Farmer Spotlight: Agricola Family Farm

Hear Agricola Family Farm on the Direct Farm Podcast

Agricola Family Farm grows and sells organic produce to customers in Cleveland, TX, though they first farmed together an ocean away. Daphne Bicaise joined Barn2Door’s DIRECT Farm Series: Brand Conference to share how she folded their family Farm’s unique story as refugees into their Brand efforts, and how those relationships shifted online during the pandemic. 

“We are from the Republic of Congo. We moved here as refugees in May 2010, so I went to high school and graduated college here in May 2018. My dad was 15 or so when he started farming in the Congo. He was left a huge portion of land and grew on it to provide for himself. He fell in love with farming. 

It just continued to grow—people from church helped him with seeds and he was able to get two pigs to breed over time, and add more animals and vegetables to sell back to the community. We moved to the Ivory Coast in 1999 because of the civil war that was happening, and didn’t have any way to make money. So, farming was the way we could do that. 

We had barely 500 square feet of space to grow vegetables and 10 chickens to grow and sell. For those who could not afford to buy food, we’d just give it to them. Once the UN HCR gave us the official “refugee” status, we were able to move to a larger piece of land, raise chicks and sell broilers back to them. I think that’s one of the reasons we were able to be resettled in the U.S in 2010.” 

“It didn’t take long for my dad to get back into farming. He tried to do other work but didn’t like it. He got involved with an organization called Plant it Forward—they help refugees when they resettle in the US and Canada so that they can continue farming and provide for their family. In 2013 we were established in the Houston area on less than an acre, and growing everything from radishes to tomatoes. 

In 2016 we moved to Cleveland, TX out in the country. We sell direct to our customers at farmers markets, and I help my parents increase profits, production and communicate with customers.

When we first started, I had no idea how marketing online works. Now, Barn2Door has provided me the support and training to build our Brand online, communicate to buyers and offer easy, convenient Ordering to people—they love it. 

Our Brand has evolved from sharing our story so customers understand why we’re farming. Having one-on-one conversations at the market, or posting what happened on the Farm today makes customers feel more invested in buying from you. Sometimes I’ll share posts of my parents or my sister, ‘Here’s what Gina’s doing on the Farm today!’ She’s holding a cucumber and she’s happy. I want customers to learn about us through moments we share on the Farm, so they feel like they’re living that moment with us.” 

Because most of Agricola Family Farm’s sales came through farmers markets, pandemic concerns and closures hit the Farm hard earlier this year. “It was a crazy time. Both my father and I had health concerns, and so we had to leave the farmers markets. We lost lots of sales, and had customers asking when we were coming back. 

You can’t let something like covid ruin your lives, you have to find ways to work around it. Your story’s still there, your positive mentality is still there. You ask yourself, ‘how can I still drive the Agricola Family Farm Brand that I’ve been creating over the years?’ It made me realize, ‘we need to work like a pizza place.” 

Daphne and Agricola Family Farm worked with Barn2Door to transition all their sales, including a Farmers choice vegetable box, to direct home delivery with huge success. She continues to share her family’s story and Farm happenings through social media and email.

Additionally, Daphne’s customers love the ease, convenience and security of delivery on their doorstep. As a result, she is enjoying a boost in average order size as her customers buy more online. We’re delighted to have Daphne join Barn2Door’s Farm Advisor Network to share best practices that she has learned with other Farmers.

Barn2Door is thrilled to support Daphne and Agricola Family Farm. If you’re interested to hear more from Daphne, you can listen to her session at the DIRECT Farm Series: Brand Conference, “Utilizing Storytelling to Build Your Farm Brand”, as well as her DIRECT Farm podcast episode. 

If you’re interested to learn how Barn2Door could support your Farm, you can watch how it works in 5 minutes.