The Ultimate Guide to Starting a CSA with a Container Farm
At the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) shares saw a surge of interest because people wanted to support local growers.
Plus, 52% of Canadians said they would pay a premium for locally grown indoor produce.
But how do you take advantage of this market?
Growcer has you covered! This guide will break down what Community Supported Agriculture is, how the model works with a container farm, and what it looks like to start and market your CSA food box.
Chapters
What is CSA (Community Supported Agriculture)?
Advantages of CSA with a Container FarmWho Can Start a CSA with a Container Farm?
How to Price your Container Farm’s CSA Box
How to Plant in your Container Farm for a CSA
Best Practices for Produce Packaging
How to and Tips for Member Recruitment
What is CSA (Community Supported Agriculture)?
Before stands of shiny exotic produce could be found in supermarkets year-round, our food system was much different. People were more aware of where their food came from (local farmers), and the availability of food changed with the seasons. And while local farmers, produce markets, and specialty shops are still commonly found in our communities, the majority of consumers shop in grocery stores. In fact, Canadians spend around $100 billion annually at our roughly 3,000 grocery stores.
With this drastic change in our food system also came a grassroots movement that saw people wanting to get back in touch with the way their food is grown. In addition, the shift was motivated by concerns about the industrialization of the food system, reliance on imported food, the loss of local farmers and use of pesticides. Such concerns prompted the start of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA).
The CSA concept is thought to have originated in Japan in the 1960s, and is known as teikei in Japanese. By the 1970’s, farmers and consumers in Europe with a similar outlook and concerns created the community supported agriculture model we are familiar with today.
Let’s dive into exactly what community supported agriculture means and what it looks like in today’s world.
What Is Community Supported Agriculture?
Community supported agriculture is an alternative food movement that involves a direct farmer to consumer partnership. Consumers purchase produce (and other goods) directly from the people who grow it. In business terms, a CSA can also be thought of as a production and marketing model whereby consumers buy shares of a farm’s harvest in advance. Farmers benefit from the financial support and predictability, and consumer benefit by having access to fresh, local food.
Different Types of Community Supported Agriculture
There are many different ways to structure a community supported agriculture initiative. Typically, consumers become CSA members by paying an agreed amount at the beginning of the growing season, either in one lump sum, or instalment payments. In return for this investment or “membership fee,” consumers receive a variety of fresh vegetables weekly (or on another agreed upon interval). Depending on the growing season, the specifics of this arrangement can change. Some CSA-inspired structures involve the ‘adoption‘ of a tree, whereby the farmer will send some of the harvest from that tree directly to the consumer every year.
With container farming, which refers to vertical hydroponic farming systems inside a container, farmers have the notable benefit of a year-round growing season. Most CSA initiatives from container farms take the form of a weekly or biweekly food subscription box plan. This type of food box subscription is different from a typical community supported agriculture structure since the consumer doesn’t have to commit for the full season and the year-round subscription can be stopped or started at any time.
Food box subscriptions have increased in popularity in recent years, and these types of subscriptions can be found for products such as fresh flowers, fruit, herbs, and eggs. These however, should not be confused with meal-kits, which are pre-packaged boxes that include a recipe and all elements of a meal inside (including pantry products, proteins, and vegetables).
Advantages of Food Box Subscription Box Model
CSA’s and food box subscriptions have several advantages for both farmers and consumers. Farmers are better able to plan their production for the season with a guaranteed market for their produce. Without worrying where the next customer might come from, farmers can spend more time growing high quality food for the community. Consumers benefit as they get local, fresh produce on a regular basis while supporting local farmers.
Community supported agriculture and subscription food boxes are a relatively new food model, but have seen a surge in popularity over the pandemic. Since this model benefits both growers and consumers, it’s safe to say that they aren’t going anywhere.
Advantages of Running a CSA with a Container Farm
Growing food in container farms comes with some distinct advantages if you’re looking into community supported agriculture or creating a food subscription box. Community supported farming (CSA) refers to a food production model whereby consumers purchase food from growers in advance. Let’s look at the advantages and disadvantages of a CSA growing model for container farms.
1. The ‘Shared-Risk’ Of Container Farming is Lower
Working with living plants means the risks of farming are never completely zero, but with container farming some key risk factors for crop yields - including pests and adverse weather conditions - are no longer affecting a crop’s success.
Think about a scenario where an outdoor farmer loses a harvest to a hail storm or summer storm and has to come up with what to include in their CSA box that week. It is one of the challenges that comes with outdoor farming. With controlled environment agriculture, you are able to ensure a reliable amount of produce to include in your CSA regardless of the weather.
The risk farmers and consumers share in the CSA model is minimized and the probability for a successful crop is high every single year. You know all of your produce is already sold before any seeds even start to germinate!
2. Container Farming Provides A Consistent, Year-Long Harvest
A CSA or subscription box model can also be sold year-round because container farming is year-round.
Farming year-round in containers means that your season length isn’t limited to the summer. You can use this to your advantage, strategically filling a need in the market when fresh produce is less widely available or partnering with other year-round markets (like a CSA for meat).
