#132: How Local Farmers Are Reaching Customers Beyond the Farmers Market

“Farmers markets are great — but they’re a narrow pipe between farmers and consumers.” 

This episode of Farming on Purpose features a conversation with Dan Brunner, founder of Market Wagon, a platform designed to reconnect consumers with local food by solving one of agriculture’s most overlooked problems: distribution. 

For decades, Dan had been fascinated by the way groceries move through the American food system. As someone with a background in software and logistics, he understood that the system wasn’t broken because farmers didn’t want to sell locally or because consumers didn’t want to buy local food. The challenge was the gap between them. 

Farmers could sell at farmers markets or through direct delivery, but those channels were limited by time, geography, and labor. Consumers might want local food, but accessing it often meant rearranging their schedules, traveling across town on a Saturday morning, or hoping a farm store happened to be open. 

Market Wagon grew out of the belief that the connection between farmers and consumers didn’t need to stay that narrow. 

Instead of forcing both sides to work around an inefficient system, Dan believed technology could widen the channel between them. 

Seeing the Supply Chain Differently 

Most people think of the food system in simple terms: farmers produce food and grocery stores sell it. What often goes unnoticed is the complicated infrastructure in between. 

Industrial food systems rely on a long chain of transportation, storage, consolidation, and redistribution before products ever reach a store shelf. Food may travel hundreds or even thousands of miles, moving through multiple warehouses and distribution centers before it ever lands in a shopping cart. 

Along the way, costs add up. Time adds up. Handling adds up. 

By the time the consumer purchases that product at a grocery store, the farmer often receives only a small portion of the final price. 

Market Wagon was designed to simplify that process by cutting out many of those middle steps. Instead of shipping food long distances and storing it for weeks, producers deliver directly to a local hub where orders are assembled and delivered to consumers the same day. 

In many cases, food harvested the day before ends up on a family’s table that afternoon. 

Why Farmers Markets Aren’t Enough 

Farmers markets play an important role in the local food movement, but they also come with natural limitations. They operate on specific days, during specific hours, and only in certain locations. For consumers, attending a market requires time and planning. For farmers, it requires packing inventory, setting up booths, and spending long days away from the farm. 

For some producers, farmers markets work well. But scaling that model often means traveling to multiple markets across a region, hiring extra help, and dedicating significant time to selling instead of producing. 

Dan saw this as a narrow pipeline between farmers and consumers. 

Market Wagon was built to widen that pipe. 

By moving the shopping experience online, the platform allows consumers to browse local food at any time while allowing farmers to reach customers far beyond a single market location. 

Instead of one Saturday morning sales window, producers suddenly have a storefront that operates around the clock. 

Building a Marketplace for Local Food 

The system Market Wagon developed operates on a simple weekly rhythm. Customers browse the online marketplace throughout the week, choosing exactly what they want from a wide range of local farms and food makers. When the weekly order cutoff arrives, producers bring the items that were purchased to a local hub. 

From there, the food is organized into customer orders and delivered to households across a large regional delivery area. 

Unlike traditional grocery distribution systems, Market Wagon avoids storing food whenever possible. Products arrive at the hub the morning of delivery and move directly into customer orders, often reaching homes within hours. 

This approach keeps food fresher while dramatically simplifying logistics. 

For producers, the system also offers a level of control they rarely experience in other sales channels. Farmers set their own prices, manage their own inventory, and write the descriptions that tell customers how their products are raised or produced. 

Instead of selling anonymously through wholesale channels, they maintain a direct relationship with the people buying their food. 

Growing a Two-Sided Marketplace 

Platforms like Market Wagon face a unique challenge because they depend on two groups growing together: producers and consumers. 

Without enough farmers and food makers, customers won’t find the variety they need to shop regularly. Without enough customers, producers won’t see the consistent demand required to make participation worthwhile. 

One of the surprising insights the company discovered over time is that producers actually benefit when more vendors join the platform. 

In a traditional farmers market, vendors often compete for booth space and customer attention. But in an online marketplace, additional producers expand the overall selection of products available. That broader assortment attracts more customers, which ultimately increases sales opportunities for everyone involved. 

What might feel like competition in a physical market becomes collaboration in a digital one. 

The COVID Moment That Changed Everything 

Like many businesses connected to food delivery, Market Wagon experienced a dramatic shift during the COVID pandemic. 

As lockdowns spread and consumers stayed home, grocery delivery services quickly became overwhelmed. Many people who had never considered ordering food online suddenly needed to. 

For Market Wagon, the impact was immediate. Demand surged as customers searched for reliable ways to access groceries and fresh food without leaving their homes. 

The company grew to roughly six times its pre-pandemic size. 

But the pandemic didn’t just create a temporary spike. It accelerated a broader shift that had already been building: consumers increasingly want to know where their food comes from and how it was produced. 

For many people who discovered local food during that period, it became a permanent part of how they shop. 

Transparency Between Farmers and Consumers 

One of the core values behind Market Wagon is transparency. Modern consumers are increasingly curious about how food is produced. They want to understand farming practices, sourcing decisions, and the values behind the businesses they support. 

Through vendor profiles and product descriptions, producers on the platform can explain how their animals are raised, how their crops are grown, and why they make the production decisions they do. 

For farmers who follow organic or regenerative practices without pursuing formal certification, this storytelling becomes especially important. The platform allows them to communicate directly with customers rather than relying solely on labels or marketing claims. 

In many ways, Market Wagon recreates the conversations that used to happen at farmers markets — but on a much larger scale. 

A Different Vision for the Food System 

When Dan first met the farmer who would become his co-founder, the idea behind Market Wagon felt obvious to him. From a logistics standpoint, connecting local producers to consumers through a digital marketplace simply made sense. 

What has surprised him over the years is not whether the model works, but how steadily the demand continues to grow. 

The shift toward local food isn’t happening overnight. It’s a gradual movement driven by changing consumer priorities: healthier eating, fewer processed foods, more transparency, and stronger local economies. 

Market Wagon’s mission remains focused on a single idea — helping local food producers succeed and thrive in their regional markets. 

If that happens, the benefits ripple outward. 

Farmers earn more from the food they produce. Consumers gain better access to fresh, local options. And communities become stronger through a food system that keeps more dollars and more relationships close to home. 

Where to Learn More 

If you are interested in selling on the platform or browsing available products, visit: marketwagon.com 

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About the Host of Farming On Purpose, Lexi Wright: 

I’m your host, Lexi Wright. I started the Farming on Purpose Podcast from a passion for sharing the future of production agriculture. 

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