Peapod| Food for Thought
Awards & Nominations
Peapod has received the following awards and nominations. Way to go!
Food for Thought
Terrashare
Summary
COVID-19 has exacerbated food loss as a result of wasted surplus food produced by farms. This project aims to connect farmers with excess food to volunteers who can deliver it to people in need.
How We Addressed This Challenge
Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, the food supply chain has come to a standstill, leaving farmers with excess inventory due to a lack of demand. Despite growing unemployment in New York and closed schools, food loss is at an all-time high, costing less to dispose of it than to donate due to transportation costs. In April 2020, farmers were forced to dump 3.7 million gallons of milk per day. With TerraShare, we connect farmers with local volunteers who are ready and willing to pick up food and deliver them to those in need. Using cropland data produced via NASA Earth observations data, the product intends to apply the categorization of food to get more data on the types of food that are being most wasted based on how many people are buying excess of a particular crop. One trip at a time we’ll help end the growing hunger in New York and get through this time as a community.
How We Developed This Project
The number of food-insecure households has grown exponentially since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic; many individuals have no income to feed their families due to rising unemployment levels, while the amount of food loss that farms are experiencing is steadily increasing. Our team was inspired to develop a product that could bridge the gap between these three pressing issues by allowing the affected communities to work together symbiotically.
Using cropland data produced via NASA Earth observations data, the product intends to apply the categorization of food to get more data on the types of food that are being most wasted based on how many people are buying excess of a particular crop.
To better understand the needs of individuals in the farming community, we researched the shocks that supply/demand chains have experienced during the pandemic, local food banks in the tri-state area, additional food loss and waste due to the stay-at-home order.
We then used Miro, a collaborative whiteboard platform to create a graphic representation of farmers and the most pressing concerns they’re currently facing. Armed with this information, we created a persona to inform our design direction, brainstormed possible solutions, and sketched out key concepts and features. We decided to move forward with a mobile application, as mobile phones have been widely adopted and accessible in recent years.
Using Figma and Sketch, popular wireframing tools, we mapped out important points in the navigation process and developed key screens to represent those tasks. To add a semblance of realism to the collection of screens, we discussed three different style directions and color palettes in order to invoke feelings of community and collaboration. Merging elements from two of the designs, we refined the key screens, adding colors, fonts, and images to bring it to life.
Through this experience, we achieved tackling a wicked problem through rigorously applying design thinking principles for a highly pertinent challenge exacerbated by COVID-19. Our team is proud to have dedicated our time and expertise to developing one of many potential ideas to address the impacts of COVID-19 on food security. This has inspired us to continue to apply our work and knowledge to help solve problems with a social impact. We know we’ve only scratched the surface of what we can do to help, and part of what we’ve learned in this experience is that there’s so much more to be resolved and questioned than meets the timeframe of the event.
Project Demo
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1imEnjfa8Ok-F57Ii9puQkSwzuQv9Ic8M?usp=sharing