Arkansas Farmers Turn to Apps to Save Family Farms

The small family farm is in danger, with Arkansas losing 11% of its farms since 2017, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s most recent census of agriculture. But many local farms are taking advantage of technology to cultivate new revenue streams and reach customers outside of farmers markets.

That’s where platforms like the Red Hen app and Cureate Connect come into play. Though Red Hen targets direct-to-consumer business lines, and Cureate focuses on wholesale to organizations, both target the same issue — helping farmers find new markets.

For small farms, these tools provide access to customers that have been previously difficult to reach. Traditional channels like farmers markets have geographic, seasonal and time limitations, while wholesale relationships often require connections that rural farmers lack.

“Any app that is available to the farmer is becoming more and more important,” said Elvin Bradford, owner of Homestead Hollow Farm in McRae (White County). He uses the Red Hen app to sell his grass-fed beef, pasture-raised pork and free-range chicken eggs.

“It’s another tool that enables us to get products to the local consumer,” Bradford said. “Farmers have small marketing budgets and we are restricted in a lot of what we do.”

Bradford also uses Barn2Door, a platform that maintains his farm’s website, online store and point-of-sale transactions.

Red Hen, based in Virginia, operates as what president and co-founder Brett Burton describes as a “farmers market in your pocket.” The app allows consumers to browse farms within a 100-mile radius, view available products and either pick up orders at the farm or arrange local delivery. The platform charges farmers 2% per transaction.

“Most of the profit stays in the pocket of the farmer,” Bradford said.

Nine Arkansas farms have signed onto the app, which launched in July. Five — based in Cleveland (Conway County), Searcy, McRae and Ward — are publicly selling, meaning they’ve completed their profiles and uploaded products. Nationally, the app has around 4,000 customers and 700 farms signed on.

And Burton hopes to launch shipping capabilities soon, something Bradford is also looking forward to.

While Red Hen focuses on individual consumers, Cureate operates in the wholesale space, connecting farms with restaurants, hospitals, corporate cafeterias and local grocery stores. The platform handles everything from sourcing and vetting farmers to order fulfillment, delivery and payment processing.

“There’s only so much economic growth that can happen in rural communities; even though the individuals of that community want to support their neighbors, it’s not going to be enough to sustain that farmer’s life,” Kim Bryden, Cureate’s founder and CEO, said.

Cureate, founded in Washington, D.C., with a hub in northwest Arkansas, works well for farms with year-round production, as well as seasonal producers who can fulfill orders for items like peaches, pecans and persimmons, Bryden said.

The platform serves Arkansas farmers alongside operations in Maryland, Virginia and D.C. A few Arkansas participants include Green Door Farms in Oark (Johnson County), Ozark All Seasons in Winslow (Washington County) and Firelight Farm in Searcy.

Of Arkansas’ 37,756 farms, 86% are owned by families or individuals. And the average farmer age is 57.6. So both Red Hen and Cureate have kept the technology accessible and easy to use, while addressing the perishability of farm products.

“Technology is not one of my strong suits, but I’m having to adapt just like with anything,” Bradford said. “I believe apps will become more of a trend, especially with younger farmers.”

Both tech platforms aim to help small farmers stay in business, in a time when large-scale agriculture is “increasingly winning over traditional agriculture,” Bradford said.

“It’s hard for the family farm to compete,” he said. “The local food movement is building momentum and I encourage everyone to find a local farmer to buy from.”