Local food, shared through people you trust

GrowOperative

Grow. Share. Eat.

You have more zucchini than you can eat. Someone three doors down has eggs. GrowOperative helps gardeners and neighbors move surplus food through people they already trust. No cash changes hands in the app, and no stranger sees your listing.

Download on theApp Store Get it forAndroid

Or try the web demo first

Three steps

How GrowOperative works

How mutual credit works

Post your surplus

Extra tomatoes, too much kale, eggs you cannot use. Post it in the app in under a minute. Only your trusted contacts see it.

It travels through people you trust

Your neighbors can pass it along to their own contacts. Friends of friends, and no further than the chain of trust reaches.

Settle it however you like

The app records what is owed and nothing more. Cash, a jar of preserves, a hand with the fence. You and your neighbor decide.

Phone, tablet, or browser

Any neighborhood, anywhere

GrowOperative runs on iOS, Android, and any web browser. It works wherever a few people trust each other: a street, a small town, friends spread across a valley.

GrowOperative on a phone: the Available list, with neighbors' produce grouped by grower

Five pounds of tomatoes

What it looks like in practice

Mia5 lbChrisAnaJordanValue moves friend to friend. Nobody deals with a stranger.

Mia has five pounds of extra tomatoes. She posts them, visible only to her trusted contacts.

Chris sees it. His friends Ana and Jordan each want some. Chris asks Mia for all five pounds on behalf of the group.

Mia accepts. Chris picks up, then hands off to Ana and Jordan. Neither of them sees the other's share.

The ledger records who owes whom. Ana and Jordan settle with Chris, Chris settles with Mia. In cash or in kind, that is up to them.

Read about the ledger

Not another marketplace

How it is different

Farmer's markets

Works digitally, through people you already know. No stalls, no vendors, no fixed hours.

Food banks

Not charity. Value moves both ways, and a shared ledger keeps everyone accountable.

Barter groups

No need to find a direct match. Value flows along trust paths and is logged as it goes.

Selling apps

Your listing stays private. Only your contacts see it, and only they can pass it on.

Delivery platforms

No middlemen. Neighbors hand off to neighbors, and reputation builds from real use.

Still have questions?

Read the FAQ Garden sharing

Get the app and add one neighbor

That is the whole start. One person you already trust, and something you have too much of.

Download on theApp Store Get it forAndroid

All download optionsUse it in the browserTry the demo