With the immediate income from CSA, growers can purchase the inputs needed for their farm upfront and have continued, guaranteed inputs throughout the year. Upfront costs are therefore mitigated and early revenue helps cover labour and other production costs. Less time and energy are wasted because you’re able to sell directly from the farm, which simplifies the harvest and distribution process. Growers also benefit by focusing their energy on growing crops versus marketing or business development during a growing season.
Using a hydroponic container farm allows you to harvest fresh greens 365 days a year and give customers the opportunity for a year-round subscription.
3. Gain A Competitive Edge From Additional Crop Options
One key advantage of starting a CSA with a container farm is that you can determine what to grow and when to grow it. With proper planning, you can grow crops that aren’t available in your area at a certain time of the year to avoid competing with local farmers. Having several crops, as well as leafy green vegetables (which are excellent for filling in a subscription box (in addition to being highly nutritious and delicious when freshly harvested), will add more value to your subscription box offering. Adding variety helps you keep things fresh for customers!
4. Financial Viability
When you grow food in a container farm, it falls under the hyper-local, value-added produce category. This means that comparable products are those with higher price tickets, such as living lettuce, hydroponic greens and organic foods.
Furthermore, with a CSA you’re selling directly to the consumer, so instead of selling to supermarkets at wholesale cost, you can sell it for retail prices. Another advantage of selling directly to your customer is your ability to build a relationship with that customer and open up a direct channel to learn how to improve your product instead of having a more transactional relationship.
What Challenges Are There To Starting A CSA With A Container Farm?
Of course we can’t discuss the advantages without also noting the challenges of starting a CSA with a container farm. While the CSA and subscription food box models work well with container farming, there are still a few challenges out there.
Firstly, selling directly to consumers means better margins, but it also means that you need to manage the logistics of delivery and pick-up. However, managing these logistics is also something you would need to do with wholesale customers too but on a different scale. Farmers with CSAs often set aside a day for delivery and pick-up to simplify the process.
A second challenge that can arise is unreliable subscribers. In an ideal world, subscribers will maintain their subscription for years, but it is of course possible to see subscriber attrition. In order to counteract this attrition, consider value-adds, such as sharing recipe ideas, focusing on member retention strategies, and additional education about produce varieties. and consistent marketing activities.
A final challenge that you may face with a CSA container farm is being limited in what you can grow. While you can grow a large variety of produce, such as lettuce, leafy greens, herbs, brassicas, and some cultural crops, hydroponics are not the most efficient way to grow every crop. This means that your food subscription box can only have produce that is growable in a container farm. However there are ways around this, like partnering up with other CSAs growing other crops or other goods like honey or meat.
Plus, our research team is constantly looking into additional crops to see if they can be grown reliably and in quantities that make sense. Check out the Growcer Guide for more details about what crops you can grow in a vertical container farm.
Who Can Start a CSA with a Container Farm?
Are you thinking about launching your very own community supported agriculture initiative with a container farm? Wondering if it’s for people like you? There are many different types of CSAs and using a container farm gives you the opportunity to start a farm without needing to invest in farmland. Going with a system like Growcer’s also means that you are supported at every step on the way with a proven growing system and education.
Growcer makes plug-and-play container farms that allow anyone to take advantage of hydroponic growing technology to grow year-round.
What Type of CSA is Right For You?
As a quick refresher, community supported agriculture is an alternative food movement involving a direct farmer to consumer partnership. Consumers purchase produce (and sometimes other goods) directly from the people who grow it. There are several forms of CSAs that may work better for you than others.
Producer-Initiated CSA - Are you already a farmer that’s looking to expand revenues and look for other avenues to distribute produce? In addition to increasing sales, a CSA also strengthens the connection with local consumers. Starting a CSA can be a great way to forge strong bonds with the local community and get high quality local food on their tables.
If you’re not yet farming (but thinking of getting started), or aren’t quite ready to start your own CSA, you can also look at partnerships with existing CSAs in your area. For example, you could provide leafy greens to a subscription box of local meats for a more rounded local food package.
Retailer-Initiated CSA - Retailers can also be the ones to initiate a CSA for their communities. If you aren’t ready to start your own CSA and don’t live in a rural area where there may be other farmers you could partner with, it’s worth checking in with your local grocery store to see if there’s an opportunity present. Retailers will often create CSAs to help with customer retention and support local.
Organization-Initiated CSA - Organizations, such as businesses, non-profits and schools can also decide to offer a CSA model to their communities. Since CSA’s help to get fresh, local food to a community, they are attractive projects for certain organizations to get involved with. Look for partnership opportunities with organizations in your community that could be interested in supporting your CSA!
What Other Skills Do You Bring To Table?
Running a successful CSA involves more than growing delicious food. In addition to managing food production, here are a few other skills that indicate you may be a successful candidate for a CSA:
You enjoy engaging with others. A community supported agriculture project involves interacting with the community on a regular basis.
