The team at the ZLA Foundation is excited to announce and share a new, up-and-coming mobile application, Soko, the Farmers’ Market App. This app (available in the Google Play Store and Apple App Store) was designed to make finding, connecting with, and paying farmers much easier. In addition, Soko allows the easy use of SNAP benefits at the farmers’ market – something that was previously tedious and inconvenient.
Soko is a revolutionary way to interact with farmers’ markets; give it a try or support the development of Soko with the links below. Here are a few words from the application’s founder, Hugh Molotsi.
“We developed Soko, the Farmers’ Market App to make going to the farmers’ market a healthy part of your routine. With Soko, you can discover farmers’ markets near you and connect with the people that sell there.
Part of our mission is to eliminate the hurdles faced by people on food assistance in purchasing locally-sourced fresh and healthy food. Of the $100B appropriated to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) this year, only about $25M will be spent at farmers’ markets. Too many SNAP dollars are spent at convenience stores on less healthy processed food.
Today, less than half of the 8,600 farmers’ markets in the US accept SNAP payments; the ones that do use a cumbersome and inefficient process that is difficult for the customer, the vendor, and the market manager. Soko has revolutionized the process of accepting SNAP payments, making them easier and just as fast as credit card payments. To learn more, check out this video.
We have recently launched a crowdfunding campaign to get Soko into more farmers’ markets so that more people will consume healthy food. Please support our journey with an investment as low as $100.”
-Hugh Molotsi, Founder