Connecting Local Farmers with their Communities with Jillian Childs, Florida Farm Finder
In this episode of the Direct Farm Podcast, we're thrilled to host Jillian Childs, Founder of Florida Farm Finder. Listen as Jillian shares the evolution of Florida Farm Finder, turning a Facebook group into a platform - connecting Floridians with their local Farmers.
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Rory: 0:26
Welcome to the Direct Farm Podcast. I'm Rory, your host. We've got a great conversation for you today with Florida Farm Finder. Florida farm finder is an online community where customers can find farmers to buy from in their area and farmers can connect with other farmers. What started as a Facebook group has rapidly grown to thousands of members and now hosts a website and Ag focused events. I'm delighted to welcome Jillian Childs, the Founder of Florida Farm Finder. Welcome Jillian.
Jillian: 0:56
Hi, Rory, thanks so much for talking with me today.
Rory: 0:58
Thanks for being here. So for listeners who might not have heard of Florida Farm Finder yet, can you maybe share a little bit about how the organization started and kind of what your mission is today?
Jillian: 1:08
Sure. Absolutely. So, last year when the pandemic reared its ugly head and everything started to go a little bit sideways in April and May. There was a whole bunch of information out there about how much farmers were struggling, but there wasn't a lot to speak of in regards to how the public could help. I remember seeing those, those horrible images of crops being tilled under and perfectly viable food, just going completely to waste because there was no transportation and no backup for that system. And then you look into the comments for those. You know, news articles, wherever you found the information and it's just hundreds of people saying, Hey, we will buy that. Where can we find it? How can we get in touch with where are these crops? You know, we will help. And there was just a missed opportunity there where the consumer was willing to help, but they didn't know where to go. And then if you expand that just beyond that little emergency there in general, local access to farms in Florida isn't really something we talk about. For a lot of people the grocery store is as local as they can get, and we're lucky, you know, we have access to Publix, which is a great brand and does a lot to support Florida agriculture. But for a lot of people, when they move here, especially now with thousands and thousands of people moving here every day, there's not much more information beyond Publix or Winn-Dixie or Walmart when it comes to local. So we look to kind of expand that information and make it more available. So, I'm looking at this information. I've got everything in front of me, you know, I know there are farms out there I've spent the last several years connecting with locals in my area. I know these things are out there. What can I do to fix this problem? I created a Facebook group and originally I was just gonna throw some extra produce out there to see if my friends wanted to buy it. And I looked at the market around me here in Lakeland, and there was already seven or eight other people doing that, you know, I'm not going to jump into a crowded market like that. I said, Okay let's help other people find these markets. And it started out very small and it was just, Hey, you know, if you need fresh delivery in Winter Haven, here you go. And now we're statewide. You know, I just started sharing posts from all over the state from various farmers, whether they knew I existed or not, I was just, Hey, this is in Tallahassee. This is in Melbourne. This is in Palm beach. These are where they are. And eventually the farmers started to notice because they were getting tags saying, Hey, this person is sharing your stuff and they followed me into the group and we just slowly, but surely built the community into what it is today. And it's just people looking to connect with farmers and farmers looking to connect with people and it, it just works. It's amazing.
Rory: 4:00
That's awesome to hear. And just like, such as such a simple solution to a problem that was kind of in the way. But that it's kind of, that is grown so much out of that is awesome to hear.
Jillian: 4:09
You know, looking back at it now, it seems like such an obvious solution. Obviously there, you know, there are so many Facebook groups out there, but you know, you talk to people and they're like, this is something I've been waiting for forever. We get that reaction a lot. So it's a great solution. We're just trying to expand it and see where it goes.
Rory: 4:27
You are the founder of Florida Farm Finder. Could you maybe talk about your role there and what that entails?
Jillian: 4:33
Sure. Yeah. The joke behind it is that I am an agricultural cheerleader.
Rory: 4:38
Okay.
