Ocean Group / Local Harvest

Ocean Group is a Web development firm based in Santa Cruz, California, whose primary mission is to bring the benefits of Open Source software to the non-profit community. Ocean Group has been building Web Infrastructure since 1996, and has built over the years a wide library of software components tailored to the needs of non-profit organizations.

The FoodRoutes Network chose Ocean Group for the development of the FoodRoutes.org Web site due to Ocean Group's excelent engineering and track record of successful projects, and their experience with and commitment to the world of Sustainable Agriculture. Ocean Group developed, hosts, and maintains this Web site.

LocalHarvest is a not-for-profit venture of Ocean Group, built with the goal of creating and growing a definitive and reliable "living" public directory of small farms, and other socially and environmentally responsible food sources nationwide. This directory is used by LocalHarvest and its partner organizations for helping people develop relations with food producers in their local areas, helping farmers develop new markets, and providing tools for Sustainable Agriculture groups to manage their memberships and provide various services to their constituents.

An integral part of the Ocean Group vision and culture is a commitment to developing technology for non-profits. The people at Ocean Group believe in the importance of using their talents and time to benefit the social and environmental causes to which they are devoted.

Through its work with the non-profit sector, Ocean Group intends to become a model of what corporations can do to support progressive causes. Moreover, Ocean Group hopes that these collaborations will provide these organizations with effective means of amplifying their work, to the benefit of their social or environmental cause and the world at large.