You thrive in a team. It’s likely that your food subscription box won’t be a one-person operation. Whether you’re working with partners, volunteers or employees, teamwork is a crucial skill for your success.
Entrepreneurial spirit. Starting a CSA is an entrepreneurial venture. That doesn’t mean you need to be crunching numbers on a spreadsheet all day, but it does mean that you must be willing to work autonomously, make decisions, and respond to change.
So, Who Can Start A CSA?
You! If you’re interested in bringing healthy local food to your community, a community supported agriculture project could be for you.
How to price your container farm’s CSA box
Community Supported Agriculture is where customers are able to directly support farmers. Typically, for a seasonal farm, customers purchase “CSA shares” in spring and receive a weekly supply of produce over the growing season. With a container farm, you’re no longer restricted by the growing season and can grow produce year-round.
With a container farm, a CSA takes on the model of a weekly subscription box where your customers have the flexibility to opt in for produce year-round, or on a less frequent basis like bi-weekly.
But what do the numbers look like for this direct-to-consumer model?
Costs to Consider
To keep it simple, we will use Growcer farms as an example and take you step-by-step what it would be like to start a weekly subscription box with a Growcer farm.
Start Up Costs
One Growcer container farm can grow 504 heads of fresh produce weekly.
Farming has high barriers to entry, whether you’re buying land or specialized equipment. Container farms, for some, are also quite the investment. However, in comparison, container farms may not be as much as buying the farm down the road.
On average, you can invest approximately ~$270,000 (CAD) to start container farming with Growcer. This number includes the Growcer farm which is only $209,720 CAD (or $164,892 USD) and other start-up activities like site preparation, installation, onboarding, training, supplies, and ongoing support.
The key difference between choosing Growcer and choosing to recreate a hydroponic vertical farm on your own is you benefit from proven technology and reliable yields with Growcer.
Operating Costs
Operating costs will refer to everything you need to keep your container farm running, such as seeds, water, electricity, software, and staff. On average, your weekly operating costs with a Growcer farm are around $900 (CAD).
To calculate this average, we assumed a $20/hour wage and $0.13/kWh power rate. Depending on your specific situation you may also want to account for land rental costs, depreciation costs (if you own your Growcer farm), capital costs (if you are financing your project), insurance, and packaging. Plus, your weekly operating costs may look different depending on your utility rate and wages. Please keep in mind this article presents a simplified example and won’t account for all scenarios. If you would like to discuss financials specific to your situation, reach out to the Growcer team here.
Below is a typical breakdown of weekly operating costs. Your largest expense will be labour, which is why planning how you will package your weekly food pick-ups (or deliveries) will be important so you use your time wisely.
Setting a Price
How do you decide on how much to offer your weekly food box for? Setting a price will depend on a variety of factors, including your location, your costs of production, and its fair market value.
Before deciding on a price, consider what your product will look like:
Will you offer different tiers of subscriptions? Large and small boxes?
How frequent will your food box run? Will there be options for weekly, biweekly, or monthly subscriptions?
Will you offer the choice of paying in instalments? (Consider how it will impact how much bookkeeping you do at the end of the day)
Know your value
The biggest contributing factor to CSA failure is setting the price too low, according to NC State Extension. NC State Extension recommends several methods for finding the right price for your weekly subscription, such as visiting a farmers’ market and seeing what the market price is for the produce you’re growing.
Growcer-grown produce falls in the value-added category because it is hyper-local, stays fresher longer, and grows using less water, land, and no pesticides. Plus, Growcer grown produce tastes delicious!
When you visit a supermarket, your comparable product is living lettuce, other hydroponically grown greens, or local organic produce.
The average sale price in a store is between $3 to $5 for each crop and this range can be used as a benchmark for your prices.
Price based on production
One way to calculate price is to work backwards: calculate how much you can produce, what it costs to grow it, and then divide the cost by the units you can produce. Once you know your costs of production, you’ll be able to know your absolute minimum price to remain sustainable.
With one Growcer farm, you can grow up to 504 mature heads of produce weekly. A mature head of produce is similar to what you would find in a grocery store and refers to a commercially sized crop.
Another consideration is plant loss. Plant loss is inevitable and as a first time grower, it will take some time to get comfortable growing. To keep calculations on the safe side, let’s account for a 10% plant loss factor. Accounting for a 10% plant loss factor brings our weekly harvest to 453 heads of produce.
Now that you know your weekly yields, calculate how many subscribers you can service. For example, if you offer 6 pieces of produce in a weekly subscription then you’re able to produce 75 boxes (453 weekly crops / 6 crops in each box = ~75 boxes).
To cover your operations, your subscription price has to be a minimum of $12. We arrived at this number by dividing your weekly operating costs ($900) by how much you can produce (75 boxes) to arrive at your costs of production at $12 per box.
Now you know your minimum amount to cover your operating expenses, you can factor in that your produce retails between $3-5 at a market. Therefore, to cover your production costs and accurately reflect the market, your share price should be closer to $18-$30 for a weekly subscription that includes 6 different pieces of produce.
