The 40-year-old Best Buy software engineer manager from North Minneapolis was motivated to create the Catholic farm-to-table network Fructus by farmers' difficulties during the COVID-19 lockout. Dan Hartig's concept aims to improve farmers' market access.
Building Catholic Economy
In an interview, Hartig claimed that he attracted a core group of clients after developing the website and launching advertising campaigns in his parish and a few neighboring parishes. Fructus currently has 40 active customers and performs up to 10 deliveries every week, and over the previous two years, they had about 100 different customers.
They drive weekly, collecting up from the farmers and dropping them off at the clients' houses, operating similarly to Uber Eats or DoorDash. They are currently transferring things worth hundreds of dollars. They publicize the goods to churchgoers, and the farmers decide the price, a source posted.
They frequently travel to western St. Paul, around Northeast Minneapolis, New Brighton, and Roseville. His three willing friends help him out with the work. Although Fructus earns enough to pay for gas, there is no reimbursement for the volunteers' costs.
A Catholic economy, according to Hartig, is ready to be developed.
About Fructus
Farm-to-table organization Fructus is religious. To support the worker, the Earth, and the Church, Fructus was founded by Catholic beliefs. To give farmers the highest return on their agricultural output, they send farm items directly to customers' doors with low overhead. As a result, family farmers can maintain adequate soil and water management techniques while earning an everyday living.
Everyone in the food distribution system will be compensated fairly, which is a critical component of Fructus. The growers, processors, and distributors of the food will earn sustainable and equitable compensation for their labor, even though this may result in higher consumer costs. The only people who can guarantee that everyone gets their fair share are those who have plenty.
The cornerstone of Fructus is creating a constant need for the goods produced by Catholic family farmers and regional food producers within Catholic communities.
Agricultural Inflation
The uncertainty has become more of an economic disadvantage as extreme weather occurrences rise in frequency or intensity. For example, severe weather disasters may contribute to long-term price increases as the nation now struggles with the effects of protracted droughts.
Heatwaves and drought are still wreaking havoc on the American West, forcing farmers to decrease livestock herds, rip up orchards, fallow land, and reduce anticipated yields, a source posted.
The extreme heat and drought have only exacerbated the problems that American farmers have, including supply chain repercussions of the Ukraine-Russian war.
The conflict between Russia and Ukraine contributed to a sharp increase in oil prices, which trickled down through essential inputs like fuel and fertilizer. It also complicated already complex supply chains, driving up costs for all the companies that work to bring agricultural products to market.
According to the Arm Bureau, the impacts of the drought will probably lead to American consumers spending more for these goods and either partly depending on foreign suppliers or limiting the variety of items they buy at the shop.
