customizable community supported agriculture

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