To keep it simple, let’s say you operate one farm and you offer a weekly subscription box of 6 types of produce for $20.
If you sell 75 boxes at $20 each, your weekly revenue is $1,500.
To calculate your annual revenue, take your weekly revenue of $1,500 and multiply by 52.14 weeks in a year (you have to be careful with those extra days!) to receive $78,210.
This step-by-step breakdown is a simplified version of how you can calculate your weekly subscription price.
When you start growing, you will understand your weekly operating costs are more fluid and change throughout the seasons. The numbers will also change if you are operating the farm yourself (versus hiring staff) or growing herbs which you can plant in greater density. If you want to calculate the figures for your specific situation, feel free to contact the team to get growing.
CSA Numbers at a glance
Here’s a simplified example of what your subscriber count looks like if you sell your subscription at $20 for a large box (6 types of produce) and $10 for a small box (3 types of produce).
This example doesn’t account for the fact that you’re able to plant herbs in double the density (and produce more herbs in less space than you would need for full-sized produce).
When you factor in your unique situation, you can change the unit price, the box size (and therefore your subscriber count), and more accurately reflect your operating expenses. For example, selling a box of 4 products for $15 or a box of 5 for $25.
Start small
In your first year container farming, give yourself time to get comfortable and confident growing hydroponically. A common mistake for beginners is taking on too many members too soon.
Consider starting with a small number of subscribers, like 20, and scaling up your production as your confidence grows.
Advice for beginners
If you are looking for advice, look no further than from farmers who have been there. Corinna Bench from Shared Legacy Farms and Lauren Rudersdorf from Raleigh’s Hillside Farm hosted a webinar talking about the three mistakes rookie CSA farmers make and how to avoid them.
Both of them speak from a place of knowledge, boasting a 95% retention rate for their CSAs and Corinna runs a successful website and podcast to help CSA farmers with their marketing strategies at mydigitalfarmer.com.
Their webinar outlined three common mistakes:
Starting with too many members
Not creating an adequate crop plan
Not spending enough energy supporting customers
To learn more about how to mitigate these mistakes, you can check out the full recording here.
You can also earn how to avoid mistake #2 by understanding how plant schedules work in a container farm and how controlled environment agriculture reduces your risk for severe crop loss.
How to plant in your container farm for a CSA
The logistics behind a CSA food box may seem complicated at first, but they don’t have to be.
Consider what kind of CSA box you want your customer to receive and work backwards.
Working backwards, based on production limits and customer preferences, will also help you price your CSA box accordingly.
Growing in a container farm
Grow a mix of crops - but not too many.
With a Growcer container farm, it’s recommended to grow at least 6 to 8 different items and no more than 14 different varieties assuming you’re rotating the items in the box every week.
Growcer’s customer success team says the sweet spot for the number of varieties is 10, which includes various lettuces, leafy greens, and herbs.
Lettuces are your fastest growing crop, being able to be fully harvested at week 6, whereas leafy greens (kale, spinach, bok choy) take 7 weeks to be fully harvested.
With a proper planting schedule, your Growcer farm will be “full,” but each growing rack holds plants at different stages of their growing cycles.
Herbs take 12 weeks to be fully harvested, but also allow for partial harvests where you trim parts of the plant but do not harvest it completely. For example, you trim basil leaves off your basil plant but you are not harvesting the entire basil plant, but allowing it to keep growing for two more weeks. For most herbs, you are able to trim twice; once at week 8 and a second time at week 10. You also fully harvest the plant at week 12 which provides a third yield.
Spread out your harvest days
The length of the growing cycle matters when planning out your production so you can make sure you are harvesting a crop and transplanting another to take its place. With a proper planting schedule, your Growcer farm will be “full,” but each growing rack holds a plant at a different stage of its life cycle.
For example, you wouldn’t plant an entire container farm of greens because then you are waiting 6 weeks for your entire farm to be ready for harvest. And that harvest day will be a lot of work because you’re harvesting an entire farm! The tiered approach allows you to focus on harvesting one growing rack each week, while knowing you’ll have another rack to harvest next week.
The tiered approach ensures your work is spread out evenly throughout the months and your customers are always getting a weekly supply of various produce.
Watch Customer Success’s Drew Stirling explain how lettuces, leafy greens, and herbs typically grow in a Growcer farm.
With a tiered approach, every week you are harvesting a set number of growing rafts and managing how much work you have on a given day. Above is a screenshot from your plant management software which helps you craft and follow a planting schedule - the yellow icon represents a harvest.
Your CSA box
For your customers, it’s recommended you offer two different options:
A large box with 6 types of produce and 2 herbs
A small box with 3 types of produce and 1 herb
However, your ultimate offering will depend on what your customers want! Make sure to conduct a survey to understand customer preferences and adjust accordingly.
With a Growcer farm you can offer 140+ different varieties of fresh produce - check out the full list in the appendix of the Everything guide.
Example: Launch Box
The branded insulated bags used for the Rocket Greens’ subscription called “Launch Box.”
