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Slides of the talk I gave for the Small Farm Central Webinar. Check out more info http://michael-kilpatrick.com/
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Customizable CSA Customizable CSA sharesshares
Michael KilpatrickMichael KilpatrickKilpatrick Family Kilpatrick Family
FarmFarm
today’s outline• History and overview of the
farm
• What is CCSA (customizable community supported agriculture)
• How our farm does CCSA
• Case study 1 (JBG Organics)
• Case Study 2 (Wishing Stone Farm)
• Questions
Blog
www.michael-kilpatrick.comwww.michael-kilpatrick.com
KFF’s Mission
Provide the best produce possible to our customers at a fair price
Provide a good income for the farmer - and good life- we need to love what we do
Provide a fair wage to employees
Middle Granville, NY Zone 4bMiddle Granville, NY Zone 4b
12-15 acres in vegetables
12-15 acres in vegetables
25-30 Acres in Cover Crop
Land and Soil profile
Soil type Crops Acres
Bernardston-shaly silt loams
stays dry, early and late greens, melons, tomatoes, stony
4
Hamlin Silt loam
root crops, great for radishes, beets, carrots- no stones
8
Hartland sandy loam
class 1,general purpose, no stones
4
Vergennes Silty Clay
somewhat heavy, winter squash, brassicas, spinach,
beans5
Hoosick Gravelly sandy
LoamSweet potato heaven... 1
8 full time employees, 3 interns
1/3rd acre of Tunnels
3 Summer Markets
3 Summer Markets
2 winter markets2 winter markets
over 30 crops for the Christmas
market
9 greens9 greensLettuce MixLettuce MixMesclun MixMesclun Mix
SpinachSpinachbaby spinachbaby spinach
ArugulaArugulaKaleKale
Swiss chardSwiss chardbraising mixbraising mix
bunched bunched turnipsturnips
250 member Free-choice, Year-round
CSA
250 member Free-choice, Year-round
CSA
3 acres of mulched crops
5 row system
5 rows for spinach, radish, salad, other small crops (9”)
3 rows beets, carrots, beans (18”)
2 rows broccoli, cauliflower, potatoes (36”)
1 row tomatoes, artichokes (72”) (plasticulture)
Storage #4
Ruby Perfection
FMC carrot and beet harvester
55 tons of Root Storage
Free-choice, Customizable CSA’s
(CCSA)
How is CSA changing• CSA Market getting more crowded, more
farms
• Large players entering the field (full circle, 40,000 members)
• Consumers have wide variety of sources for purchasing local/organic produce
• The consumer is changing as well as we’re looking to reach a wider audience….
Mcdonalds Junkie
starting to think about
it
Health conscious
Ecoearth-muffin Tree-hugger
drinks only soda
drinks diet or vitamin water
drinks straight water
Drinks raw milk
Drinks raw milk kefir
excessively
kids birthday party is at
Burger Kingowns and may use cookbooks
Has only “healthy”
cookbooks in the kitchen
Nourishing traditions is
sole cookbook
is head of her Weston a Price
chapter and soaks nuts
nuts
drives an SUV is concerned about climate
change
kids get vitamins
Questions immunizing
kids
homebirths and
breastfeeds kids
thinks local or organic food is
a scam
buys corn from the
conventional road-side
stand
Shops at the farmers market
has tried a CSA in the
past
buys 2 veggie, 1 meat, and a
raw milk share….
Who is your consumer?
Mcdonalds Junkie
starting to think about
it
Health conscious
Ecoearth-muffin Tree-hugger
drinks only soda
drinks diet or vitamin water
drinks straight water
Drinks raw milk
Drinks raw milk kefir
excessively
kids birthday party is at
Burger Kingowns and may use cookbooks
Has only “healthy”
cookbooks in the kitchen
Nourishing traditions is
sole cookbook
is head of her Weston a Price
chapter and ferments nuts
drives an SUV is concerned about climate
change
kids get vitamins
Questions immunizing
kids
homebirths and
breastfeeds kids
thinks local or organic food is
a scam
buys corn from the
conventional road-side
stand
Shops at the farmers market
has tried a CSA in the
past
buys 2 veggie, 1 meat, and a
raw milk share….
