Michael Ray Robinov grew up as the son of a food entrepreneur, a weekly Union Square farmers market participant, and a student at a school where kids were taught out of textbooks they helped write and produce. After starting his first year of college in 2012, he left this past summer to found and run a food company, Farm To People.
A business that seems designed around Robinov's creativity, food fascination, and passion for social good, he and his founding partner sell and deliver a range of crafted products made by Northeast-based farmers. We spoke to him recently about the inspirations around Farm to People, and today's challenges of starting a food business.

Q: What are you doing with Farm To People?
Michael: We’re trying to create a regional hub for small producers who make things in small batches with natural ingredients, without genetically modified ingredients. We want to go back to the way things were--and should be--created.
All of our meats and cheeses come from healthful, pasture-raised animals. All of our products are crafted in small batches, by hand, with purposeful ingredients. Our producers are really conscious of what they put in their products. We want to provide a platform for our local community of makers.
The other thing I want to achieve with Farm to People is higher transparency. Knowing where your food comes from. When you buy a can of tomatoes in a supermarket today, all you know is that the tomatoes come from Italy...or California. With Farm to People, we want people to know exactly where the food is coming from and who is actually making it. You can even contact the makers personally! None of our makers are huge companies from someplace where you're hitting a long chain of command and from whom you probably can't get a straight answer. Most of our producers are 1-2 employee companies where you can get right to the source.
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