Virtual Farmers Market

采购、建造和启用虚拟农贸市场，以一种新颖的、24/7的方式向农村社区供应安全和可持续的当地生产的食品。取代因新型冠状病毒疫情而失去的农贸市场设施，为社区提供服务，并为当地食品生产商提供宝贵的收入来源。该项目利用现代技术和最先进的自动售货机，将其安置在小屋内，为当地食品生产商和当地社区提供直接渠道。它提供了一个“全时开放”的解决方案，符合社交距离的协议，并以最小的干预，为零售许多从小到大的食品提供了一个清洁和安全的环境，包括但不限于新鲜和冷冻肉类，季节性蔬菜，奶酪和乳制品。作为一种商业模式，它被认为是可复制的整个英国，因此成功证明这一概念将导致进一步的项目机会。从项目开始宣传后，我们又有十个农民/生产者要求加入VFM。此外，还进行了一项客户/社区调查，结果显示对农产品的需求比我们预期的要大得多。因此，该项目的延期解决了两个关键的影响领域：第一，扩大现有产品的数量和提供的服务设施，第二，将当地生产商的数量从11个增加到至少21个。

The procurement, build and commissioning of a Virtual Farmers Market for safe and sustainable locally produced food supplied to the rural community in a novel, 24/7 way. Replacing the farmers market facility, lost to Covid 19, which provided a service to the community and a valuable revenue stream to local food producers.This project uses modern technology and state of the art vending machines housed in a cabin to provide a direct conduit between local food producers and the local community. It provides an 'open-all-hours' solution which meets the protocols of social distancing and, with minimal intervention, provides a clean and safe environment for retailing a number of small to large foodstuffs including, but not exclusively, fresh and frozen meats, seasonal vegetables, cheese and dairy produce.As a business model it is conceived as being replicable throughout the UK and therefore successful proving of this concept will lead to further project opportunities.Following publicity from the start of the project we have had demand from ten additional farmers/producers to join in the VFM. Further a customer/community survey was undertaken which revealed a much greater demand for produce than we anticipated. Therefore this extension to the project addresses two critical areas of impact:Firstly, expanding the number of products available and the service facilities provided and, secondly, increasing the number of local producers from eleven to a minimum of twenty one.