Jillian: 4:39
have a big mouth and a lot of words and an ability to bring people together. And that's just what I do right now. My role with Florida Farm Finder is everything. I am the mouthpiece of the group. I am the person answering the emails, the person answering the phone. It's just everything I do right now is Florida Farm Finder. So, I guess maybe a smaller list would be what I don't do. But yeah, I am, I am everything. I am the force behind Florida Farm Finder right now, as it stands, I have a great team of admins who support me on the Facebook side of things, keeping scammers and such out of the group. But as of right now, I am the end all be all.
Rory: 5:21
Obviously that does sound like a lot of work, a big mountain to climb. Could you maybe talk about especially, cause I think that's something our farmers can relate to is kind of building an audience from nothing I'm starting from scratch. So could you make me talk about how you're able to reach and grow your audience?
Jillian: 5:38
Sure. Demand I would say is probably my biggest piece of the momentum. Obviously there's a lot of demand for the information that we provide. So it does build itself a little bit, but you also have to provide consistent and constantly changing details in order to keep the engagement. I can earn a group member, but whether they continue to engage or not in the group is the question because everybody can join, but are you still actively using the group for information after the fact? So a big part of it is obviously demand for information. It's a free group. It's a public group. There's plenty of information in the group. So the demand is there. The second part of it is just cultivating a healthy, welcoming community. If you're not welcoming, if you're constantly being the bearer of bad news, that can be very draining, especially right now when the world is the way it is, you know, nobody wants more bad news. And in Florida, we have a very unique kind of balance between good news and bad news when it comes to agriculture because of a lot of the concerns that people have with water quality and where those issues stem from. And there's a lot of information and confusion. So it's hard to direct that conversation in a productive solutions based format. And I think that really helps just making sure that we have a consistent constant information source where people can feel like they can engage without being attacked is very important. So that definitely helps us grow. Other than that, honestly, it's just demand. People are so surprised that this kind of format is helpful. Nobody expects a Facebook group to really provide a marketplace support. They figure Facebook's already got a marketplace. What do we need that for? So it's kind of, that's an extra step.
Rory: 7:35
You have a background in event promotion. Could you maybe talk about how you've used that to influence some of your decisions with Florida Farm Finder and how you've used that experience to help it grow?
Jillian: 7:45
Sure. Yeah. So the last 7 or 8 years ago, I got together with a bunch of my homesteader friends and we put together a market or two or three actually Tampa area markets. And they were just small. Home-based Hey, let's bring the community together to celebrate my friends annual blueberry opening for his season and it just expanded from there. Being an event promoter and, and working hand in hand with small scale farms and the producers that they want to welcome into their networks, you know, obviously we're not going to have a lot of MLM. We're not going to have a lot of direct sale vendors. It means that I am fully educated in the small business scramble. You know, I understand that the morning of my market there very well may be, Hey, the cows got out, sorry. I can't come today. You know, I have a, I have a lot of empathy for the small business owner and the small farmer because those two things so frequently can cause chaos. Outside of the event promotion, I also ran a small vegetable co-op. Everything from sourcing to delivering was my hands on part of it. So I understand, you know, what the problems are where some of the pitfalls are and how to not correct them, but just slightly adjust. You know, you don't necessarily have to make big changes. You can just do little tiny things that will slowly make that change for you. So I have a lot of empathy. I have a lot of understanding as to the pitfalls of what modern day local agriculture looks like and where it comes from. I get the luxury of understanding all sides of the transaction. You know, I am a curious consumer. I don't know everything. I don't have 40 acres. I'm not the normal face of what regular people would consider agriculture. I am just a very concerned curious consumer who wants to know more. For me to jump into this very unique spot between large scale agriculture, small scale agriculture, and just being a consumer, it's a very unique position. I get to bring in a lot of strengths and some weaknesses. There's a lot of stuff I don't know.
Rory: 10:02
So you guys have a subscription box program actually through Florida Farm Finder. Could you maybe talk about what that is?
