Rooted Farmers

There are some things you can only truly understand if you’re a farmer or leading a food or flower hub: how quickly weather can shift availability, how many phone calls it takes to fill a single order, and how impossible it can feel to scale a business when sales depend more on spreadsheets and emails than onthe quality of your product. That’s exactly why Rooted Farmers exists, and the problem their team set out to change.

We sat down with Rooted’s founder, Amelia Ihlo, to talk about how Rooted grew into a leading platform for small and mid-size growers and hubs looking to sell their products. Built by farmers, for farmers, Rooted simplifies the entire process of connecting with buyers—from managing inventory to processing orders—so producers can focus on what they love most. Today, nearly 10,000 farms, hubs, and wholesale buyers across the country rely on Rooted to strengthen local food and floriculture systems and scale their businesses in ways that simply weren’t possible before.

FROM FARMER TO FOUNDER
The idea for Rooted was born out of necessity. Amelia grew up in a farming community, worked on farms in college, and later returned to agriculture when she and her family moved to rural New Hampshire, where she launched her own flower farm. She saw that the Boston market was hungry for local product, but realized no single farm could meet demand. As a result, she rallied nearby growers to form a hub and, within six months, their manual systems reached capacity. Even together, they couldn’t meet the needs. Why? Inefficiency.

“We’d maxed out, not because of a lack of product or demand—there was tons of demand for what we were growing—but our systems created this artificial ceiling,” Amelia explains. “We were using antiquated tools like availability lists and Google Forms. It kept us from scaling.”

That ceiling became the start of Rooted Farmers. Together, Amelia and her team built a digital marketplace that made it simple for buyers to browse producers’ inventory and place orders with ease. Almost immediately, buyer spending doubled and then tripled. The success confirmed what Amelia suspected: the platform solved all the communication challenges and made ordering effortless. If it could solve the issues for her local hub, it was clear the problem wasn’t local; it was systemic, and the solution could help growers and hubs everywhere.

A PLATFORM THAT SCALES WITH FARMERS
Today, Rooted Farmers allows farms and hubs to create their own online storefronts, aggregate products, manage inventory, and fulfill orders seamlessly. Beyond that, it provides powerful, automated analytics that help producers track performance and make informed decisions. However, it’s more than just a tool, it’s a marketplace and a community, where growers come together to sell more collectively than they ever could alone.

“What we’ve seen validated again and again across the country is that when farms and hubs come together in a network, everyone ends up selling more than they could individually,” Amelia says. “The key reason is simple: from a buyer’s perspective, you’ve just made their life easier.”

PARTNERING WITH SEASONAL HARVEST
Rooted’s growth has been shaped by its close partnerships with farms and hubs nationwide, including Seasonal Harvest, which joined Rooted’s pilot program in 2023.

“We began working with Seasonal through a USDA-NIFA program focusing on food,” Amelia recalls. “Sheri and Bridget from Seasonal Harvest were direct, provided valuable feedback, and brought a unique model to the table. We clicked immediately.”

As a pilot user, Seasonal Harvest played a critical role in refining Rooted’s food-focused tools, testing features in real-time, and offering feedback that shaped the platform’s evolution.

“Our approach from the beginning was to start with the users, the farms and hubs, and really understand how to build a system that supports what they need most,” Amelia says. “Seasonal Harvest was a huge part of that. Their feedback throughout design, buildout, and launch has been invaluable.”

SHARED MISSION, LASTING IMPACT
What makes the partnership especially meaningful is the shared mission. Both Rooted and Seasonal Harvest are committed to simplifying systems, preventing burnout, and supporting the longevity of farms and hubs.

“If we can ease the burden for farmers and hub managers, we’re strengthening the entire food system,” Amelia says. “When they thrive, our communities thrive.”

That vision is at the heart of everything Rooted does. From product design to customer support to time spent on the ground with growers, the company stays rooted in its farmer-first approach.

LOOKING AHEAD
Rooted Farmers is only just beginning. The platform is scaling far beyond its East Coast roots, bringing simplicity, connection, and growth opportunities to producers nationwide.

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“We’re really excited to see our impact continue to expand,” Amelia says. “Our mission is to make sure producers and hubs have a voice and the tools they need to do this important work. We’ll keep building the systems that support their longevity and let them focus on farming — the work they love most.

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For a glimpse at the platform, take a behind-the-scenes look at the video below.