Who is your consumer?
Market penetrati
on with
normal CSA share
Mcdonalds Junkie
starting to think about
it
Health conscious
Ecoearth-muffin Tree-hugger
drinks only soda
drinks diet or vitamin water
drinks straight water
Drinks raw milk
Drinks raw milk kefir
excessively
kids birthday party is at
Burger Kingowns and may use cookbooks
Has only “healthy”
cookbooks in the kitchen
Nourishing traditions is
sole cookbook
is head of her Weston a Price
chapter and ferments nuts
drives an SUV is concerned about climate
change
kids get vitamins
Questions immunizing
kids
homebirths and
breastfeeds kids
thinks local or organic food is
a scam
buys corn from the
conventional road-side
stand
Shops at the farmers market
has tried a CSA in the
past
buys 2 veggie, 1 meat, and a
raw milk share….
Who is your consumer?
Market penetration
with CCSA
share!!!!
Common Barriers to CSA
• Too much or too weird food (not everyone likes kohlrabi or black spanish radishes
• I don’t like beets, cauliflower, brussel sprouts- picky consumers and their kids
• time/date not conducive to ease of pickup.
• produce not like the grocery store- bunch/size different
….
What consumers want
Common barriers for farmers
• not automating the system…. poor organization will kill you.
• There is a higher cost associated with this.. so charge more
• having to provide variety all the time.
• if share is picked at site(not predetermined) , less sales efficiency (more waste)
Customizable basics- what does this look
like?• Customer picks up at a site where they can swap out items in their share for more appealing ones
• Customer uses up pre-purchased credit (dollar amount or points) at a farmstand, farmer’s market or other site.
• Customer can shop online for the items that they want in their share and a partially or fully customized share is delivered
Customer picks up at FM or site where they pick out
their share
Customer picks up at FM or site where they pick out
their share
Do you include everything?
• What about high-value crops such as Greenhouse tomatoes, Strawberries.
• For us at Farmers markets those “first fruits” are often big money makers
• We have chosen to make those worth more for our CSA (one tomato, limit one pint strawberry, etc)
• Have swap bin where if a customer can’s use or doesn’t want an item they can swap it out with another member
Point system
• members get 20, 30 or 40 points a week
• Can fluctuate during season as the bounty comes in
• different number points for produce, eggs, chicken baked goods)
• works well for members with dietary restrictions.
Debit card system
• using a custom POS (point-of-sale)system to track customer purchases
• or a giant filebox with each customer on a 4X6 index card (I would do iPad and google doc)
• Credit expires at end of year. Or not.
Sources for cards/readers
Sources for cards/readers
• square (gift card module coming soon)
• chargeanywhere.com (readers)
• plasticresource.com
• duracard.com
http://marcelbrown.comphoto
Web placed, farm filled shares
• least waste, shares are harvested/filled after amounts known.
• Must have a strong software program in place to make it work smoothly
• Ultimate control, you decide what to offer
What program to use?
• super small CSA’s may want to do all communication by blog and email.
• We have used Google forms or Wofoo for smaller items.
• Large CSA’s may want to use Zen cart, a custom software solution, or Small Farm Central’s shopping cart software,.
Setting up a good online store
• Allows complete customization (or not)
• intuitive for customer as well as farmer
• can easily export data to usable pick/pack sheets
• beware of % use models (you pay % of sales)
How we do CSA
Our CSA is a free-choice share, in which the customer picks most of their share right up
off the market table. We usually select 1 item per week the members have to take.
We also deliver Boxed (none-customized) shares to business drop sites
Year- Round CSA
Sell root crops, onions, squash, frozen foods!!!