Jillian: 10:10
Absolutely. A little over a year ago, I come into contact with all these farmers. And you know, markets are closed at this point. Nobody's really sure in what direction we should go. And they're like, you know, we can't sell our goods. What do we do? And I said, well, you know, I've got some extra time. Maybe we can figure out a way to help you guys. Events were out of the question, but if you have a shelf stable, retail approved good, maybe we can put together some sort of a collection. My business partner, Kara came up with the crate idea, which was just fantastic. It allowed her to work her strengths as a curator, putting these cute little boxes with themed goods in them, from all over the state. So the crate collection is available quarterly and we work with between six and nine small vendors per crate. And it can be anything as long as it's shelf stable and retail approved, it could be soap, it could be hot sauce, it could be spices, it could be bodywash, shampoo bars, handmade goods, anything that we can fit into a, you know, crate sized box. We offer them in three sizes at a starting price of $35 all the way up to a much larger crate. The founder's crate, which is $75, but you're also purchasing in bulk. So there is some savings there. If you invest in a, in a founder size crate, you would be receiving more than a hundred dollars worth of goods for $75. So it gives us a chance to support a lot of smalls that maybe struggled with getting their product out last year. It helps people feel good about purchasing a dedicated, you know, that you're getting something locally focused. And you know that every single time. That's one of the biggest feedbacks we get about the crisis. I love that it's all local and it's not just teeny tiny starter size goods. So that that really helps. And the crates have been really, really popular, especially at the holidays. We've got our next crate coming out in December. That's going to be really, really big. I think people are going to be excited about that one. So it turned into just a cute little fun way to help people get their stuff out. And now it's, it's a huge thing. It's a huge endeavor.
Rory: 12:27
Yeah. That's and that's great to hear. Like you said, they're non-perishable goods, so you can purchase them even if you're not in the state of Florida. So if you're interested in that, you can find more information on those and purchase on the FloridaFarmFinder.com website. Earlier you kind of talked about the important part of growing your audience, being consistently kind of providing content for your audience to consume or to check out how is the subscription and kind of having something that is on a recurring schedule, how has that kind of been able to almost serve that role in a way to kind of have monthly updates, for example,
Jillian: 13:01
Sure. Our crates are quarterly. We tried monthly, but working with small business vendors and trying to give them as much of a margin as possible, we're not able to meet the price point that a monthly crate would require. So we did switch to quaterly permanently now at this point, and that's helping you know, our customers are really excited to get that surprise every month, it's something that they can feel really good about which is helpful. It definitely builds our brand as someone that provides consistent local goods. And it also, you know, right now everything is just kind of depressing and dark and it's really nice to open up that box and then put those goods in your bathroom or your kitchen or whatever you receive. And then look back at that product later and say, you know, somebody really special made that so that I could have it. Sure. It's a business model, but for me, the crates are more, a labor of love. You know, I'm not looking to become a millionaire off of small business products. You know, for me, it's mostly just people. I'm excited about small brands getting their name out. And I am excited about locals experiencing something that they may not have had access to previously. We've offered small businesses, the opportunity to upgrade their products so that we can fit them. Obviously cottage goods, we're not able to include those. So if you have a consistent cottage good, you're looking to upgrade. I can help you find someone who can help you move that product forward so we can put it in the crate. It's more, a growing process than a business model at this point. And I really think it helps bring everything together.
Rory: 14:40
That's really cool. Another question I had for you is, do you guys tell customers beforehand what's going to be in the box?
Jillian: 14:47
So we have an option a spoiler blog that is released usually about 30 days after sales open up, that way. We're actually almost 50, 50 split. Some people love the surprise. Some people money's a little bit tighter and they can't really make that decision without more information. So we do provide a spoiler blog every quarter. It usually sales open and about 30 days later, we provide the blog and people are like, oh, okay. That's what's in there. That's cool. Great. Yeah. Sign me up. You know, a lot of people, the subscription, the subscription people almost never verify the contents of the box. So some of them very dedicated to the surprise and would be so angry if I mentioned even a word about it. And some of them require much more information in order to make the purchase, but are still equally thrilled.
Rory: 15:35
Well, and that's, that's cool though, that you guys kind of provide both options in a way to be able to satisfy both audiences. That's a great idea. So could you maybe talk about and maybe you've already touched on this a little bit, if you have any more on kind of some of your primary tactics for growing the Florida farm finder brand, and maybe kind of what you've learned through that process of growth?
