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And a Burke County farm has already jumped onboard.

Red Hen app was launched in late June in Newport, Virginia, by its CEO and Co-Founder Lauren Lovejoy and Co-Founder and President Brett Burton. It is essentially an online farmers market with a mission to connect people with small farms in their area.

“In a moment when many farms are struggling to keep up with the demands of modern commerce, Red Hen makes it simple to buy fresh food directly from farmers,” a release from the company said. “The app is built to make it as easy to shop from farms as it is to order from your favorite grocery store app.”

People using the app can browse by product, pickup/delivery option, or farm certification, and check out with just a few taps, the release said.

Burton said farmers wanting to sell on the app can download the Red Hen app for farmers and they will be prompted to create a new account. The app will walk them through the process, including entering their farm name, farm details such as the address, dropping a pin on the map and uploading their product(s) and any certifications or registrations they might have, such as USDA organic, he said.

As for the benefit for customers, Burton said there are a lot of farms that have local food available direct to customer, but they don’t build their own websites. The app is a new way to access what farms are in the customer’s area. And customers can shop with multiple farms at a time through the app, he said.

The app has launched in all 50 states and already has around 2,000 app users, with 200 farms selling on it and another 500 that have signed up but haven’t uploaded their products yet, Burton said.

A Burke County farm is one of the 200 already selling on the app.

Derrick and Lauren Minor own Flat Gap Farm LLC in the South Mountains area of Connelly Springs. The state-certified 23-acre farm that started during the COVID-19 pandemic currently sells pasture-raised poultry.

Derrick Minor said his farm is involved with Grow NC through the North Carolina Department of Agriculture, as well as ASAP (Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project), and is a member of the American Pastured Poultry Producers Association.

He said Red Hen contacted him to see if he would be interested in joining even before it was launched.

“You know, with anything, you’re kind of hesitant, because it’s tough when you’re a small family farm trying to compete against your big box stores because we cannot mass produce to get our costs down lower than what you would go to Food Lion or Walmart or anything like that,” Minor said. “But I felt like this was an outlet for us to be able to reach more people within our area.”

The chickens raised on the farm are moved twice a day in their chicken tractors so they get fresh grass and are fed a non-GMO feed to supplement them, Minor said.

Minor said Red Hen gets a small percentage of his sales. For him, it is worth it, Minor said.

Even though Flat Gap Farm is on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube, Red Hen is another way to get the farm noticed and to generate business, he said.

Minor said all of their inventory is on the app as well as their prices, and customers can order through the app.

Customers can pick up their order at the farm or the farm can meet up at another location to deliver the product, Minor said.

“We’ve had customers from as far as Tennessee come,” Minor said.

While Minor admits they can’t compete with the pricing of mass-produced poultry, he thinks there is a market to sell to people who are concerned about how their meat is produced.

“These birds have been cared for. They’re out on grass. They’re not in cages, they’re outside. They get fresh grass and bugs. They get to scratch around like chickens need to do,” Minor said. “And like I did say, we have a high protein, non-GMO feed that we provide them (to) supplement, with clean water every day.”

He said his farm is not organic but is as close to it as possible through their feed and care of the birds.

“And that’s really kind of what’s our pride in our producing these chickens,” Minor said.

He said his farm isn’t on a busy road or in an area that gets foot traffic. The app is another way to get their product to the public, he said.

“I think this gives a small farmer like us the opportunity to reach a broader client base, because we have Facebook, but if you’re not following us on Facebook, you don’t know we exist,” Minor said.

Visit an app store to get the Red Hen app or visit online at .

You can visit Flat Gap Farm at , @flatgapfarm or at ? mibextid=LQQJ4d.