How Farmish is Connecting Food Lovers with their Local Farmers

There is nothing better than fresh, farm-to-table food, especially when it hasn’t visited a warehouse or the back of a semi-truck. The best way to ensure quality food, from produce to meats, is by supporting local farmers. However, it’s not that easy to find this niche group of buyers and sellers.   

For eight years, Terra Osman was a stay-at-home mom. She taught her children to garden, showing them how food was grown and where it came from. In her spare time, she took on freelance web development projects. Then the COVID-19 pandemic happened, and she felt frustrated with the food sourcing process—frustrated enough that she decided to create a solution. 

“I grew up in a rural area. Everyone knew which roadside stand had the best corn and the best place to find fresh fruit or eggs,” said Osman. “That makes it difficult for visitors to a community or anyone who wants to get their food from a local farmer for the first time.” 

In response to her frustration about the food sourcing process and lack of fresh food in her area, Osman developed Farmish, a marketplace app for buying and selling local food and farm products. Described as a Craigslist-type platform, it allows farmers and growers to create free listings, add details and message buyers to consummate a sale. Buyers can browse local options by adding keywords or locations and message farmers directly to arrange a purchase.  

Osman brought the idea to The Start Garden 100, set a timeline and built a prototype. With her background in web development, she built out an app and website almost completely on her own. Even so, the product wasn’t ready by Start Garden’s Demo Day, which is an entrepreneurship competition. The Start Garden directors felt that Osman needed an additional six months of analyzing customer response to the app before it was market ready.  

During this time, Farmish gained a following on TikTok, which served to validate Osman’s vision for the app and satisfied her Start Garden advisors. When it finally came time to launch on March 15, 2022, she had 700 users join in 24 hours.  

Osman was one of five early-stage entrepreneurs to pitch her idea at Start Garden’s April 5x5 Night. Both Start Garden and Spartan Innovations were on the judging panel and Osman’s momentum and progress landed her the $5,000 prize. Two days and a viral TikTok later, Farmish had exploded to 55,000 users. This newfound popularity brought challenges, so Osman met with Start Garden and Spartan Innovations to build the product strategy while serving existing users in the meantime. 

“The Start Garden 100 event was the catalyst for taking Farmish from a handful of notes and potential ideas to a now growing, thriving business,” said Osman. “The entrepreneurs and the Start Garden team that I met through the event connected me with the local startup community and an invaluable network of resources. The $5,000 from the 5x5 night paid for some essential development fixes that were needed to move us forward. I'm so grateful for the knowledge and resources I've acquired through the Start Garden ecosystem.”  

"It's a great problem to have when an entrepreneur like Terra comes through our doors looking for help because she's growing so fast,” said Paul Moore, director at Start Garden. “Much of our work is building a community around entrepreneurs like Terra to help them grow, often piecing it together through our relationships. The SmartZone investment goes a long way towards making sure those relationships are ready and accessible through incubator spaces, supportive staff and the Entrepreneur-In-Residence program, if and when they're needed.” 

With the backing and support of the Spartan Innovations team, Start Garden, and the Grand Rapids SmartZone, Osman was able to address minor issues, such as app glitches, during the first several weeks of launching.  

“Fueling entrepreneurship that leads to economic development is one of Spartan Innovations’ guiding principles,” said Jeff Wesley, executive director of Spartan Innovations. “Providing early SmartZone funding to Farmish is an opportunity to promote the Grand Rapids SmartZone and an innovative startup in its journey to success. Farmish’s rapid growth demonstrates the interest for an app like this and we’re excited to stay involved.” 

“There is only so much you can Google on your own before needing to reach out to experts for help,” said Osman. “The team at Spartan Innovations are our experts, providing countless resources and advice from their ecosystem of top-notch consultants to help us expand. I’m grateful these services are available in our community.” 

She intends to keep Farmish free for all users while developing a monetization strategy that ensures sustainability.  

“Spartan Innovations has given me access to resources I wouldn’t have been able to find on my own,” said Osman. “They’re extremely community centered and I’m thankful for the partnership we’ve created.” To learn more, visit Farmish’s website at getfarmish.com or download the mobile app.   

To learn more about Spartan Innovations, please visit  https://www.msufoundation.org/spartaninnovations   

To learn more about Start Garden, please visit startgarden.com 

To explore the Grand Rapids SmartZone, please visit GR SmartZone