Carley Basler is the sustainability coordinator at the Churchill Northern Studies Centre (CNSC) and she runs a weekly greens subscription out of their Growcer farm. The greens are branded as “Rocket Greens” because of CNSC’s history as a former rocket launch site and the weekly subscription is branded as “Launch Box.”
Launch Box subscribers have two options:
Standard subscription offering 5 types of produce and 1 herb for $20, or
Mini subscription offering 3 types of produce and 1 herb.
Basler also sells Rocket Greens at the local grocery store for those who would rather shop instead of subscribe.
Every week, Basler switches up what produce subscribers receive. For example, a standard Launch Box will have 2 types of lettuces, 1 spinach, 1 kale, 1 other green, like Asian greens or collard greens, and 1 herb. There’s no option to customize because it helps keep the packing simple, but Basler says this hasn’t affected the amount of support she receives.
“We talked about if it would be manageable to take custom orders and I don’t feel like that’s right for me at this time,” Basler explains, adding there’s still an option to buy Rocket Greens at the grocery store for those more concerned with what’s in their subscription.
“We’re making it available both ways, there’s a little bit of a price difference but it’s not enormous. If you really don’t want kale, you can just buy spinach and lettuce from the grocery store. But if you don’t mind having a variety coming at you every single week, you’ll save a little bit and support us directly.”
Her advice for others wanting to start their own food box subscription is to keep it simple and focus on providing an excellent product. Want to hear more? catch the full Q&A with Rocket Greens here.
Carley Basler, who runs Rocket Greens, says her advice for new growers is to keep it simple and focus on providing an excellent product.
Best practices for produce packaging
When it comes to packaging, there’s many different directions you can take but your decision criteria should always be based on what’s best for the product?
Your subscribers gravitate to you because you offer a fresher, higher quality option for produce that is locally grown. The last thing you want is your hard work wilting in a paper bag!
For leafy greens, insulated cooler bags with a zipper are the best option.
Pros and Cons of Reusable Insulated Bags
Insulated bags are a great packaging option for several reasons:
Insulated bags are sealed off from outside air and maintain their temperature keeping your living produce fresher longer.
Insulated bags help extend the shelf life of your produce allowing your customers to keep your product in the fridge longer than they would store bought produce.
Insulated bags are reusable and offer a more sustainable option compared to plastic packaging.
Reusable insulated bags can be branded and add to your brand awareness and unique customer experience.
However, there are some considerations when using insulated bags for your CSA packaging, such as:
Reusable bags require more management because you aren’t disposing them after each use, but have to cycle the bags with customers to ensure weekly deliveries.
Reusable bags also require sanitation, adding to your packaging time.
Reusable bags require trust in your customers to respect and return the packaging.
One way to manage insulated reusable bags is to require a customer deposit and have two bags per customer. The deposit helps cover your upfront packaging costs and the two bags ensure the customer is always going home with a weekly delivery in a clean bag.
For example, you send one bag home with fresh greens in Week 1. The following week, the customer returns an empty bag when they come to pick up Week 2’s bag of fresh greens.
Then, Week 1’s empty bag is sanitized and prepped for Week 3, while Week 2’s bag is with the customer ready to go through the same process the following week. The result is that you always have a week to prep returned bags for a future delivery instead of relying on one bag.
Two bags means your customer always has an empty bag to return, and you always have a bag to fill with subscriptions!
Where do I source the bags?
The easiest way to source insulated bags is through Growcer. Growcer works with vetted vendors across Canada and benefits off of bulk ordering.
Because Growcer is sourcing bags for multiple different customers and their CSA projects, ordering in bulk ensures you are getting the best price per bag. Plus, there are options to customize and brand your bags with your logo.
For example, you can expect to invest anywhere from $15 to $20 per bag. A similar bag on Amazon would go for $33.99 and some sellers do not enable bulk ordering to get 50 insulated bags at one time.
However, you are not limited to going through Growcer and can research local options as well.
CSA Distribution Strategies
There are several different ways you can distribute your CSA food box and each method has its own advantages and disadvantages.
You can choose between offering your customers pick-up, delivery, or pick-up at a partner location. Let’s break down each method.
Pick Up
Allowing customers to come to you to pick up their weekly food box subscription is the easiest and simplest way to organize your CSA. Pick up is easy to implement and also cost-effective.
For example, you set your pick-up days as Wednesdays from 3pm to 7pm and customers are told to stop by your location (usually wherever your farm is situated) to pick up their weekly subscription.
However, a disadvantage of this method is that it doesn’t provide your customers with the most convenient experience. For some customers who are used to going to the grocery store to pick up everything they need, you are asking them to step out of their ordinary routine to support your local farm.
Delivery
For your customers, delivery is the most convenient option. Every week customers will have their food box subscription delivered to their door without having to do anything.
For some, this option makes the most sense because customers are used to getting food and purchases delivered to their doorstep all the time.
