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Balancing your Farm Business and Family

Jared Luhman was full-time Farming with his dad when he married Valerie in 2018. The family raised bulls and wanted to move to direct sales. In 2019, the couple saw Grass Fed Cattle Company for sale online, and decided to buy it. The Farm was 8 years old, and they found it helpful that systems were already put in place to start their direct sales operation. They signed on with Barn2Door to handle sales, and have created a successful Farm business where they can serve local Buyers while raising their kids. Valerie shared her tips for balancing life on the Farm as a family. Listen to her podcast episode:

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Scaling your CSA with Farmer’s Choice

Offering a Subscription bundle box from your Farm - often referred to as a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) -  can help you attract recurring orders, increase cash flow and build Buyer loyalty for your entire season. It is important to create a system for your Subscriptions that is streamlined and diminishes stress instead of creating more complexity. Farmer’s Choice CSA boxes eliminate the chaos of Buyers choosing each individual item included in their box, and puts the power back into the Farmer’s hands to assemble complementary products to meet Buyer expectations. Your Farm can greatly simplify its operations, and reduce labor costs with a Farmer’s Choice CSA model to effectively scale and manage your program long-term.

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Are Farmers Markets Worth It?

Farmers Markets can be a crucial avenue for many Farms to build their brand, meet new Buyers and sell their products. For other Farmers, some may see Markets as time-consuming, costly, and a lot of work with little return. 

It is important to ask yourself if Farmers Markets are profitable and worthwhile, or something to skip altogether. Setting aside your personal bias, be sure to ask yourself these 3 questions to determine if attending a local Farmers Market is profitable for your business.

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From Commercial Dairy to Direct Sales

Yoder-Way Farm in McVeytown, Pennsylvania was established in the 70s as the Yoder family’s commercial dairy. Lois and her husband, Jeremy, decided they could no longer maintain a sustainable living with the milk prices they received on the commodity market. After switching to direct sales, the Farm has now built a 6-figure beef operation. We recently met with Lois to discuss their transition to direct sales, and how they maintain a consistent ordering process:

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Combined Inventory - Making Farm Sales Seamless

Combined Inventory means your Farm store can offer a single item --- regardless of price(s), unit size(s) and / or price sheet (retail, private or wholesale) --- and ensure it pulls from the same inventory. Your inventory counts per item can now update automatically, accurately across multiple sizes, regardless of amount paid or type of Buyer. Combined Inventory works across both in-person and online purchases.

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Best Practices for your Farm Storefront

To sell more products and meet Buyer expectations, your Farm must provide a simple and easy shopping experience, online and in-person. Your Farm must be accessible from a variety of avenues to serve a multitude of Buyers. Offer convenient fulfillment options that will serve Buyers with a range of routines and schedules.

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How Farm POS Can Fuel your Sales

As an Independent Farmer, the capability to seamlessly serve your Buyers online and in-person is crucial. Your online and in-person sales must be fully synced to allow for a streamlined ordering process, avoiding any confusion or loss of profits or product. You will miss out on Buyers when they are not given multiple ways to shop. Not every Buyer will have cash to pay for your products at your Farm stand, nor will every customer have a credit card on hand.

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A Definitive Guide to Beef Cut Sheets

A “Butcher Cut Sheet” is a set of instructions for the butcher detailing how you would like a certain piece of livestock to be cut, processed and packaged. Cut Sheets can apply to various types of livestock (e.g. cows, pigs, goats) and game (e.g. deer, moose or bears). But, “Cut Sheets” are most popularly utilized with a cow or pig.

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How to Sell Out Before Harvest (and Increase Cash Flow)

The most successful Independent Farms offer their products for Pre-Order ahead of season, to capitalize on market demand, simplify their harvest schedule and to increase cash flow. There are some simple steps to help your Farm sell out before harvest. To begin with, you must build a base of local Buyers eager to pre-order your goods, market to them regularly to stay top-of-mind, and offer an easy ordering system - online and in-person.

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4 Farmers Market Mistakes to Avoid

Farmers Markets are a great way to interact with your local community, build a base of loyal Buyers, increase Brand awareness, and form partnerships. However, there are several mistakes that successful Farmers are glad to share with others to avoid. To ensure a profitable visit to the Market, follow these best practices to minimize your losses.

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Best Practices for the Farmers Market

Bennett Farms, Michigan sells pastured proteins direct to their community. Through in-person and online sales, Tom Bennett has maintained a 6-figure business while supporting his six kids. Tom serves 29 Farmers Markets a week across three states during peak season. Over 7 years, he has cracked the code on best practices for seamless booth prep, attracting new Buyers and converting customers to online sales.

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Simplify your Farm Delivery Day

Farms selling Direct-to-Market find success in offering convenient pick-ups and home delivery options to local Buyers. This can spur purchases from busy customers, attract new Buyers through word-of-mouth marketing and reinforce their support of local businesses. Farm delivery day does not have to be a stressful ordeal. Simplify your delivery day routine with systems designed to prep all orders in advance.

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Simplify Management of Wholesale & Retail Accounts

In 2020, Joe made the switch to Barn2Door’s software built for Farmers. Instead of using analog records or a horizontal ecommerce solution (formerly Shopify), he moved the business to an order management solution, designed to support Retail (consumer) and Wholesale (restaurant) buyers. While Joe has seen other Farms constrained by commodity prices, he has maintained premium prices for his products by selling Direct-to-Market.

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Make Farming your Day Job - Benoit Family Farmstead

In 2021, Benoit Family Farmstead made the decision to partner with Barn2Door to expand their reach to access new Buyers with Farm eCommerce and streamline their operations. The Farm has been able to add more products and serve their community, without having to spend extra hours in the office.

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4 Creative Marketing Tactics from Successful Farms

Farms in all 50 states find success in online and in-person marketing, such as weekly newsletters, social media posts or physical flyers and word-of-mouth. The opportunities to market your Farm business to your local community are endless, but to stand out, consider creative marketing strategies to attract potential Buyers.

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Farm Email Marketing: Best Practices to Increase Orders

With email marketing, you will have the ability to communicate with Buyers straight in their inbox. You can tailor your message depending on the type of Buyer, actions you desire and current events on the Farm. Independent Farmers ‘own’ their customer base, so it is essential you know how to effectively market and communicate to encourage loyalty and purchases.

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