produce grown without pesticides. What better way is there to shop for food than to cut out the middle man and deal directly with the growers, who just happen to be your neighbors? And why not take advantage of the social networking opportunity here and make some new foodie friends? You have tomatoes, I have chillies, we live two blocks apart, let’s get together and make salsa!
Say you are part of a CSA, and one week you get a box filled to the brim with peppers, which is great and pretty and all, but you really don’t like peppers, so what do you do, throw them straight into the compost? Just trade it. Someone in your neighborhood really really likes them.
Top photo by: adactio, Creative Commons