Jillian: 15:55
Sure. Early on, I think originally it was just uncontrolled growth. As people found the group and interacted with it. We are completely public. We're not a private group, so we get a lot of outside exposure as people interact with us. So part of it is understanding that, okay, you know, I can share this post about GMOs, or I can share this post about water quality, or I can share this post about some other major high click, you know, engaging content that I might might understand gets us the eyeballs, but it does it attract the kind of person that we are looking for in the group, you know, we're very solutions focused. If you come in to just rant about the state of modern day agriculture. It's not really the place for you. We are looking for people who are interested in supporting the smaller scale side. So you have to be very careful about what you share and the message that it puts out because if you're solutions based and you're just throwing out content just to throw out content and get the likes and get the shares and get the information. It doesn't seem to be as sustainable. You don't hold on to that engagement that I talked about earlier. If you just follow that crowd, you need to find people who are also solutions oriented. The message that you send is very important and that's definitely something that I've had to whittled down over. If you scroll major Ag pages, they get a lot of feedback good and bad, but maybe our audience in particular, isn't quite interested in that, you know, is that where we're getting our negative feedback from? Are we getting a lot of unfollow? Are we getting a lot of unlike or leaving the group? You have to pay attention to what you post and the ripple effect of what you post it's very important. And you also have to sell your product. That is something that I have. Really really noticed in the last year is that you can post all day long about, you know, the, the goats that make the cheese. But if you don't actually post the cheese, you're going to, you might struggle a little bit, you know? So you need to be consistent about what you're selling, if you are in fact, just a feel good homesteader page. That's great. You know, you're not trying to turn likes into dollars, but if you are consistently trying to turn likes into dollars, you have to be a business. You have to come across as a business. That is very important. You have to look like a business and for some people that's a little bit harder to shift into a delightful Facebook page into an actual business representing that brings in customers and constantly, you know, that's a little bit harder, especially for small scale producers.
Rory: 18:46
Yeah, definitely. And, and kind of keeping your messaging relevant to what's your, about what your farm does and then, yeah, like you said, making sure that you're not just posting fun posts or educational posts, but that's, you're, you're making sure to kind of drive that e-commerce too. By pushing people towards the sale as well.
Jillian: 19:03
You have to remember what you're selling. Yes, exactly.
Rory: 19:06
Could you maybe talk about some of the tactics and strategies that you're seeing farms in Florida implement that are helping them be successful and maybe stand out?
Jillian: 19:15
Sure. Florida specifically, but I think this goes for all farms in general, on Facebook and any kind of social media, adding your location to a post is such a simple thing that nobody does. You know, people don't think about that because they're like, well, it's my page. And all of my followers have already found me, so I don't have to worry about, they already know where to come, but you have to think every eighth person that looks at your content online has no idea where you are. Has never seen you before. Look at Facebook as less of a discussion forum and more as a search engine, you know, make sure that you include as much information as you possibly can without forcing your customer to leave Facebook. Because obviously Facebook leverages your type of posts against you. If you post a great picture of a cute baby goat, it's going to be amazing. You know, you're going to have fantastic results, but if you post a picture of your cute baby goat with a link to your website on it, you're going to lose a little bit of that reach. So there are struggles that we face there. Just adding more location detail would be so significant to a lot of. Reach and discussion issues. And if it doesn't have to be every post, it could be every third post you to be able to scroll easily to figure out where you are. That would change so many things for a lot of farmers. I do believe that location is a critical oversight in many things. But also we have a very unique sort of climate here in Florida about where we go for local. The idea of locally available meat is not something that's very common in Florida at all. You don't move to the villages or Palm beach and saying, hey, where do y'all get your local pasture raised chicken from, it just doesn't happen. You know, people are like, okay publix is there. They've got the quality on point let's do that. They're not aware of anything beyond that. So for farmers to jump into that conversation with a picture of a, half processed chicken. That might not be the best way to go about it when you're trying to reach into the suburbs, you know? So it's a very delicate dance of, you know, look at this beautiful freshly roasted chicken that is, tasty and you're, you're so excited about it. You can come get that from me. But also, you know, you have to tip toe around the conversations regarding harvesting and processing and dispatch and all those, you know, key words that might end up dipping your toes into a conversation that you might not want to have in the comments. So, I know that's everywhere, but I will say on a, on a large scale. Northern states are a little bit more locally focused agriculturally than we are down here because of the convenience. You know, the convenience factor in the grocery store in Florida is always just going to be king. So bringing the locals are more making the locals pay attention without being quite as shocking as, you know, a half processed chicken. Definitely something that we can, we can work forward to. I'm seeing a lot more strength in that area. Bringing the suburbs into the conversation is definitely something that we struggle with and are working on here.
