Foothills Connect

Tim Will retired from a career as a telecommunications systems analyst when he moved to Rutherfordton, NC at age 58. It was the film, The Last of the Mohicans that inspired him. Captivated by the unspoiled beauty, he left Miami and headed to the Appalachian Mountains.

He was surprised to learn that due to its rural nature, more that 85% of Rutherford County had no access to high speed Internet. Working with Foothills Connect Business and Technology Center, and the help of a $1.5 million grant, he wired the county with broadband and started connecting farmers to restaurants and individual consumers in the area with a specially designed online Farmers Fresh Market. For his efforts, Will was awarded the Purpose Prize, which recognizes people who use the “second chapter” of their lives to benefit others in innovative ways.

Will is very passionate about what he does. He’s convinced it’s not big factories that are going to revive this economically challenged part of the state, but small businesses called farms. While Rutherford County may lack in jobs, it has plenty of farmland. Six thousand families own between 5 and 20 acres of land and Will sees that land as the county’s richest resource.

The idea behind the Farmers Fresh Market system is to provide fresh, locally grown food to consumers while allowing farmers to see larger profit margins. The system reduces administration time for farmers and streamlines the transportation process. Foothills provides pick-up and delivery on a local route, enabling them to move more produce to more locations than individual growers could manage by themselves.

Will’s epiphany on how to reinvent the food distribution system was quite serendipitous. When he moved to Rutherford County he learned that his cousin was a chef 70 miles away in Charlotte. When they met up Will told him he thought it was strange that there was so much vacant farmland where he lived but nobody farming it. His cousin complained about how hard it was to get fresh food. Typically 90 percent of all the food takes two weeks to get through the system. It was that conversation that made Will realize there was supply and demand, but there needed to be a better system to connect buyers and sellers. He was able to recruit a roster of restaurants willing to add local produce to their menu and he persuaded farmers to grow unfamiliar items like Shitake mushrooms and heirloom tomatoes. Within two years he had 70 farmers enrolled.

When it comes to the industrialized farm system in the U.S., Will doesn’t have many positive things to say. He believes it’s wasteful and inefficient. He says what’s been developed since World War II is a hierarchical and petro-chemically dependent food system that is extremely vulnerable especially as gas prices continue to rise.

Will could have moved to Rutherford County and just sat back and enjoyed his retirement. Instead he looked around, saw a need and got to work. Another four million dollar grant is allowing him to spread the Foothills Connect model to Rockingham, Stokes Caswell, Guilford and Forsyth counties.