Search
Better Farming OntarioBetter PorkBetter Farming Prairies

Better Farming Ontario Featured Articles

Better Farming Ontario magazine is published 11 times per year. After each edition is published, we share featured articles online.


Montreal startup shortens the food supply chain

Friday, December 5, 2014

As food journeys from farm to consumer, it's often the middleman that takes the biggest bite. The Farmer's Share research project, undertaken by Prairie farm groups in 2011, found an average 61 per cent markup on vegetables, grains, dairy products and meat sold at three Winnipeg supermarkets.

Provender, a web-based marketplace, aims to cut out the middleman by providing what CEO Caithrin Rintoul calls "an online sales management tool and marketplace" where farmers can sell directly to restaurants and other distributors. Rintoul says previous attempts to bring the sales and distribution of food online have failed because food has been treated as a commodity, and "fresh food is never going to be commoditized."

Provender, Rintoul says, has been built from a farmer's perspective. Transactions between farmers and buyers who were already doing business are free, and there is a variable fee of zero to 18 per cent on sales made between new connections.

"We're always hearing that farmers don't want to embrace technology, and that it is somehow their fault," Rintoul said via email. "The opposite is true – it is up to us, the builders of software, to make systems that are simple, delightful and useful. Only then will agriculture move online and embrace the efficiency, traceability and promise the Internet holds for farms."  


At press time, Provender had 750 users signed up. In July, one year after its Montreal launch, it expanded into Ontario, where it currently has 300 users. It is also active in Massachusetts, Minnesota and Vermont. BF

Current Issue

November 2025

Better Farming Magazine

Farms.com Breaking News

Demco-Welker Farms Collab Delivers Big Buddy

Tuesday, October 28, 2025

Demco recently introduced the Big Buddy grain cart, a product of collaboration with Big Equipment, the makers of Big Bud tractors, Titan Tires, and the well-known Montana-based Welker Farms. The project began when the Welker family decided to rebuild and modify their iconic Big Bud... Read this article online

New MacDon FD2 Plus Draper Header

Monday, October 27, 2025

Case IH continues to expand its innovative harvest equipment lineup with the launch of the MacDon FD2 Plus Draper Header, a new series designed to provide farmers with smoother, cleaner, and more efficient harvesting. Available in multiple widths — 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, and even 61... Read this article online

Lots of news from the Ontario Pork Congress

Monday, October 27, 2025

The Ontario Pork Congress (OPC) took place on October 20, 2020, at the Arden Park Hotel in Stratford, Ontario, with over 50 attendees. At the event, Arnold Drung, President of Conestoga Meats, was honoured with the . Drung has been a dedicated supporter of the OPC for over 23... Read this article online

BF logo

It's farming. And it's better.

 

a Farms.com Company

Subscriptions

Subscriber inquiries, change of address, or USA and international orders, please email: subscriptions@betterfarming.com or call 888-248-4893 x 281.


Article Ideas & Media Releases

Have a story idea or media release? If you want coverage of an ag issue, trend, or company news, please email us.

Follow us on Social Media

 

Sign up to a Farms.com Newsletter

 

DisclaimerPrivacy Policy2025 ©AgMedia Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Back To Top