FreshFarm

Inspiration

We get really upset seeing so much food going to waste on campus. This got us to think about how food is being wasted all throughout our community, and not just on the table. This project, FreshFarm, focuses on minimizing food waste right at the source. Fresh produce doesn't grow perfectly, so when grocery stores, markets, and restaurants demand perfect produce, 33% of food goes to waste due to small imperfections.

What it does

FreshFarm is a website that allows farmers to post listings of their unsold, imperfect produce for buyers to pickup, cutting out the middleman. Buyers can view list of categories of produce to buy from farms based on location, and can pick up to buy them, support local farms.

How we built it

We used Firebase to host, authenticate, and store our data and Typescript with React and Tailwind CSS to build the UI/UX.

Challenges we ran into

We didn't all know how to use Firebase, Typescript/React, or Tailwind CSS, so we all had to spend time getting used to working with these languages, frameworks, and services. Most of us didn't really have experience in group projects on GitHub so there were challenges with merge conflicts that took time to solve.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We were able to become familiar with a new language, framework, and platform/database to build this project. The time we put into it and the design of the website show how hard we worked on it and the care we put into it. We're proud that our finishing program is functional and users can sign up and view/post listings which was the main goal of our project.

What we learned

Since most of us came in without knowing Typescript, React, Tailwind, and Firebase, we learned how to use these tools to build our website. We learned how to work collaboratively in a quick environment, especially across over 36 hours and being able to distribute tasks effectively so that everyone has something to work on that they'd prefer and to help further our goal in finishing the project.

What's next for FreshFarm

We hope that our efforts help to reduce food waste for local farmers and to be able to support these businesses and letting users learn more about the local businesses. We also hope to build a delivery system through sustainable means such as biking or electric vehicles to bring customers their produce.