Rory: 22:33
Awesome. That's cool to hear. I'm excited to hear kind of how that continues as you guys continue to grow. This isn't something we haven't really dived into yet, but your platform is also great for farmers connecting with other farmers.
Jillian: 22:43
It's been huge. And honestly, when I started it, I didn't even think about farmers and markets connecting with each other. It wasn't even, I was just like, people are hungry and they need to know where the farms are. You know, where's the actual updated information that they can get on a regular basis. So I didn't even consider that markets were going to come in and start looking for sources, but they did. They really did. Like I had a great conversation with Villages Grown, which is a huge hydroponics operation, right in the heart of the villages where you would not expect any agriculture whatsoever. And I spoke with Theresa, their general manager yesterday, and she was telling me. You know, yes, we have product for sale. We have tons and tons of greens and all this beautiful produce and it's ready to go out the door, but we're also looking for smalls to work with because we want to build others. We don't want to be the only game in town. For as many large producers that we have, they are just as thrilled to partner with other smalls They just didn't know where to find them. There's just so much opportunity for connection within the group that honestly, I think, it's probably the biggest results from our group is just seeing so many people connect and network and say hi to each other. You know, we should all be working toward the same goal, which is feeding people. And I think our group really enables that to happen.
Rory: 24:07
That's really cool to hear that you guys have just kind of been able to provide the platform to foster that community and then kind of let the farmers take it from there. that's that's awesome. But I was wondering if you could maybe share a specific success story of a farm that has done really well on and use your platform to kind of grow?
Jillian: 24:24
Sure. There are a couple and I wasn't going to be like, you know, shouting out people because it will be kinda awkward later. But my good friend, Lindsey owns Backwoods Family Farm in Groveland. And last year, when everything started to go sideways, she was working as a house cleaner. Really good housecleaner with a lot of clients you know, she was amazing, but people weren't as excited about having random strangers in their home, not to say that Lindsay was a random stranger, but you obviously, people were not looking to bring people into their houses even to clean at that point. And she couldn't figure out a secondary source of income. So she started a small produce market. She already had the basics there, you know, it was already an agritourism spot and she'd had a couple of smaller events, but she wasn't really known as a regular produce stand. And I saw that she was doing that and I posted her page in every single group within 50 miles of Groveland. She was like, well, thanks. And then it blew up from there. You know, she's- I don't claim any of her success because Lindsey is one of the hardest working people I know, but I know that she has benefited directly from the group and she will say that too, right Linds? Like she would say that too. And there are others I'm sure after this posts, you know, people are going to be like, Jillian, why didn't you mention me? But, you know, there's, there's definitely a lot of people who have grown leaps and bounds, whether it's using the group and putting their information out there. Or we also have a secondary group just for owners and small business owners, farmers to figure out the intricacies of Facebook, which is a Brand Building by Florida Farm Finder. And obviously it's hard to post a meat animal on Facebook and get away with it. And there's a lot of strange rules about food versus meat. And so we talk about how you can wiggle around that and how you can you know, what makes posting on Facebook easier, what makes it faster? Farmers don't have time for this stuff. They really don't. You know, if they did, I wouldn't exist. I wouldn't be a thing if farmers could Facebook regularly, but they just don't have time. So we try and give them tips and tricks to make it faster, make it less chaotic, help them smooth and enhance their message. So there are a lot of people I think that would say that we have helped beyond just expanding their, you know, the dollars in their pocket. We've given them more options related to content that they can post and how they go about what they do.
