RECAP: NOFA-NY 2020 Winter Conference
The Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York (NOFA-NY) Conference in Syracuse, New York brought growers, buyers, and industry professionals from across the region to convene at the Oncenter Conference Center. Two Barn2Door team members, Emma and Mariel, braved the East Coast chill. The weekend brought a steady snowfall, but good conversation, good food and great company kept attendees warm.
The trade show wrapped around the NOFA-NY bookstore, featuring on-Farm products and machinery, agriculture-focused services, and environmental advocacy groups. A Farm-product fair brought together growers to showcase and share their products with attendees, and regional farms donated food which chefs crafted into delicious meals.
Sessions ranged from Business + Marketing presentations to product-specific sessions on CSA’s, Dairy, Value Added products and agritourism. Attendees floated between sessions on the lower level, and came up for air (and coffee) to the trade show on their breaks.
Session: Custom CSA Shares
Speaker: Wendy Burkhart-Spiegel
Takeaways:
Customers (CSA members and otherwise) are demanding more choice and convenience.
CSA enrollment is dropping, and customization is a way to counteract that trend.
Labor costs are rising, making it expensive to grow and pack.
CSA software is expensive and time-consuming to set up.
Custom CSA boxes require careful planning and logistic strategy
After season 1 offering a choice CSA, enrollment went up but the time spent in fulfillment increased dramatically.
At the Barn2Door booth, we were thrilled to chat with farmers looking for easier solutions to selling direct, by learning about their farms and sharing our service.
What Mariel and Emma had to say:
“I really enjoyed talking to the conference attendees and joining sessions. Hearing conversation about shifting customer expectations is really exciting, since we’re here to offer solutions for that exact issue.” - Emma
“Since I work with Farms in New York, it was great to be in state and talk to its residents. It’s awesome to see such an established, tight-knit Farming community in action.” - Mariel
If you’re curious to learn about Barn2Door’s services for your own Farm, you can learn how it works with a short video demo.