Presenting at the 2013 Mid-Atlantic Fruit and Vegetable Convention

The Mid-Atlantic Fruit and Vegetable Convention brings about 2,500 farmers to Hershey, PA to learn about improving their operations. This year's keynote, which I missed, was by the creator of the "Get Milk" campaign!

Thanks to Art King and Heather Mikulas for inviting me to present during the 'Online marketing toolbox' track. I presented "Best Practices for Farm and CSA Websites" and "Credit Cards, Online Sales, and Demystifying the Tangled Web of Paying by Card".

I think the presentations went really well! In case it helps, here are the handouts I printed for everyone:

Best Practices for Farm and CSA Websites by Simon Huntley

Crop Plans for the CSA

From the Rodale Institute and Small Farm Central subscribers, John and Aimee Good of Quiet Creek Farm in Fogelsville, PA, an article on crop plans for the CSA that may help in your planning towards 2013!

"The master crop plan lists every crop we will grow including the variety, seeding and transplanting dates, and space requirements. Space requirements are listed as bed feet, rows per bed, and total row feet needed to grow each crop. Most of these crops also include multiple planting successions with the same data and we note whether a crop is to be direct seeded or started in the greenhouse. If a crop will be started in the greenhouse, we include the in-row spacing between plants in the field, which allows us to determine how many plants and seeds we will need."

Read the full length article here.

Substitution-style Cooking is Vital for CSA Member Success

I have spent the past couple months thinking more deeply about what makes a successful CSA, what retains members from year-to-year, and how to drive member satisfaction in a CSA. I have been reading academic papers on CSAs, attended the Midwest CSA Conference last week, and I have been talking to a lot of CSA farmers. I have also been examining how I participate in CSAs and I often bring CSA up in social conversation and I am fascinated by what people say about their experience or perception of what a CSA does.

At the member level, it is clear to me that success in a CSA program is determined by skill in utilizing the weekly box. We want CSA members who are confident in the kitchen; we want CSA members who are canning and lacto-fermenting; we want CSA members excited to cook for family and friends and tell the story of where their food comes from. However on a macro scale, what we have is a nation that has forgotten how to cook. So when an eater comes to a CSA for the first time, it is difficult to make the adjustments that a CSA asks of it's members. These do not need to be exotic skills, but there is a trick to turning a box of fresh food into meals.

You know that already: that's why your weekly newsletter already provides recipes and notes about how to use the box you provide. I keep coming back to this idea that the classic recipe does a disservice to the CSA member because it is a set of discrete steps that need to be followed with these specific ingredients. The subtext of almost any recipe is: if you don't do it in this exact way with these exact ingredients, you will fail. I think that approach sells cookbooks, but it doesn't fit with the seasonal CSA eating model.

I want CSA members who see a recipe for broccoli slaw and immediately realize that they can substitute cauliflower from their CSA box into the existing recipe. Or realize that it's probably okay to use green onions in a recipe that calls for a white storage onion. What has helped me other the years is learning certain base recipes that can be extended with whatever is in the box or in the garden. For example, this summer I started making broccoli fritters which are absolutely delicious. They are equally delicious as zucchini-turnip fritters or mushroom fitters.

I want to teach CSA members techniques for their boxes and get away from classic recipes. I want to teach "substitution style cooking" that teaches kitchen proficiency and economy: use what's in the box to confidently create simple, delicious meals.

I think this is a paradigm shift from how we normally about educate members about how to cook the box and it is not as easy as copying-and-pasting recipes from AllRecipes.com. This kind of education initiative is a long way from the details of growing great food, but I am convinced that it is important to the success of the overall CSA movement. I am very interested to hear if anyone has tried this approach to CSA member education and succeeded and failed? Email me: simon (at) smallfarmentral.com.

Large CSA Farm Files for Bankruptcy

The Coloradoan reports that Grant Family Farms has filed for bankruptcy. This farm has been in business for 61 years and serves 3,500 CSA members (along with an extensive wholesale produce business) in the Denver region and was Colorado's first organically certified farm. At 3,500 members, it is one of the larger CSAs in the country so in that light, I thought this news may interest readers of this blog.

The farm cited crop damage and financial hardships as the reason for the bankruptcy. Of course a farm that employs 300+ employees at the height of the summer season is quite different than a CSA that serves a couple hundred families. It is not clear from the article what percentage of sales of the farm relate to CSA customers vs. the wholesale business. The article suggests that Andy Grant, owner of Grant Family Farms, feels that the CSA is one of the strongest parts of his farm operation and it sounds like they plan to continue running that part of the farm after they emerge from bankruptcy.

It will be interesting to watch how Grant Family Farms re-prioritizes their business and how they can lean on their 3,500+ member base to plan a more secure financial future.

Read the full article.