Gowanus should be the Dumbo of food tech: Farmigo CEO Benzi Ronen [PHOTOS]

Dumbo has the most tech companies per block of any neighborhood in Brooklyn.  Benzi Ronen, CEO and cofounder of Farmigo, wants to see the same concentration in Gowanus, but for food companies.

That’s why he’s moved his company from Dumbo to Gowanus, into an epic new open space inside the Gowanus Industrial Arts Complex. Photos below.

“We think New York is perfect for food and tech startups,” Ronen told us. He’s an Internet veteran with previous experience at SAP, Microsoft and Netscape.

Ronen told us that they have about 25 people working in the Brooklyn facility, though most of their developers are abroad. At first, the company focused on creating software for small farmers and those facilitating local food economies. The vision has expanded in the last year or so into building what Ronen calls “economies of community.”

The basic idea is that organizers in low density communities agree to be the collection point for a la carte local foods. If you’ve ever been part of a CSA, you know it’s a bit of a nightmare. You never know what you’re going to get. It’s too much of everything — especially lettuce and potatoes.

Farmigo makes it possible to have that same CSA experience, but control what’s in your box every week. It also cuts out the middle man, which Ronen argues yields savings for the consumer.

In a lot of ways, the company is a suburban solution for what Good Eggs is doing in urban areas. “Basically, what we’re doing is replacing infrastructure with technology,” Ronen said.

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