Ah, the food system. It’s a mess, huh? Seems like farms, trucking companies, commodity brokers, even retailers that get to gargantuan scale really muck things up for everyone else. That’s why we’re excited to bring small businesses like Matthew Clancy’s into the Plovgh network. Have a look at this local transporter who got your crops into your neighborhood this week.

Transporter’s name: Matthew J. Clancy, Clancy’s Transportation Solutions

Homebase: Rotterdam Junction, New York

Years in operation: We are a newly formed business.

What do you drive? 2010 Chevrolet Express van.

What do you do? We offer the best solution to people and businesses that need something moved across town or across country. We provide our clients with a low cost alternative to the big name companies (emphasis added) with the care only a family owned small business can offer!

Why did you start this business? What’s unique or compelling about how you operate? I started this business to find a more fulfilling way to provide for my family’s quality of life. After years of working for the State of New York as a manager, the time spent away from my wife and children coupled with the fact that I felt uninspired by my work led me to leave it behind in order to focus on making Clancy’s Transportation Solutions (CTS) a success. CTS is a family owned and operated small business aimed at helping our local community and beyond. We are focused on providing custom transportation solutions to our clients that result in the highest levels of customer satisfaction.

Welcome, Matthew! The maiden voyage was a success and we look forward to many more.

We’re once again mobilizing and soon we’ll be adding new distribution points in more neighborhoods.  To make sure your neighborhood is on the ballot, nominate it below and get a Plovgh Pickup Point started near you.  If you don’t see your neighborhood on the list simply add it and click “Ask”.  The sooner a neighborhood gets to critical mass, the sooner they can connect with Plovgh producers.  Give them your support to get food from farms!

Nominate your neighborhood

It’s that time of year! Crops are transitioning to cold weather, our focus is converging on the harvest, and to commemorate all these strange shapes and colors coming out of the ground, we invite you to share your favorite crop photos.

Post your crop photography by way of your preferred social network and be sure to tag your photos with #cropspotted. 

We’ll be highlighting the community favorites on our blog, so be sure to follow along here!

At Plovgh we’re rethinking commerce. We’re building a platform for a community of people to produce, trade, and move crops from farms directly to individuals. As we grow and prepare for the next stage of Plovgh, we’re searching for people to help support the team in areas of social media, marketing and producer recruitment.

Intern responsibilities will include but are not limited to: Assisting in the execution of social media strategy across multiple platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.); Supporting recruitment of potential producers to sell on Plovgh, including some data entry; Compiling articles, links, podcasts and other sources for a daily news digest; Conducting research on food and agricultural policy, neighborhood/census data, etc.; General administrative support; Conceiving and assisting with content creation

Qualifications

  * Access to a personal computer

  * Detail oriented with excellent communication skills

  * Writing experience (blog or other published content)

  * Experience with content management and editing, particularly in Tumblr

  * Familiarity with a variety of social networks

  * Experience with Google Apps, Dropbox and MailChimp

  * Marketing or graphic design experience is a plus

  * Interest in agriculture, food, technology, new economy

This position is based out of our Brooklyn office, and requires at least two full time days per week, preferably on site. Start and end dates are flexible. The position is unpaid but we can offer a travel stipend, start up experience and coffees courtesy of Plovgh.

Below is a snapshot of where Plovgh members are beginning to organize. Do you see your neighborhood or city or borough on the map? No? Well, here’s where to get started.

While we’ve been on hiatus we have been wondering where you’ve been seeking out your farm sourced goods? Are you nearing the end of your CSA share? Have you been waiting in long lines at Whole Foods? Maybe you’ve been spending your Saturday mornings at the farmer’s market or weeknights scouring through the vegetable choices (or lack thereof) at your local grocer. Let us know. And stay tuned for the next phase of Plovgh.

If not Plovgh, then…

Crop spotted: Indigo Road tomatoes from Buckhorn Ranch in Alamo, Nevada. #DowntownProjectLasVegas (Taken with Instagram)

We are starting fresh and bringing back our Urtak survey. Each week we’ll be asking a new question that will cover a variety of topics, from how you choose your produce to where you seek out your news. Conversation requires collaboration after all, so don’t hesitate to share what you’re thinking and submit questions yourself.

Q: Do you care about having a connection with the farm that produces your food?

Plovgh Community

While we are developing big ideas here at Plovgh and building for what we think Plovgh has the potential to become we’re also revisiting the details. We’ve given our blog a bit of a face lift and added features that enable a higher level of engagement and a way for us to connect with you.

Now you can share an article with friends on Facebook. Repin a picture of a cute goat. Or retweet an infographic. While these updates may seem like old news, for us it’s a big step toward better connecting with you and it’s important that we hear what you think because you’re a part of this.

We’ve heard a lot of interpretive pronunciations of Plovgh in recent months: “plov-gah”, “ploe”, “plahv”.  Our favorite questions so far have been: Does the “L-O-V” stand for “love”?  And, is Plovgh Russian for…(we’re not sure what)? 

Nope, none of the above.  In fact, the spelling was originally a function of the great URL conundrum that many startups face (see Svpply and Svbtle for prime examples).  But the concept behind the name is a bit more meaningful than that.

Plovgh, which is pronounced “plow”, refers to a tool, an innovation that fueled a technological revolution in farming in the ancient world.  We aim to apply technology in a way that has an equally transformative effect for the current and future generation of farmers, not on their production but on the economics of their markets.  By eliminating the middleman, Plovgh producers and customers can both do better. 

For the non-agrarians among you, the plough is an agricultural tool that is thought to have emerged in the 6th millennium B.C. when people began using draft animal power. It was not until 1837 that the first steel plough was introduced by a blacksmith and manufacturer named John Deere. Its arrow-shaped head is used to this day to cultivate the soil in preparation for sowing seeds or planting.  Thus, the “v” in our name reflects the shape of the tool itself and calls on a rich history of humans working the land and forging new ground.

Last but not least, the plough had an impact on agriculture around the world, over the course of millennia.  That it is also a constellation and a yoga pose speaks to its universality, cultural significance, and enduring quality.  Our hope is that Plovgh too reaches hundreds of millions of farmers globally and has wide-reaching effect in reinventing markets for producers and people.

So, for historical, technical, and pragmatic reasons, we are Plovgh.