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Local Harvest
Guillermo Payet, Founder
Santa Cruz
www.localharvest.org

After the dotcom crash, SCCCU member Guillermo Payet found himself with 9 employees and a struggling business. Rather than laying off workers, Payet decided to start a new project, one that would require learning new skills and provide a service to the community. "I am a software geek. How boring it is to build software that makes the corporate machinery more efficient? I wanted something more - to make a living without betraying my principles."

Five months ago, Payet launched LocalHarvest - an online nationwide directory of small farms, farmers markets, and other local food sources. LocalHarvest seeks to help people find local sources of sustainably grown food, and encourages them to build relationships with local family farms. "The richness, variety, and flavor of our communities, food systems, and diets are in jeopardy. The quest for economic efficiency has brought us low prices and convenience through mega-supermarkets, agribusiness and factory farms while taking away many other essential aspects of our food lives," says Payet.

LocalHarvest is the biggest and most successful directory of its kind. More than 3,000 people visit the site everyday and it has been praised in Time magazine. Farmers join for free and can create a space to describe their farm, publicize special events, share photos and even sell products. Visitors to LocalHarvest can search out local farms, CSA's, farmers' markets, and restaurants that use organic, local ingredients. The online store allows people to buy high quality food directly from farmers. "It's about encouraging people to look to local sources for the food that we eat and to have a personal relationship with food and the people who grow it", says Payet.

LocalHarvest banks with the Community Credit Union because, "Corporate banks don't care about anything but the bottom line. At the Credit Union I am treated like a real person, by real people," explains Payet. "I appreciate the Credit Union's human scale and I want my money to stay here and work for my community, instead of having it work for absentee shareholders sitting in a gray tower somewhere."

For more information, visit www.localharvest.org

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