Spotlight: Jennifer Goggin of Pippin Foods

This past week, we were able to chat with Jennifer Goggin about her company, Pippin Foods, which brings the farmers market experience to local supermarkets.  

Jennifer Goggin, CEO and Founder of Pippin Foods

Q: How did Pippin get started?
A: We just launched in December, but I’ve been working on it for about a year now. The drive to create the company came from my own frustration of going into my own grocery store and not seeing any New York State fruit, like peaches or plums in August, or other things that one would expect to find.  It was frustrating for me because I’m a big supporter of local foods; I like to buy from local farms whenever I can, but I can’t always make it to the farmers market since they close before the end of the work day.

I was wondering why I couldn’t get local food through the regular shopping channels; what was the blocker there? That sparked off about eight months of conversations with people in the retail world about why they don’t source more locally - what are the challenges for them, what would help them bring in more food, etc. From those conversations came the idea of Pippin, which provides retailers with a full service local produce program.

A local farmer that provides produce for Pippin Foods

Q: How many supermarkets are you in?
A: Right now we are still in a pilot phase, but we are in one supermarket in Flushing and one in Hicksville, Long Island.

Q: How does it work?
A: Pippin does everything for the retailers, from finding the farms and vetting them, to arranging the orders and deliveries, and also providing the stores with marketing tools to tell the farm-specific story of where that product is coming from. We don’t do just a generic local tag with no other information.  There is really rich content and stories behind each product on the shelves, including who the farmer is and how they got started, pictures of the farm, a map of where the farm is in relation to the store, and all of the growing methods that the farm uses.  We are going beyond the distinction between organic and not organic, because there’s a lot of shades of sustainable growing methods in there that normally aren't talked about.  And each store has a tablet display right next to the shelf, where the shopper can click through to see all of this information.

Q: And you have an app right? 
A: Yes, the mobile app provides the same data as the in-store tablet, but what I like about the app is that it tells the shoppers before they get into the store which seasonal and local products are on the shelves.  That way you can plan your shopping or your dinner without wondering if the products will be available.  There’s nothing more frustrating than finding a cool recipe, but then you go to the store and the main ingredient isn't there - you have to rearrange your whole plan.

Pippin's tablet display at their Hicksville location.

Q: Do you think this type of a platform would eventually reduce the number of farmers markets?
A: No, I don’t think so at all. I don't think that people who are going to farmers markets are going to go to their supermarket instead.  I think what it is going to do is expand market opportunities for farms. If they were selling at a farmers market before, now they can also sell through a supermarket and access those customers, who like me, go shopping after work and aren't going to farmers markets either way.  This helps the shopper get local products in whatever way is most convenient for them.

There are also different types of farms that sell at farmers markets versus supermarkets. Farmers markets are great for smaller farms,     but when you start looking at medium to large farms, the economics just don’t make sense for them. And if they were not selling through Pippin, they would likely be selling their products on the commodity market, which does not give them the premium they deserve.

Shedding Light on Genetically Modified Crops

Are genetically modified crops fulfilling their ultimate goal - solving hunger?

According to The New York Times, the answer is no.  This article takes a closer look at the failures (and successes) of GMOs, and unpacks a lot of the misconceptions and controversies surrounding the industry.  

Photo by Jeremy M. Lange for The New York Times

The article compares crop yields and pesticide usage in Europe, where genetically modified seeds are outlawed, to North America, where genetically modified seeds are part of conventional farming methods. The results show that the U.S. and Canada have not seen any dramatic improvement in crop yields, while herbicide use has increased drastically:

"Since genetically modified crops were introduced in the United States two decades ago for crops like corn, cotton and soybeans, the use of toxins that kill insects and fungi has fallen by a third, but the spraying of herbicides, which are used in much higher volumes, has risen by 21 percent."

Such an increase in herbicide use has had noted effects on the environment, from the development of herbicide-resistant weeds to the pollution of groundwater.  Additionally, more herbicides means more toxic residues on our foods.  While many people argue that genetically modified crops are dangerous to humans, there is no scientific evidence that proves this; it is the over-use of pesticides, however, that has been shown to negatively impact human health.

What can we do?

When it comes to increasing yields, genetically modified crops are not getting the job done. And in any case, kicking production into high-gear on tired and depleted soils isn't exactly the most sustainable way to feed the rising population.  To truly address the issue of hunger, we need to adapt our cities and towns to be self-sufficient in crop production.  Abandoned lots, empty buildings, manicured lawns, and secure rooftops - such spaces exist almost everywhere, and they are the perfect places for gardens and greenhouses.  It's time to make locally grown food the solution!