Newly Updated Farmshed App Connects Central New York Producers to Consumers Using Mobile Technology

Farmshed version 1.1 for iPhone was released Wednesday, November 3, 2010, and is now available for free download in the iTunes App Store. The Farmshed App provides detailed lists and descriptions of 1000+ organic and sustainable family farms, farmers markets, food producers, wineries, and locavore restaurants in Central New York and the Finger Lakes region. The application also includes accurate, geo-located directions to help the user locate the farms and businesses with ease.

Farmshed (www.farmshedcny.com) is a FREE application for iPhone created and developed by Neil Brody Miller, an adjunct professor of History at Onondaga Community College and author of Stressing the Vine, a blog on Central NY wine, food, art and culture. The idea behind Miller’s concept is one of empowerment.

The Farmsed App helps users make smarter, informed food choices while grocery shopping, eating out or traveling. It also helps farmers and wineries by making their farms and vineyards easier to find. The concept shows the potential the web and mobile technology has to connect consumers with artisanal and organic producers who are seeking to market their products directly.

I have previously written on this topic of mobile applications and the incredible potential they have in connecting the food movement online and off. Food choices and access are often dictated by forces outside of our control, but concepts like the Farmshed App make good food choices and connections not only possible, but fun and hip.

For New York City folks headed upstate, I recommend downloading the free app so that you can experience the terrior of Central New York and the Fingerlake wine region. Seek out all the good food and people that our state has to offer.

This piece was originally posted at Green State Fair.

Ulla Kjarval is an NYC based photographer, food blogger and grass-fed advocate. Her family operates Spring Lake Farm in Delaware County, New York. Ulla’s blog is entitled Goldilocks Finds Manhattan.