Helps to have greens
keep customers year-round
year-round members are best cheerleaders
you are on the road during the worst time of the year
Shares we Offer
JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUNE JULY AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC
WINTER (17 wks)
SUMMER (26 wks)
FALL (9 wks)
FULL YEAR (52 weeks)
2 SIZES OF SHARES
FULL (6-9 items) $25 per week - -we say will feed a family of 4
MICRO (4-6 items) $17 per week -will feed a couple or vegetarian single
Share types
Year-Round Share
Summer Share
Fall Share
Winter/Spring Share
Skidmore share
Cancellation Policy
A 2-week trial period is offered to confirm the suitability, as we understand a CSA Membership is not for everyone and every situation. We will give a prorated refund during the first or second week of that specific CSA Season (Summer, Fall, Winter or Year-Round). Please allow two to four weeks for your refund. After two pickups refunds will be granted if we have a waiting list and can find a new member to take your place. Thank you for your understanding.
Advantages of free-choice CSA
don’t have to have 250 items of 6 + crops per week
we reach wider audience and edge over competition
still allows us to move extra crop each week
We don’t have to have the same items for every pickup/market
very busy market stand
Disadvantages of free-choice CSA
specialty crops aren’t available for retail (early tomatoes, strawberries)
wide variety of crops necessary all the time (harvest inefficiency)
Very busy market stand!
have to watch quantities
CSA management at KFF
Farmer
CSA coordinator
bookkeeper
Farmer’s responsibilities
Strategic meetings with other management to plan upcoming season
All production aspects, planning, seeding, harvesting, sending to market
Face, or rainmaker of the farm.
Planning the CCSA
We grow a wide variety of crops to support our Farmer’s markets and wholesale already
We started small with the CCSA and grew it based on feedback every year- 2012 we grew too quickly
Some markets just don’t have some crops
We spend a lot of time planning…
Planning the CCSA
We grow a wide variety of crops to support our Farmer’s markets and wholesale already
We started small with the CCSA and grew it based on feedback every year- 2012 we grew too quickly
Some markets just don’t have some crops
CSA coordinator responsibilities
all member inquiries
organizing bulk product sales (tomatoes, cucumbers, etc)
CSA software setup and maintenance
marketing emails
Bookkeeper responsibilities
applying payments
helping members setup payment plans
tracking expenses/profits of the CSA
Check out information online www.michael-kilpatrick.com/csa-school-information/
Member Agreement
CSA handbook
2011, 12, 13 master plans
Sample recipe cards
CSA calendar
CSA surveys
Localvore club card
• Bought in the spring with our CSA shares
• Usable for anything on the farm eggs, chickens, frozen foods
• Customers get 5% off - pay $95 for a $100 card
Other systems we have played with….
• Home delivery, with orders placed through a % CSA service
• Mini-store added on- dairy products, eggs, olive oil, etc
• Orders delivered to a hospital, with semi-customization through email
• Adding frozen vegetables to Shares (Pesto, Frozen or dried tomatoes, eggs when abundant)
Foxy shopping cart with custom back end
• 2000 member CSA
• 20 farmers markets weekly
• Wholesale into a 5 hour radius (17 M)
• right now customer can select between 4 different box sizes. And can swap out unwanted items at the farmers market pickup
Customizable CSA at JBG
• Software is being built and is completely custom
• truck has to be loaded in reverse of how you want to pull shares out
• at the start, customer will be able pick several of their items, by summer it will hopefully be completely customizable.
Debit-card CCSA System
• Customers buy in winter at decreasing credit levels (get 10% extra January, 8% extra Feb, etc)
• Cards are kept at markets in a file box
• After card is used at market or farm, credit is subtracted from card
• What members have left on Oct 31st goes to help fund food bank.
Takeaways• CCSA can help you reach new customers and
increased overall vegetable efficiency (customers throw away less).
• CCSA is doable, although there are a lot more decisions to make
• CCSA requires efficiencies and figuring mechanics
• Invest in software and hardware to make your transition easier.
Thank you!!!
Michael Kilpatrickwww.michael-kilpatrick.com
www.kilpatrickfamilyfarm.com