Website brings farm to table and also to your smartphone

KELOWNA – A Kelowna-based website is making it easier for people interested in supporting local businesses to find their soil mate.

Soil Mates is a website that, using the GPS on your phone, displays nearby breweries, farms, markets and wineries.

“Local farmers, raisers and producers are central to this and Soil Mate is working with them to develop tools and products to help market local farms,” according to the website. “The aim is to allow communities easy access to know what their local farmers grow, how they grow it, and when we can get it. Soil Mate aims to close the loop, making farmers more accessible and prominent in communities and keeping consumers more informed of their available choices.”

The main page of the site opens to an interactive map of all the local attractions near you, but there is also a way for users to rate food and drink producers that aren’t included as well.

The site is free to use and only requires you set up a short profile.

Company founder and Kelowna local Matt Gomez recently won the Best Concept Award at the annual Small Business B.C. Awards.

“Soil Mate is an organization looking to push forward the local food and drink message,” the website reads. “We believe that it is essential to all aspects of health, community and sustainability that we reconnect with the origins of our food and drink, and understand how and where it is grown, and by whom. The message is simple: know your farmer, know your food.”

To contact the reporter for this story, email Adam Proskiw at aproskiw@infotelnews.ca or call 250-718-0428. To contact the editor, email mjones@infotelnews.ca or call 250-718-2724.