Online Service Matches Schools, Local Growers in California

Ag Link, an online company that matches farmers with school districts looking to buy food for their cafeterias, has already have signed up 15 districts and 13 farmers around Central California, reports the Modesto Bee. Recently, the service brokered the delivery of some 2,000 apples from a local farm to Turlock USD, helping the district meet new federal requirements for fresh fruits and vegetables at the cost of around 17 cents a apple, or less than half the cost of fruit from regular channels. Ag Link already provides about 30 percent of the fresh fruits and vegetables for Turlock USD and that could double, says Child Nutrition Director Scott Soiseth.

AgLink charges a transaction fee of four percent of the dollar total to the farmer and 2.5 percent to the school, the Bee reports.