The Altmark (rural districts of Stendal with 48 inhabitants / km² and Salzwedel with 38 inhabitants / km²) in the northern part of Saxony-Anhalt hosts a number of small-scale farms producing high-quality foods that are unique in composition and taste. In addition, the companies give excellent examples of resource-efficient management taking into account animal welfare. For the farms, however, it is very tedious to sell their products in their own farm shop and at weekly markets. With the help of digitization, however, customers and producers can be brought together across spatial and temporal boundaries, which opens up significant growth opportunities for small-scale farming.
The aim of the ORIENT project is to expand the online marketplace for the Stendal region for retail outlets (www.halloaltmark.de) by regionally produced food. For this, a method has to be found to offer also non-standardized products (such as a handmade cheese) and to satisfactorily handle the deal for both the seller and the customer. In addition, a logistics system has to be developed, which picks up the goods from the producers and, if possible, brings them directly to the customers without intermediate storage. Meanwhile, the cooling of the goods must be ensured.
