Local Dirt Wins DEMOgod Award

On September 22, 2009, Local Dirt launched nationally at the DEMO conference in San Diego, California. Heather Hilleren, CEO of Local Dirt and founder of Hevva LLC, and Raif Barbaros, CTO of Local Dirt, gave a six minute presentation that was watched by 230,000 people via live-stream.

The Fall DEMO conference offered a unique opportunity to officially launch Local Dirt, which was previously in beta testing. According to the DEMO website, “In 1991, Stewart Alsop changed the technology conference circuit by instituting a new event with new rules: DEMO would be about the products; would require timed, live demonstrations; and would not allow PowerPoint presentations! These rules still stand and, in recognition of the difficulty of communicating the power and value of emerging technologies on stage in a short 360 seconds, DEMO producers honor outstanding presentations by selecting DEMOgods.”

We are happy to announce that Local Dirt was chosen as a DEMOgod winner for our grass-roots approach to local food, our unique solution to linking sellers to buyers, and our passionate and informative DEMO presentation. Check out our full six minute presentation in the above clip! At the DEMO website, you can also watch the judges’ discussion and DEMOgod award ceremony. Going into DEMO, we knew that Local Dirt was something special. But gaining international recognition for what we do is truly an honor.

Local Dirt has been making the news, too. An article on Venture Beat states that, “The refrain that the industrial food system is broken gets louder by the day. With bestsellers like Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma decrying large-scale farms, and organic food now an $18.3 billion industry, Local Dirt wants to tap into demand for local and eco-conscious food.”

CNET News discusses Local Dirt’s presence at DEMO and reflects on the local food movement. The articles notes that, “While individuals are important buyers in the local food economy, those who can get the greatest advantage from the platform are larger buyers: grocery stores, schools, hospitals, and the like. That’s why buyers can also search for food that can be delivered to such institutions.” It concludes that, “Ultimately, Local Dirt is meant as a way for every participant in the ecosystem–the farmers, the buyers and the sellers–to find the best way possible of getting what they need from the local food market.”

Not only was our experience at DEMO a huge success, it’s helping to grow Local Dirt from the ground up. What more could we ask for?