However, from your perspective, offering delivery is the most expensive and resource intensive option for distribution. You would have to source a vehicle if you don’t have one already, plan routes, and invest in higher quality packaging to ensure the products stay fresh during the journey.
If you do go the delivery route, it is advised you pay it a premium offering and charge for delivery. This allows you to offset the extra expenses associated with delivery and also creates an additional revenue stream for your CSA program. But, it also complicates invoicing on the back-end because you will have to keep track of who is requesting delivery and charge them accordingly.
Partner Pick-Up
Partner pick up is when you partner with a local business who can act as a pick up location for your customers. For example, you partner with a local butcher who has extra fridge space and every week your customers go to the butcher to pick up their weekly food box.
This distribution strategy allows you to collaborate with local businesses, while also being as cost-effective and convenient as pick up.
The local business also benefits from the extra foot traffic you provide and customers benefit from being able to get their food box and whatever product the local business is selling. With this in mind, you can partner strategically with local businesses that complement your CSA food box.
However, the partner pick up option can come with its own cost and can be more complex than pick up because you are involving another business into your logistics. For example, what if the butcher’s fridge breaks? What’s your contingency plan? Is the butcher close to your farm location or would you have to account for time and resources to deliver to the pick up location?
Each distribution method comes with its own pros and cons and it’s up to you to decide which is the best fit for you.
When you partner with Growcer, the customer success team is with you every step of the way. The team guides you through vetted options for food box success, from mapping out a consistent planting schedule to packaging options.
10 Best CSA Marketing Ideas To Grow Your Food Subscription Box Business
Whether you already have a CSA project or food subscription box or you are thinking of starting one, marketing is one of the most important ingredients to your success. Without marketing, the project will be dead in the water. Connecting with your customers is absolutely critical for the success of your business. Let’s get into some tips on how to successfully market food subscription boxes.
1. Share Recipes
You have your box of freshly packed, gorgeous greens ready for your subscribers, but don’t forget to give them some hints on how to enjoy their goodies. Sharing weekly recipes using the produce in your food box will help subscribers be more open to trying new varieties and get them excited to try a brand new meal every month!
Help customers take the guesswork out of using your product, and you’re less likely to see it go to waste.
2. Take Great Photos
People expect a curated experience when they buy a subscription box, so make sure the photos you’re using to advertise your box are doing your beautiful product justice. Lighting is especially important when taking pictures, and daylight (but outside of direct sun) is best. If possible, hire or get feedback from a photographer or stylist. But don’t worry, you don’t need to have fancy equipment to take great photos, it just takes a bit of practice.
3. Share the News
Big news! You’ve launched a CSA initiative in your community. You can formally share the news with the press by creating a media release or using more community-driven channels like your town’s Facebook (Meta) group or community spaces.
Your first message to the public should clearly communicate what customers can expect, who you are, and the story behind your CSA. Many of the goals you have for your CSA (such as increasing the self-sufficiency of your communities food supply, or creating employment opportunities) will resonate with members of your community and there is a good chance that the media will be interested in your story.
4. Release Merchandise or ‘Swag’ For Your Subscription Box
Picture this: your customers are running errands around town with a tote bag with your name and logo on it. Great advertising! Consider giving away free tote bags or other swag as part of a contest or by selling them as a bonus with your box. Check out this example of a tote bag that can be branded and ordered to help engage your supporters.
5. Create A Referral Program
What better way to grow your customer base than through your existing customers? So go ahead and reward your loyal customers when they refer their friends and family to you. The best way to do this is with a win-win discount, where both the referring customer and the new customer get a discount on their box.
6. Differentiate Yourself In Your Marketing Copy
Make sure you’re letting potential customers know exactly why they should order your produce. Highlight what makes your food subscription box unique and valuable. For example, if you’re starting a CSA with a vertical container farm, be sure to mention the environmental and community benefits of the project. Check out this list of benefits for inspiration.
7. Add Your Food Subscription Box To Online Directories
Even if you don’t have a website, adding your subscription box to online directories for subscription boxes and local businesses will help you build awareness of your brand. If you have a website, there’s an extra bonus. Each link you get to your website will help with your SEO (search engine optimization), which will help boost your visibility in Google’s search results!
Reach out to these websites to see if they can add you:
Your local Chamber of Commerce website
Your local community newsletter
Your local place of worship
Consider submitting a free listing with:
8. Create Unboxing Videos
Using video for your marketing can supercharge your efforts and get you in front of more people. Unboxing videos are especially trendy and popular. Show potential customers the unboxing experience that they can expect every week and show off the green goods inside. You can also encourage customers to post their own unboxing video on social media with a hashtag for a discount on their next box!
9. Start Building An Email List (Newsletter)
The great thing about an email list is that you never have to worry about social media platforms making you pay to reach the people who want to hear from you. Email marketing is a powerful way to stay in contact with your subscribers, provide recipes, give updates, send surveys, and announce events!
10. Experiment with Social Media Ads
Social media ads can help you hyper-target potential customers based on their interests. A University of Wisconsin study found testing ads can help CSAs identify the messaging their audience will relate to the most. In their test, a local-themed ad performed best. Try out a variety of themes in your ads to see which resonate the most with your community.
