Who We Work With

NeighbourFood believes that by supporting our local food producers we can: Promote positive relationships within communities, Live healthier lives, Grow circular mini-economies, create meaningful jobs, reduce our negative impacts on our environments (sometimes improve them) and all the while - taking more pleasure from the food we feed our families with.

On paper we build software but half of our time goes into building networks. Most software companies do not discern who they work with but for us, we believe that building software’s specifically for artisans can help support those already doing it and create space for more to emerge. We acknowledge how global economic decisions often come down to profits but when it comes to food, we firmly disagree. Quality and environmental impact must come first and that is not a debate.

Who we chose to work with and support is important to us. Each and every food producer is very different and classifying terms or rules becomes very difficult to quantify. We will do our best here!!

A NeighbourFood Producer is one who puts the quality of what they make, do, grow or sell before everything else. They work within their business as well as working on it. They also look at the wider community around them when making decisions, not just their bottom line.

NeighbourFood Producers create jobs within their communities that in turn boost the economies of where they are based.

Our farmers believe in treating soil and nature with the respect it deserves. They see not only what comes out of their farm as a measure of their success but how healthy their land is at the end of the day.

Not everything you will find on NeighbourFood is organic. NeighbourFood farmers vary in their philosophies and principles they practice but each of our farmers follow a version of what I have explained above. Some will describe their products as chemical free while others talk of regenerative farming. Clear labels are important to us but innovations in food are fast and experimental. There is no one-size-fits all, so please reach out to us or any particular producer you see on our site to have a chat about what they are selling - Those chats are the best part of our job.

NeighbourFood works with Artisans, from Ireland and abroad. When products are not available locally due to climate or season, we allow imported produce but from artisans in other countries.

Our ideal view of the world is that we can all survive and thrive on what’s available around us but unfortunately it is not realistic. Our hope with the imports we permit to be sold on NeighbourFood is we raise the overall quality of what is available to our customers which in turn will sell more of what’s produced locally.

Although we would be technically classified as a software development company, we see our responsibility as much more than that. We view the NeighbourFood Network of Producers as a lobbying group for change, advise and support. The NeighbourFood Podcast is a weekly release podcast that discusses topics around food production and general interest stories with the hope that we can further help explain what’s happening and available around us.

A small/medium size food producer is definitely in it for the love of it. They give their blood, sweat and tears to keep getting food out to their loyal customers. Running a business evolves day by day and selling channels, environmental health and food safety protocols, book keeping and accounting, business support grants and so much more can be hard to keep a handle on. It is our hope with NeighbourFood that we can continue to support small businesses to free their time up to do what they love - making & selling food!