Sep 22, 2026 · 55 min · 12 segments
In this week's episode of Grocery Nerds, we dive deep into the mission of Farm to People, a company dedicated to revolutionizing how we shop and eat by connecting consumers directly to local and…
Michael Ray RobinovGuest
Errol SchweizerHost
Yeah, I think there's a couple reasons, obviously, or else I wouldn't be doing this.
I think first and foremost, I'm going to be going at it from a selfish point of view, which is flavor.
If you're a customer and you're an eater, which we all are, and you try a tomato that's been picked yesterday that comes from a farm that cared about the varietal and grew an amazing tomato, you're going to taste flavor.
such a difference than an out of season tomato that's been trucked 3000 miles across the city, held in the wrong temperatures and then sits on a shelf at a supermarket.
So like just starting there, I think you should care because you want your food to taste good.
Food that tastes good is better for you and it's more enjoyable and we have to all eat at least a couple of times a day.
And hopefully that is not something that is sort of depressing and tasteless experience.
Beyond that, I think when you think about food that is in the supermarket and you think about what the farmer is earning, how much you're paying for that tomato, and just purely from a value point of view, you might be buying that tomato for, even if it's super cheap at a regular supermarket, you might be buying a tomato that's $1.99, let's say, a pound versus $2.99 or something a pound on Farm to People.
If it's $1.99 a pound, great, you're saving some money and that is really important.
But when you think about what the farmer earned on the tomato in the supermarket, they're getting about 15% of that food dollar.
When you think about the farm, what they're getting as a percentage of what we're selling at Farm to People, they're earning about 50% of that food dollar.
So when you also just think about the impact that your own dollar is making as a consumer, it's going a lot farther when the farmer is located a lot closer to you and it's going through less of a crazy sort of supply chain.
What do you mean by a farmer only getting 15% at a supermarket versus you insuring a farmer gets 50% of the retail price.
Yeah, I think there's a couple reasons, obviously, or else I wouldn't be doing this.
I think first and foremost, I'm going to be going at it from a selfish point of view, which is flavor.
If you're a customer and you're an eater, which we all are, and you try a tomato that's been picked yesterday that comes from a farm that cared about the varietal and grew an amazing tomato, you're going to taste flavor.
such a difference than an out of season tomato that's been trucked 3000 miles across the city, held in the wrong temperatures and then sits on a shelf at a supermarket.
So like just starting there, I think you should care because you want your food to taste good.
Food that tastes good is better for you and it's more enjoyable and we have to all eat at least a couple of times a day.
And hopefully that is not something that is sort of depressing and tasteless experience.
Beyond that, I think when you think about food that is in the supermarket and you think about what the farmer is earning, how much you're paying for that tomato, and just purely from a value point of view, you might be buying that tomato for, even if it's super cheap at a regular supermarket, you might be buying a tomato that's $1.99, let's say, a pound versus $2.99 or something a pound on Farm to People.
If it's $1.99 a pound, great, you're saving some money and that is really important.
But when you think about what the farmer earned on the tomato in the supermarket, they're getting about 15% of that food dollar.
When you think about the farm, what they're getting as a percentage of what we're selling at Farm to People, they're earning about 50% of that food dollar.
So when you also just think about the impact that your own dollar is making as a consumer, it's going a lot farther when the farmer is located a lot closer to you and it's going through less of a crazy sort of supply chain.
What do you mean by a farmer only getting 15% at a supermarket versus you insuring a farmer gets 50% of the retail price.
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