'A farmer also earns wages according to work'

Consumers have found their way to the farmer more and more easily during the corona crisis. Local for local became immensely popular. From vegetable boxes and fruit boxes to bags of potatoes. Everything was offered, including via social platforms such as Facebook. Lekkerder bij de Boer also focuses on the trend for local food. It currently does this with a digital signpost to the farm shop, but ultimately initiator Thomas Siahaya wants to market the online marketplace for fresh products.

It's better at the Farmer a platform that wants to connect farmers and citizens. At the moment it still calls itself a 'signpost' to the local farm shop, but in the long term it wants to become the market place for fresh products. In order to properly set up this marketplace, it is conducting a study in collaboration with the Knowledge Center of the University of Applied Sciences Zeeland. "We believe in the power of the farmer and the beautiful products that are created on the farm. This is still unknown territory for many people in the Netherlands, that has to change. We want consumers to buy their food from the farmer as much as possible." says initiator Thomas Siahaya.

How did 'Tasty at the Farm' come about?
"In the 80s I worked with farmers near the campsite where my parents were. I helped out in the fields. When the harvest demanded, I worked there seven days a week. It was hard work and I was really taken in. I only noticed years later that the reward for that hard work was not realistic. In my view, this has to do with the many links in the chain. With Lekkerder bij de Boer we remove those links. was planted while working on the farm, but I didn't go through with the plan until 2016. I was then at a farm shop and worked as an online marketer/strategist. The farmer told me that they would like to have more customers in the winter. I started working on that and wrote a business plan."

"I really didn't have the time to work out the idea in detail. I finally took that step in 2018. I then followed a training program to really turn it into a promising start-up and have a lot of consumers and farmers in the process. The corona crisis was ultimately the trigger to go live. Although I did change my strategy. Because of time and finances, the digital marketplace had to wait a while. So I started the digital signpost, as it is now. And we are growing well. Currently there are over 900 farm outlets on our apps and site. Thousands of people use it every day."

Why are you so committed to 'buying local products'?
"My biggest motivation is the fact that I want farmers to get 'wages for work'. Farmers have a lot of knowledge about the products they grow or about the livestock they keep. They talk about it with passion, I like that In addition, the price of such a local product is often even more competitive than in the supermarket. My son attends a mixed school. The families who have little to spend, they buy potatoes in the supermarket. At a farm shop you can for example, who often buy for a lower price. This is often not known. And then it is often even tastier, because it is really fresh. At the same time, it is also educational for children. I want to give them the opportunity to visit the farmer and discover that."

Is local for local something that can continue to exist after the corona crisis? Or do you see it as a hype?
"Yes, it turns out. If we didn't believe in that, we wouldn't continue with this platform. But you could already see this trend on the rise before the corona crisis. The search behavior for really fresh products from the region or neighborhood has been increasing for years. And that continues. Also outside the Netherlands. It will remain with that digital signpost. Setting up a reservation and purchasing system like the one we are working on is really new. We are not here for logistics to solve the problem. We are not going to be a Picnic for farmers or anything like that. We believe in the autonomous power of the farmer. He can deliver well within a radius of x kilometers around his point of sale. Our goal is to convert from buying from the farmer the the most normal thing in the Netherlands, so we call ourselves the marketing platform for the farmer."

Looking to the future, what future plans do you have?
"First of all, we want to continue with the digital marketplace for fresh products. Farmers can then register and offer products. The farmer pays a fixed amount per month for this. It is important that we do not want to steal anything from the farmer's turnover. full amount that the consumer pays for a product. Whether they sell a lot or little via our apps and site. We also do not distinguish between large and small farmers. Every farmer pays the same proportionately for offering products. The price per product therefore remains the same for everyone. It does not matter whether you offer ten or a hundred products via the marketplace. That way it remains fair for everyone."

"However, that is a costly affair and therefore could not be there last year. The launch should now take place in the third quarter, or perhaps even earlier. It is also a reason that we are still looking for investors. The cooperative fund of Rabobank Walcheren and Noord-Beveland have received a nice contribution, which we are really happy with. This allows us to continue developing. In addition to investing in technology for the marketplace system, we also have to invest in personnel and a good helpdesk."

Do you also want to take the step abroad?
"We are limitless, because we do not offer any logistical obligations. We were therefore able to scale up within the Netherlands within a month. We are therefore reluctant to look beyond the Dutch borders, but it is not a priority for us. We first want to get the online marketplace up and running. The Netherlands should know that Lekkerder bij de Boer exists."

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