Farm HERO: Selling Produce CSAs to your Local COmmunity
Selling produce products directly from your Farm to your community allows you to supply Buyers with fresh fruit and vegetables, maintain a sustainable income and build relationships with your local customers. One produce Farm in Florida has become a stand out for their community, offering a range of hydroponic veggies, fruit, eggs, honey, microgreens & mushrooms and aquaculture products.
Using Barn2Door, the Farm could access a fully branded website and eCommerce to give Buyers convenient access to their products. With an organized system in place, the Farm now serves hundreds of Buyers and has secured over 6-figures in their farming operations.
Establishing a Local Customer Base
As an independent Farmer, it is crucial to create a brand that stands out to your potential base of Buyers. This Florida produce Farm offers a wide variety of products that their Buyers desire, they are active in their community, and hold educational events with local schools inviting customers to the Farm. Creating a local brand and offering Buyers an easy and convenient alternative to the grocery store has helped this Farm build a loyal customer base with ongoing, repeat orders.
The Farm takes advantage of its produce season (November - May) when choosing what to sell to Buyers. In the Off-Season, they focus on cover cropping, soil care, their chickens and fruit trees, remaining busy and continuing to sell to local Buyers. To encourage future purchases, the Farm focuses on offering premium customer service during their CSA season, surveying customers for their opinions and giving them a range of options to shop.
The Farm uses the Barn2Door + Mailchimp integration to segment and target various Buyer groups with biweekly newsletters. This keeps their business top-of-mind with customers. However, they see the most success with their in-person marketing efforts, using branded banners and QR codes that lead potential customers to their store. Being active in their community ensures that their Farm will attract new and existing CSA members.
Farmer’s Choice CSA Offerings
Offering a Farmer’s Choice CSA allows the Farm to choose seasonal, in-stock items to pair within a Subscription box. With a variety of produce, the Farm can pair popular, and lesser known items together, to ensure Buyers will receive what they want and new things to try. This streamlines their fulfillment day, as they can simplify the time and energy to pack, versus spending loads of time (and labor costs) individually tailoring every individual box. Instead, they give Buyers flexibility by offering different box types, such as seasonal mixes, microgreens, a salad box, or a mushroom share, with weekly and biweekly fulfillments in two different sizes.
You can have a plan, but be ready to be flexible because everything changes all the time. Keep your strategy the same, but be flexible.
- Florida Produce Farmer
The majority of the Farm’s sales are from their CSA boxes, and Buyers are typically eager to sign on year-after-year. They give customers the option to Add On an egg share to their CSA to increase the value per order and move more products per Buyer. Subscriptions have allowed the Farm to simplify its operations from planting to fulfillment. Harvesting bulk produce makes it much easier to package and sell Subscriptions rather than harvesting little by little to fit a given order, making Farmer’s Choice boxes ideal for the Farm.
Retaining Buyer Relationships
Retaining your local Buyers is crucial for an independent Farm operation. You want to build recurring revenue month over month and know that your Buyers are committed to pay a premium for your sustainable produce. This Florida Farm found that in-person interactions helped them build lasting relationships with local customers. Attending local events, inviting community members on Farm, and providing volunteer opportunities aided in making Buyers feel a personal connection with the Farm.
When people participate in events on Farm, it is common for individuals to post on social media, tag the Farm, and increase their brand awareness and audience reach. This allows the Farm to access free marketing and attract potential Buyers they may have never met. To help retain customers, the Farm will message them after CSA season to better understand their preferences, get feedback and see what changes may need to be made with the next season. This conveys to Buyers that they value their opinion and helps cement a loyal relationship. The Farm also shares recipes and tips on their website to help make customers more comfortable with the produce they purchase and encourage them to try new products.
Conclusion
Selling produce directly to your community requires a strong, loyal relationship with local Buyers. This Florida Farm understands that they must provide customers with healthy, sustainable products, consistently market and give Buyers a convenient way to shop to build that relationship. Providing CSA members with a variety of products and encouraging them to cook and try new items helps improve customer retention, and contributes to the Farm’s success.
Barn2Door offers software for Independent Farmers to create and promote their brand, sell online and in-person, and save time managing their business. If you’re curious to learn more, watch this 5-minute video.