SULLIVAN, Ohio — Farmers markets and other types of sales opportunities are one of the largest revenue makers for farmers. An online delivery service is helping farmers continue with sales despite the pandemic closing markets down.

Chris Blankenship has loved farming since he was a kid. He got his feet wet on his parents' pig farm, and 19 years ago, he started a farm of his own, Bluebird Meadows.

The farm uses sustainable practices and raises livestock naturally. They offer pasture raised beef, pork, lamb, chicken, turkey and farm fresh eggs.

“Our hope is to provide our customers, our local community with a product that they know where it comes from, how it's raised, what the expectations are of myself for the animals on the farm, you know, their well being, and in addition to that, of course, provide a healthy product for folks,” said Blankenship. “It's not full of antibiotics and growth hormones and GMO feeds and all those things.”

Farmers markets have been a big source of revenue for Blankenship, but when they shut down in the early stages of the pandemic, he was left in limbo. 

“It was pretty nerve wracking, trying to figure out okay, what we were going to do, because we certainly, you know, as many farmers had to do, especially commercial farmers, they were euthanizing animals and we did not want to have to do that,” said Blankenship. 

An online farmers market service called Market Wagon took away his worries. It allows people to buy products from local farmers and artisans and have it delivered right to their door. Market Wagon launched in Indianapolis in 2016 and has expanded already to 20 states and the District of Columbia. 

CEO and co-founder Nick Carter grew up on a family farm as well and knows first hand the love farmers have for their land and how hard it can be sometimes to stay afloat. 

“It's very difficult to explain to anybody who hasn't been a farmer, the kind of connection that you have to the land,” said Carter. “It's not just an acre where your kids played on a swing set for 12 years while they were growing up. But it's land that my grandpa, my father, my grandfather, my great grandfather farmed on, and we have a responsibility to it. And that that connection runs really, really deep.”

He started the online service as a way to keep small farms like the one he grew up on in business.

“With the stroke of a pen, with one governor's order in March of 2020, restaurants were closed, schools were closed and farmers markets were closed,” said Carter. “What are you going to do? And so that's when we realized we were in six locations then. And we knew that the need was great. So we got to work. And we opened another 26 locations in under a year.”

HOW DOES IT WORK?

Customers can browse locally-grown products online and place an order from multiple vendors in one checkout. 

“There's more and more consumers today who care a lot about where their food comes from. And they care about their communities. They just need a way to access that food. And so the producers, likewise, need a way to get their food into those consumers' hands. The internet is the great equalizer,” said Carter. 

Market Wagon has four hubs in Ohio. Delivery days vary for each location. 

Columbus — Tuesday AND Thursday delivery days

Southwest Ohio (Cincinnati, Dayton) — Tuesday and Thursday delivery days

Northwest Ohio (Toledo/Lima/Sandusky) — Thursday

Northeast Ohio (Cleveland/Akron/Canton/Youngstown) — Thursday

Western PA (Centered around Pittsburgh but also includes Steubenville) — Tuesday 

Each week, Blankenship and his family pack up their orders and deliver the products to the hubs. Customer orders have to be placed at 1 a.m. the day before a delivery, so for a Tuesday market, an order needs to be in by 1 a.m. Monday, for a Thursday delivery, it needs to be placed by 1 a.m. Wednesday.

The northeast Ohio hub opened in July 2020. It recently hit $1 million in sales for the farmers and artisans, a milestone that has farmers like Blankenship thankful for the internet world we live in.

“Boy, have they opened up avenues for us that have been unbelievable,” said Blankenship. “We're in an Amazon society now. Folks want things convenient, delivered, but they still want quality, they still want to support local when possible and Market Wagon provides that platform to do that.”

Blankenship credits Market Wagon for saving his livelihood. He’s been able to grow his audience and customer base from county wide to state wide.  

It’s helping the farm-to-table concept become a farm-to-front door reality and enabling family farmers like Blankenship to not just stay afloat, but to grow and thrive. 

“It's special. There's lots of memories and, and experiences that have happened here at the farm that I'll never forget,” said Blankenship. “We want to keep this going. I hope my children's children's children do this. That would be awesome.”

For more information about Market Wagon visit here. For more information about Bluebird Meadows Farm visit here.