Oh baby, It’s 2021!

Economists and researchers shared some data recently regarding a “baby bust” in 2020, the opposite of a baby boom. In a nutshell, during the pandemic lockdowns, it seemed couples didn’t get as romantic as some of us imagined they would. Was stress not hot? Were hoarding tendencies not sexy? I’m guessing no, but maybe I’m too boring. But you know who got busy and made a baby?  You and Farm Link Hawai’i.

In the beginning of the pandemic we got to know each other (we’ve been around since 2015) and forged a relationship based on paranoia and necessity, but also a lot of love that some of you never knew you had for local farmers. Throughout the pandemic your love grew, which enabled and motivated us to grow as well.

Do you remember when our marketplace could only open for less than 2 hours until we sold out. Or when our old website experienced more crashes than an office roomful of sugar and coffee bingers by two in the afternoon. (Thank you for your patience.)

Do you remember us gaining all the weight from the stress eating while we breathed and ate work 24/7 and our significant others almost leaving us (not because of the weight gain but maybe that too!).

Do you remember when we moved out of a 40-ft container size pack-shed to process your orders and into a store space in Hale‘iwa that the Kōkua Hawai‘i Foundation graciously lent us?

Do you remember us renting more vehicles, expanding to island-wide home delivery, and opening 10 more pickup locations to make it easier for you to get your order?

Do you remember us hiring 15 more employees, including our CEO’s mom, Trudy, who handled our accounting and customer service as a volunteer? We are forever grateful for the time and effort everyone shared with us in the form of snacks or infrastructure resources.

Do you remember us going through hoops to enable SNAP-EBT users to shop our marketplace? This was and is really important to us. By the way, Double Up Bucks is back this year! EBT card users get 50% off Hawai‘i grown produce ($20 SNAP-EBT = $40 value of Hawai‘i grown fruits and vegetables).

Do you remember us finding our permanent hub in Kalihi, next to a diner and a lounge. It’s a quirky spot and we love it because it gives us the space we need to take care of business.

In 2020, you helped keep $1.4 million in the local economy by buying produce, meat, seafood, eggs, and other products through Farm Link Hawai‘i. Your dedication to local agriculture meant that we expanded the number of farms we work with from 109 to 147! You also helped us build more supplier relationships with rural farmers and ranchers on Moloka‘i, Hawai‘i Island, and Maui, giving them much-needed access to Oahu’s consumer market. Since October, we served 53 SNAP customers and issued them over $6,000 in Double Up Bucks discounts.

We couldn’t have grown as much as we did in as short a time without your help and we could use more by sharing your feedback with us. Take the gloves off and take a a few, free, constructive jabs at us and help us improve. Feel free to email us anytime at support@farmlinkhawaii.com. This year, our goals are to add more farmers in our connection, add more products on the marketplace, less shorts, improve quality, tighten delivery windows, and expand SNAP-EBT to name a few.  

Thank you for your support in 2020 and for loving our work as much as we do. But like a mini human, Farm Link will continue to need your love and support. So please, don’t be a deadbeat parent. Your orders help us run this baby and this baby has on its back an Atlas worth of responsibilities to our community and our local farmers, ranchers, and producers. I humbly and strongly encourage you to include consistently ordering from our marketplace as not only your New Year’s resolution that might phase off in a few months, but as a regular part of your lifestyle.

Let’s do this, O‘ahu!
Laarni from Farm Link Hawai‘i