Rory: 26:59
Awesome. That's really great to hear. And yeah, like you said, kind of equipping them with the tools they need to hopefully save them some time and, and keep growing they're growing their farm. Yeah, that's great. That's definitely something we try to do a lot of here at Barn2Door as well. Florida farm finder has an event coming up on September 25th. Could you maybe share some information about the event and maybe what attendees can expect to learn and experience?
Jillian: 27:23
Sure. Yeah. So uh, we obviously spent the last year and change meeting with all of these amazing farmers and all of these incredible small business owners. And, you know, we wanted to bring everybody together as much as we could. It's a big state. It makes it a little bit harder. Our audiences most active currently in central ish, Florida, so I heard a Burke Twin Farms who is a Barn2Door Farm. They said, Hey, you know what? We need some exposure for farmers where they don't have to come into the market already heavily in the red for the day. We need them to come out and say, Hey, how's it going? We're here. We're available, come you know, spend some time with us and learn about what we do, because we feel like people don't ask enough questions about their food here. Learn more about what small scale agriculture is available in central and north and south Florida as well. Come fill up your freezer, learn about how the animals were raised, learn about how you can directly impact your local economy by purchasing direct from a farm.
Rory: 28:35
That's awesome. That's really exciting. So the, like you said, this is open to the public. Where could people find more information about this event and maybe register to attend?
Jillian: 28:44
Sure. Yeah. So it is open, completely open to the public. It's a HertaBerkSchwein farms in Groveland, Florida. September the 25th from 2:00 PM to 9:00 PM. We are a full blown Farmer's Market. So bring your shopping bags bring your coolers for good cold storage. All of our details are available on our website at floridafarmfinder.com or if you're on Facebook and you're not already a group member, feel free to join us. We have an event page set up it's Meet Florida Meat 2021. Can't miss this, pretty easy to find. But again, there's more information in our website. You can learn all the details. I'm super excited. We are going to end the evening with a movie. So we were able to reach out to Dreamworks and we got spirit untamed for the evening's production. So have you have any, any little girls or boys out there who are horse crazy, we are the event for you. It's going to be a lot of fun. We're going to have backyard games fun for kids, families, food trucks. It's just a celebration of Florida Agriculture. So we 'd love to have everyone available who can take the time, come out, meet your local farmer. We'll show you how your food is grown.
Rory: 29:56
Could you maybe lastly, just kind of talk about what's kind of next on your radar, other than the Meet the Meat event. Could you maybe talk about kind of what you guys are hoping to tackle next?
Jillian: 30:05
Winter is coming up. We've got, obviously plants are in the ground right now. Major planting season just started in the beginning of it. So we're getting right back into our regularly scheduled, you know, version of events we've got produce on the way we've got more farms to find. I still find farms every single day that I've never heard of, that I can share details about. So, obviously they. Small stuff that we're looking forward to with a very tiny lens right now, I have a podcast in the works. I would like the opportunity to travel around to all of our partner farms and talk to people about what gave them the calling to start farming in Florida, because I don't know how much experience you have with our climate, but it can get a little crazy around here. Florida farming is not something you jump into lightly. So I want to learn more about why people made that decision and what they get out of it. So I think those conversations are something that is very good to have. We're still working on the crates and expanding that and honestly, I couldn't tell you anything else about where we're going to be in the next three or four months, even other than Meet Meat, September 25th, we're going to be there. But honestly, honestly, I don't know where it's going to take me. And I am just excited that so many people want to be part of the journey
Rory: 31:29
Jillian, thank you so much for coming on today. This was really fun.
Jillian: 31:32
Yeah, it was a lot of fun. Thank you so much. I'm very excited to chat with you guys. And I am grateful that Barn2Door offers what they do to farmers, because I know they don't have time for marketing and they don't have time for website design and all that stuff. So you guys provide a very unique, helpful option for them. So that's very exciting.
Rory: 31:52
I want to extend my thanks to Jillian and all the Farmers at Florida Farm Finder at Barn2Door. We are delighted to serve farmers in all 50 states, including Farmers in Florida. For more information on Florida Farm Finder and the Meet Florida Meet event. Visit FloridaFarmFinder.com to learn more about Barn2Door, including access to numerous free resources and best practices for your farm. Go to Barn2Door.com/resources. Thank you for tuning in. We'll see you next week.