On March 4, the Rhode Island Fruit Growers Association hosted their annual meeting at the Rhode Island Farm Bureau offices. Market Mobile Program Director Cayne Cabral presented an overview of Market Mobile and its parent organization, Farm Fresh RI.
The organization’s inspiration came from a 2004 undergraduate thesis by Brown University student Louella Hill. Hill’s passion to connect local food producers to local “eaters” originally took the form of a local foods market in Providence.
The following year, she and a fellow student created an online database to help eaters find locally grown foods more easily.
Over the past two decades, Farm Fresh RI has grown into a nationally recognized nonprofit with over 50 full-time and seasonal employees and five distinct programs: Farmers Markets; Farm-to-School and Community Education; Harvest Kitchen; Hope’s Harvest; and Market Mobile.
Market Mobile, according to Cabral, seeks to become a “one-stop shop for all local foods,” including fresh produce, meats, cheese and yogurt. A key feature of Market Mobile’s success is its online ordering platform.
Each week, participating farmers list the products they have for sale and the price of each product. Produce, both unprocessed and semi-processed, make up the majority of sales.
Twice a week, buyers can go online and place their orders. Wholesale buyers (including schools, hospitals and universities) generate 90% of sales, but residential customers and hunger relief organizations can also use the platform.
Cayne Cabral, program director for Farm Fresh RI’s Market Mobile, explains how the program benefits local farmers and eaters. Photo by K. Castrataro
Farmers receive an email notification of the orders and bring their product to a central packing facility in Providence. Farm Fresh RI staff assemble the customers’ orders and deliver them throughout Rhode Island and the Boston area. This year, they intend to include eastern and central Connecticut as well.
Market Mobile runs on a free market approach, which provides both farmers/producers and buyers with a great deal of choice. Buyers can select products based on price or their preferred producers. They can buy from as many different vendors as they wish at one time.
On the producer side, Cabral noted, “Farmers have full autonomy over the pricing.” That autonomy includes the opportunity to set different prices based on the outlet: retail, wholesale or hunger relief.
The system has provided local food producers with a multi-million-dollar market that would otherwise be virtually inaccessible. In 2024, Market Mobile facilitated $4.2 million in sales for 147 farmers and local food producers. Producers received 80% of that total. Farm Fresh RI kept the remaining 20% to cover administrative fees.
Market Mobile is not just a sales platform, however. Each week, the program aims to promote the specific farms that supply product.
Farm Fresh RI’s programs rely heavily on government funding, and they are already feeling the impact of the current administration’s executive orders freezing such funding. For 2025, Farm Fresh RI has had $2.4 million revoked that was allocated to supply K-12 schools with local food.
Federal funding also helps support Bonus Bucks. This program allows recipients of the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to spend double the amount of their SNAP benefits at Farm Fresh RI’s farmers markets. The future of that program is still uncertain.
Even without federal funding, however, Farm Fresh RI remains committed to supporting the local food system. Market Mobile will continue facilitating sales for the region’s producers – and meeting consumers’ hunger for local food.
Learn more at FarmFreshRI.org.
by Kristen M. Castrataro
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