Episode 438: Rooted Farmers: A New Online Marketplace for Selling and Buying Local Flowers

Today we have a very cool segment with Amelia Ihlo and Althea Smith, partners in a brand new farmer-to-florist sales platform called Rooted Farmers.

You'll be hearing much more about Rooted Farmers in the future because  we've partnered for 2020 to bring this resource to the Slow Flowers Community. As you know, Slowflowers.com is an online directory to help connect U.S. and Canadian consumers with domestic flower sources AND to help farmers and florists find one another and do business with one another. However, as I frequently admit, I think like a journalist, not like a business person. I always had a desire for Slowflowers.com to include a sales mechanism, but the skills required to do that are way beyond me.

Amelia Ihlo, flower farmer and co-founder of Rooted Farmers

Then last fall, a Slow Flowers member named Amelia Ihlo of Reverie Flowers in Etna, N.H., reached out to tell me what she was doing.  She wrote this:

"I am a Slow Flowers member based in New Hampshire and a huge supporter (and beneficiary!) of your work.  I spent this past year testing a business model that works exclusively with local flower growers, and had a tremendous response from both our grower network and all of our floral buyers. My partner are at a point to begin discussions

with other folks within the industry, and as such, I am reaching out to see if

you might have some time to connect on the phone."

It was the beginning of a

conversation that led to in-person meetings and eventually Rooted Farmers

joining Slow Flowers as a major sponsor for 2020 and Slow Flowers endorsing the

Rooted Farmers platform for flower farmers.

I alluded to the launch of Rooted Farmers in my 2020 Slow Flowers Floral Insights and Industry Forecast, in the section on "Agriculture-driven Design." I wrote this: "The next chapter in this shift is being authored by designers who weave the agricultural narrative through their aesthetic and branding. From creative collaborations between flower farmers and floral designers to new apps and online resources that help florists learn who is growing what and when that's available, the direction connections between the field and the studio are more important than ever."

That paragraph was a direct

reference to Rooted Farmers and the exciting way Amelia and Althea are solving

problems and addressing pain points in the sales and buying process.

This is a screen capture of how you can present your INVENTORY to buyers

Having worked with developers on Slowflowers.com since 2013, basically using an off-the-shelf directory software designed for a "one-size-fits-all" marketplace, I have had multiple conversations with myself where I've thought, "if women were designing this product, it would be so much more intuitive."

I've since considered that all young women should go into UX Design because our world would be a better place. It is so refreshing that Althea and Amelia are bringing a different sensibility to Rooted Farmers' design. Yes, they have all the technical skills that are needed to create a highly-functional platform, but they bring with that a different intuition that I'm so grateful for. The lack of common-sense thinking I've run into in my own efforts to build a user-friendly platform, even though there isn't an e-commerce component, have been frustrating, to say the least. Amelia IS the customer, which helps tremendously in translating to Althea what and how Rooted Farmers needs to work.

Find and Follow Rooted Farmers on Instagram

If you are a Slow Flowers member flower farmer,