A Market That Trades With Itself
A proposal for a commitment pool among vendors at the Easthampton Farmers Market
How It Works Get in touch
Commitment Pooling is a protocol based on ancient practices and traditions of resource coordination that enables communities to create and share value through pooled commitments, rather than only scarce money. In this exchange model, we are the borrowers and we are the bank.
At a farmers market, this allows vendors to trade with each other using the value they already bring, without needing cash for every exchange. Each vendor creates their own voucher, essentially a gift card for their own goods. Those vouchers go into a shared pool, and members can swap for what they need and redeem it with the vendor who offers it. No money is required, as each voucher is backed by the vendor's commitment to fulfill their offerings.
You could think of it as a modern, trackable version of something vendors already do informally: bartering and helping each other out. It moves past the main limitation of barter, which is needing a perfect match at the same moment. Here, exchanges can happen across the whole group and over time, so a vendor can give something today and get what they need later, from someone else entirely.
An old idea, made easy to keep track of
None of this is new. Communities all over the world have pooled their commitments to get through the season together, from rotating work groups in Kenya to barn raisings here in New England. This model was created by Will Ruddick and Grassroots Economics, who noticed the relational, trust-based patterns of coordination and care in the Kenyan communities where he lives and works, and traced them back to ancestral traditions of reciprocal exchange found across cultures around the world.
What I’m proposing
A small, opt-in pilot among interested vendors at the Easthampton Farmers Market. It isn’t running yet. I’m gathering a starting group of about 5–8 vendors to launch it together, and I’ll handle the day-to-day.
The market exists to support small local farmers and keep our regional food economy strong. Commitment pooling is aimed at exactly that: keeping local resources, production, and value circulating in our community, and making that circulation more resilient.
Vendor-to-vendor trading is the seed. Down the road, shoppers and neighbors could put cash into the pool and get credit to spend across the market, so those dollars keep circulating among local producers instead of leaving after a single sale.
Who I am
I’m Rob Hurwich. I work at the intersection of systems design, regenerative economics, and collaborative technology, building tools for mutual aid, mutual credit, and community exchange, including as a core team member at Arcos Network. I’ve worked directly with Will and the Grassroots Economics team on product design. I’ve lived in the Pioneer Valley since 2011 and have been coming to this market for years.
Take a look around
- How It Works How the pool would work at our market, and what’s in it for you. Read more
- Getting Started The plan for launching, and the ways to take part. See the plan
- FAQ Honest answers to the questions people ask most. Read the FAQ
- Contact Want to be one of the first, or just curious? Get in touch. Get in touch
A commitment pooling pilot in formation, Easthampton, MA
An independent proposal to vendors. Not an official program of the Easthampton Farmers Market.