Video Interview: Who Grows Your Food?

One of the fundamental failures of market economies is their wrongful assumption that all members enjoy equal access to information.  Suppose we can solve that issue when it comes to food.  Would the “invisible hand” make the right choices to put us on a sustainable path?   Perhaps we will soon find out.  Foodtree is a new platform that connects food consumers with information about food producers, directly.  Foodtree was one of the presenters at Slow Money: The National Gathering in San Francisco.    Founder and CEO Anthony Nicalo started his journey as a chef and owner of Farmstead Wines in Canada who was frustrated with disingenuous marketing messages from his competitors.  He wanted his customers to know the true story so they can choose for themselves.  That’s when Foodtree.com was born.  Foodtree has the most comprehensive record of food sources and origins in British Columbia, with over 50,000 records.  When it comes to fresh foods such as produce, meat and dairy, there is massive information asymmetry in the marketplace.  Nicalo wants to change it by get all 250,000 small and medium sized farms in North American and beyond on Foodtree, thereby eliminating the information gap and enabling consumers to make the right choices when it comes to what they eat.  So, who grows your food?

Connie Kwan is the CEO of RealMealz.com in Silicon Valley, CA.  She holds an MBA in Sustainable Management from Presidio Graduate School, and covers stories about triple bottom line businesses and projects. Follow her on Twitter @RealMealz.