Looking for more great marketing tips? Check out these free ebooks from Local Line, including Social Media Essentials for Farmers, Direct Marketing For Farmers, Farmers' Market Online Sales & Marketing Guide and more!
6 Ways To Recruit Members Recruitment For Your CSA
Are you thinking about starting your very own community supported agriculture (CSA) project? It’s never too early to think about how you’re going to recruit members for your project. We’ve put together this list of 6 tips to help you grow your food box membership.
Use the form below to download a survey template you can use to craft your community feedback survey!
1. Get Member Input From The Beginning
When you’re starting a community supported agriculture project, seeking input from the community is one of the best ways to gauge demand for your service and decide which crops to grow. If your box is built from the ground up using member input, you recruit members as you create a box. Plus, you create a subscription you know the community is interested in (as opposed to building something and trying to market it later).
An example of this is when the Gitmaxmak’ay Nisga’a Society (GNS) hosted a Zoom Community Event to introduce the community to their container farming project, the mission behind the project and what they were growing. At the end of the event, they opened a subscription waitlist for interested participants and received 110 submissions.
“We didn’t think we’d get more than 10-15 people in our Zoom consultations, but within 1 hour and a half of the presentation we had 110 on our interest list wanting a subscription box, willing to put a deposit down,” Blair Mirau, CEO of GNS, shared. “There’s a demand for local food in Prince Rupert that really has never been met.”
Download a survey template!
Community Supported Agriculture is all about community. Before you start planning, have conversations with your community about what you want to do and why you’re doing it.
This example is based off of the same survey Gitmaxmak’ay Nisga’a Society used during their virtual live session. Feel free to remix it to fit your own community and goals for your subscription box!
Example Questions:
1. Are you interested in subscribing to a set box of greens and herbs grown in a hydroponic farm in [Your Location]? (Select 1)
Yes, I am interested, please tell me more
No, I would prefer to buy individual items at a local store
Not interested
2. If you are interested in a set box, what size of set box would you be interested in? (Select 1)
3 units - a lettuce, a herb, and another green (e.g. bok choy or kale)
6 units - 2 different types of lettuce, 2 different types of herbs, and 2 different types of other greens (e.g. bok choy and kale)
More than 6 units of lettuces, herbs, and other greens
3. What frequency would you like to receive your box? (Select 1)
Weekly
Bi-weekly
Monthly
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2. Build ‘Hype’ Before You Launch
With container farming you have the unique benefit of consistent predictable yields due to fewer external factors (such as pests and unfavourable weather). This gives you a lot of certainty and a leg up on planning.
Before you even start recruiting, you should establish a membership size that your farm can support and then add people who are interested to your waitlist. So go ahead and talk about your project even before your first green leaf has sprouted.
““We didn’t think we’d get more than 10-15 people in our Zoom consultations, but within 1 hour and a half of the presentation we had 110 on our interest list wanting a subscription box, willing to put a deposit down.””
— Blair Mirau, CEO of Gitmaxmak'ay Nisga'a Society
3. React to Community Feedback
So you’ve got some feedback from the community, that’s great! But it’s one thing to know what the community wants and it’s another thing to listen and adjust your plans.
Like any entrepreneurial venture, plans may change with your CSA depending on what your market is looking for. You might even find yourself expanding your box to include other local products, like GNS in British Columbia is doing with plans to include local seafood in their subscription box.
“We can reasonably see a future where we can start to supplement the fresh greens subscription box, we can start to add on some of nature’s bounty from around our area, like salmon, halibut, and other types of seafood,” Blair Mirau, the chief executive officer of Gitmaxmak’ay Nisga’a Society, says.
The plan is to scale the subscription box to get local food into as many local hands as possible. “We see the Growcer unit as being the foundation upon which we can build that infrastructure.”
4. Get The Word Out On Different Platforms
Getting your content in front of as many people as possible will help you spread awareness of your CSA project through the community. Think: group presentations (online or in-person), email or printing brochure newsletters, and social media.
Make sure your messaging is clear about what the story, vision, and goals are of your CSA. It’s also important to be upfront about the share price or box membership fee, what will be in your food subscription box, how members can join, and where they can learn more.
5. In-Person Events
When possible, in-person events are a great way to meet new people in the community who share the same values as your CSA project. Renting a booth at a community or church event to provide information or even better, produce taste testing, will help generate buzz about your CSA. This will also help with word-of-mouth advertising, since you are giving people something to talk about with their friends and family.
6. Harvest Schedules and Recipes
Try to provide a harvest schedule and an idea of what may be included in each delivery. This helps potential members see the value and variety in your box. Sharing food information and ideas online was one of the top impact factors found in a study of recruitment strategies for CSAs.
Bonus: provide a few recipes that members can try with each box to get people excited about joining and trying new, healthy foods!
For more great marketing tips on how to grow your CSA or food subscription box project check out the previous chapter on the 10 Best CSA Marketing Ideas To Grow Your Food Subscription Box Business.
