'DoorDash for farmers' gains popularity with central Illinois producers

Clint Bland, a Jacksonville-based farmer and merchant, was skeptical of a website called Market Wagon when he first saw a promoter from the company hawk its wares at the Old Capitol Farmers Market a few years ago. He sees advantages to meeting people where they are and explaining what his products are and what makes them better than other, similar products.

"A lot of people at the farmers market like to meet, talk and know the farmer," Bland said. "You build that form of trust with those people and because they know you (and) like you, they start to buy your food and that relationship grows."

However, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, making it difficult for Bland to sell his products at year-round farmers markets, he decided to sell his products on Market Wagon. He joined a wide range of local merchants who are selling everything from produce to eggs to fresh meats on the website, which calls itself a "DoorDash or Grubhub for local farmers and restaurants."

Bland raises grass-fed beef cattle, pasture-raised chicken and offers free-range eggs, among other products.

More news:Springfield community celebrates Juneteenth with parade, party at Comer Cox Park

Nick Carter, a fourth-generation farmer (not the Backstreet Boy), started the website in 2016 in response to a need by smaller farms to find more income. Enter a website that can allow farmers to expand their markets from the local area to just about anywhere within a 100-mile radius.

"Really, I started Market Wagon to save the family farm and thousands of other farms like ours," Carter said. "For small farms, the opportunity to persist really exists in creating a niche market, having a direct customer base and selling a high-value product to the consumers who want it."

The way it works is that a merchant such as Bland receives an order from a customer and compiles it — obviously depending on what's in stock and what he decides to make available that week. Each Thursday, Bland will gather each of the orders that he receives and drives up to Bloomington to a Market Wagon distribution center. Once there, the orders are placed in totes for each customer and are shipped out by Market Wagon to wherever they need to go.

Customers can find Market Wagon at marketwagon.com and enter their ZIP code to order. They only need to pay a flat delivery fee of $6.99 to order what they want.

Market Wagon has designated an 11-county section of central Illinois as a delivery area, with Sangamon County included on the western edge of the region. Carter said Market Wagon isn't designed to compete with the traditional farmers market; rather it targets people who may not be able to go to a market for whatever reason.

"The people who attend a farmers market are still going to (do so)," Carter said. "The farmers market is a complete experience, oftentimes with live music and hot, ready-to-eat food. There's a whole other realm of customers who would like to buy the kinds of products from a farmers market, (however) it simply doesn't fit their schedule or mobility."

The ability to expand the customer base is attractive to Bland, who has the ability to deliver to 1 million people who live in the central Illinois region designated by Market Wagon.

"Market Wagon opens that door up to 6-7 different counties in central Illinois," Bland said. "(Normally), I don't have enough employees or vehicles to make any bit of those deliveries to that large of an area."

Jessica Hicks, owner/founder of the Itty Bitty Micro Farm in Springfield, first heard of Market Wagon when she was trying to find an avenue to keep her business going during the winter, when farmers markets are less plentiful. She also finds that the ability to reach a wider range of people made the venture worthwhile for her.

"When we started looking at options for where we were going to be able to sell, we discovered that Market Wagon was basically an online version of a farmers market year-round," Hicks said. "It's a great way for farmers who aren't seasonal to utilize the concept of a farmers market year-round."

More news:Springfield expert explains higher interest rates and what they mean to your pocketbook

Hicks, who grows micro greens, praises the work the company does to assist its merchants, helping them with everything from advertising to communicating with loyal customers. The company has even helped them provide signage to attract people to Market Wagon in places where it is too difficult for Hicks to deliver her products herself.

"They gave us some signage for our Lincoln (farmers) market," Hicks said. "We don't deliver to Lincoln itself but we're at their farmers market. They did provide me with some great signage and some cards, different ways to promote both Market Wagon and ourselves."

Market Wagon is currently available in 19 states, with expansion likely to continue. Carter said that people who shop with the company like the fact that it has the same kinds of things that a regular grocery store, while connecting with vendors they can trust.

"Consumers love it," Carter said. "It's all the convenience of e-commerce grocery delivery, but with a supply chain they know and trust. It's transparency straight through to who's producing it."

Contact Zach Roth: (217) 899-4338; ZDRoth@gannett.com; @ZacharyRoth13