Long ago, I left a technology career in Silicon Valley and became an organic farmer in the high desert of northeastern California. While farming, I started and managed a food hub and farmers market and co-founded a local food nonprofit in our remote community - these are all still going strong now. In the past few years I have worked to support the regional food system in Central Oregon for the High Desert Food and Farm Alliance, and now I am working full time, funded by proceeds from the sale of my farm, to grow the Open Food Network in the US. I believe that the Open Food Network's values, way of working, and vision for a better world is achievable and worth working towards.

The Open Food Network is a global community of nonprofit organizations made up of farmers, hubs, markets, technologists, and consumers whose vision is to create and support equitable, regenerative food systems.

To build, maintain and develop tools that facilitate short food supply chains, the Open Food Network draws on the collective wisdom of a global community of local food producers, open source software experts and community entrepreneurs. The Open Food Network’s flagship open source software platform connects producers, retailers and distributors to local eaters and buyers to transact local food purchases. Each regional operation provides input to address their localized technical needs, and users customize their shopfront to suit the mix of distribution channels specific to their business models. This collaborative development process is an investment that efficiently generates solutions that work for everyone, without having to reinvent the wheel in each locale.

Today, the Open Food Network has 20 regional members around the world, supporting localized food supply chains and channeling more than €11 million in local currency in 2020 through this alternative food economy - about €600,000 worth in the US. As a tiny startup nonprofit in the US with the backing of a global, established team, we want to provide low-cost digital tools and food systems expertise to community food enterprises, food banks, food hubs, buying clubs, producers, and more. We lack the finances to provide a basic livelihood to an expanded US team and to get the word out about our offerings to those who could benefit. We are a multilingual, open source platform with 8 years of experience and development by dozens of professionals. Sponsorship helps us grow our team and maximize our ability to make a difference in communities all over the country, from Alaska to Puerto Rico and from Maine to Maui.