Top 5 Retention Strategies for a Successful CSA
Successful subscription boxes retain their members. The cost of acquiring a new customer is always more than keeping an existing one, so a well thought out retention strategy will save you money every single year.
Good retention strategies also let you dedicate time on improving your CSA instead of finding replacement customers! That’s a win-win.
Are you convinced to take customer retention seriously? Great! But before we can get into some ultra-effective retention strategies we need to talk about member feedback.
The Importance of Member Feedback for CSA Customer Retention
In order to retain your customers, you need to understand how your food subscription box is (or isn’t…) meeting their needs. It’s much better to have an opportunity to make adjustments to your box and meet your members’ needs than it is to have to find all new members (who won’t have similar concerns).
At a bare minimum, yearly surveys are a must. These surveys can be structured with close-ended questions or rating scales so that you can get an idea of the overall sentiment of your membership, but they should also contain a suggestion section so that you can get new ideas and hear directly from members. Here’s an example from Rock Steady Farm CSA’s annual survey.
Aside from a yearly survey, it’s recommended that you regularly talk with customers both in-person and on social media about their thoughts on the week’s vegetables (“what your favourite veggie in this week’s box?”). Recording your customer retention is also an important, indirect way to get feedback.
If members are only signing up for a week or two, this is likely a sign that you need to gather further feedback and make some adjustments. Are members renewing their subscriptions? This will also give you important information about the health of your retention.
Now that we understand the importance of feedback, let’s look at some ways we can build retention strategies for CSAs and food subscription boxes.
1. Make Adjustments From Feedback
Have some feedback? Great! Now act on it. When Valemount Learning Centre received feedback about their packaging, they decided they would make a strong effort to try and move away from plastic completely. Right now they’re working on creating an incentive system to encourage members to bring their Village Greens branded reusable bags to collect their subscriptions.
2. Dig Out Your Best Recipes
Members stop their subscriptions for a few key reasons: notably that being in a CSA meant too much cooking and time spent. Go ahead and dig out your best recipes to share regularly so that members can save time and effort by knowing what they can make in advance, and be sure to offer time-saving recipes for busy folks as well. If you’re growing herbs, offer opportunities for members to incorporate the produce into add-ons and spreads such as pesto.
3. Host Local Events
Since many people are no longer used to preparing and eating fresh food, hearing directly from the farmer and people who are involved with the CSA can help with the transition from a supermarket model to the CSA model. Local events also help connect the community with each other which is important for your CSA’s success.
4. Emphasize Community
Studies have shown that focusing on the community and emotional aspect of a CSA project is one of the best member retention strategies. Those who stay with a CSA were found to have stronger community-related motivations and more favourable views about their communities than those who leave a CSA.
5. Plan for Diversity Throughout Your Season
Try to plan out boxes ahead and incorporate diversity into the mix. If possible, avoid delivering the produce mix for more than three weeks in a row. If you’re partnering with another farm, staples such as potatoes, eggs, garlic, and onions, are exceptions and are always good to include in a box.
6. Offer Discounts For Full-Season Participation
This one’s a simple one. Encourage members to stay for longer by offering discounts if they commit.
Retaining members is crucial for CSA and food subscription boxes. Make sure you’re hearing regularly from your members and working on your customer retention strategy and you’ll be well on your way to a successful food box subscription project.
Extra CSA Resources
Online store platform Local Line creates resources to help farmers sell online.
FarmFolkCityFolk’s Strengthening Community Supported Agriculture programConnect with other CSA farmers in British Columbia or watch a 6-part webinar series on a variety of topics such as planning a CSA program or online tools for CSA farmers.
The CSA Guide for Atlantic Canada The Atlantic Canadian Organic Regional Network (ACORN) created a 38-page manual covering all the basics for a CSA from customer survey examples to tips for beginners.
CSA Innovation NetworkA library dedicated to CSA resources with case studies, toolkits, videos, and more like veggie fact sheets and info cards on how to store your produce properly.
mydigitalfarmer.comCorinna Bench with Shared Legacy Farms speaks from experience and offers a wide range of marketing resources for people getting their CSA farm started.
Local Line Resources This online store platform helps farmers get online and regularly creates resources, from social media tips to a paid advertising cheat sheet, for farmers. It is also a platform you can use to get your CSA online and if you watch Growcer’s workshop (next resource) you can receive an exclusive promo code to put toward a Local Line subscription.
Growcer’s Workshop: How to Start a Food Box Subscription Business This free four-part workshop walks through what it takes to create a weekly food box subscription for your container farming business. You also gain access to bonus materials such as a market survey template and launch checklist, in addition to hearing from CSA farmers and food business consultants.
Conclusion
So there you have it - your ultimate guide to starting a CSA with a hydroponic container farm!
Now have your say: what did you think about this guide?
Or maybe there’s something we’ve missed. Let us know by leaving a comment below.
Ready to start the conversation?
Written by Maya Nikolovski and Stephanie Gordon.