LINNEUS, Maine — When Clare Desrosiers first started selling her farm-raised chicken online, she found the process to be much easier and more efficient. When COVID-19 broke out, it suddenly became essential.
Desrosiers, who along with her husband Joseph, runs Sunnyside Family Farms in Linneus, had joined FarmDrop, an online grocer which sells local farm products. Local area farms offer whatever they have available each week, which consumers can purchase online and pick up on a given date.
There are several other FarmDrop locations around Maine, such as Portland, Unity and Blue Hill.
“My husband and I said ‘well, this would probably be great for the Houlton area,’ and it was just after the COVID quarantine started, so this would probably be good too because people probably won’t want to go out as much,” Desrosiers said.
Farmers markets, like all other businesses in the state, have been subjected to new regulations and precautions as a result of the pandemic. The Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry has issued several guidelines regarding how farmers markets should operate, such as spacing out vendors, banning musical performances and limiting sales to food, horticultural products and soap.
With an online farmers market, vendors no longer have to worry about adjusting to any new regulations or social distancing guidelines, as all transactions occur online. They no longer have to worry about wearing gloves for cash transactions or regularly sanitizing their stands.
It also allows them to list exactly how much product they have to sell each week, removing any concern of bringing too much or too little to the market.
“I know I have so much whole chicken I have available this week, so I can put that in and FarmDrop will only sell that amount,” Desrosiers said. “So I’m not overselling or underselling.”
In addition to Sunnyside, several other farms in the Houlton area have joined in selling to FarmDrop’s Houlton area farmers market. This includes Crane Farm in Littleton, selling beef and pork products; and Abby Flower Farm in Hodgdon, which sells seasonal flowers.
Desrosiers said she also hopes to add Micmac Farms, located in Caribou, to further expand the range of vendors.
“I want to make it diverse, so people can one-stop shop for what they want,” she said. “I think having another produce provider will really help with engaging people in shopping in one place for local products.”
