How CSA Is Growing To Be a Berry Good Sales Opportunity
December 8, 2020 The first time someone mentioned to me the idea of a CSA, I said, “Huh? What is that?” They said the letters stood for Community Supported Agriculture. I again said, “Huh?” as I still had no idea what this meant.
I asked a little more about this idea and was told this is a system of marketing in which customers receive weekly allotments of produce for a growing season. One aspect of the CSA system that really got my attention was that pre-payment for the season’s produce is often made during months that earnings are typically low.
An excellent review of this topic can be found at the CSA Local Harvest website: LocalHarvest.org. The term “Farm Share” is becoming commonly used in place of CSA, and this seems to be more relatable to the public.
I have long admired the Geyer Family (Anne, Chuck, and Pierson) and their AgriBerry Farm in Hanover, VA, just north of Richmond. Anne Geyer told me recently, “When I dreamed of starting my own farm in 2008, I discovered there were no farmer-run berry/fruit CSAs in the U.S.” She further commented that their initial pilot effort of 60 families provided funding to add 10 acres of raspberries and blackberries in 2009. Their CSA grew to 100-plus members, with a market period of 25 weeks the following year.
I asked a series of questions to Pierson Geyer and was particularly interested in how the CSA/Farm Share approach was operating with the increased interest in food deliveries during the presence of COVID-19.
Here are some of his responses:
How did the CSA work this year with the COVID-19 situation, particularly compared to other years?
GEYER: Our CSA, which we also refer to as a Farm Share program, exploded in demand this year. People were really looking to find healthy options that could keep them out of crowded grocery stores, and direct farm support with online pre-ordering was appealing. Our Farm Share program had about 430 members last year, and we maintained 600 shares with a waiting list this year, and that was just for our Richmond location. Our Annapolis satellite had about 150 members, too.
How did you decide to set up a CSA, since you had PYO and other sales strategies in place?
GEYER: PYO has a lot of hassle to it. We decided to ‘take the fruit to the people’ not ‘bring the people to the fruit.’ So through local business and community partnerships, along with farmers markets, we set up weekday pick-up locations for our CSA. The pre-ordered nature helped us get a handle on demand and how to approach production acreage.
What is the biggest advantage of a CSA?
GEYER: The biggest advantage is the cash flow in the off season. By encouraging preorders with a ‘paid in full by start of season’ discount, we get cash flow January through April, before fruit income starts coming in. The second-biggest advantage is moving large amounts of fruit during the weekdays. Many farm-direct marketing businesses do high-volume sales at farmers markets or PYO/on farm events on the weekend, but fresh fruit needs to be harvested more regularly than once a week, especially with spotted wing drosophila pressure in the mix now.
How does the CSA complement your other sales approaches?
GEYER: Ideally, we would be in an 80:20 mix of retail and wholesale sales points, only using wholesale when in peak production so we can have plenty of confidence our acreage can meet our needs in a modest year. When production exceeds our retail capacity, we lean on wholesale vendors to move additional product. The CSA complementing weekend farmers markets is incredible, though. It lets us maximize the weekends with about 10 market sites and still have weekday homes for the fruit.”
What is the biggest challenge of a CSA?
GEYER: One big challenge is the timing. This is somewhat a monster of our own making, but we use an online program called Harvie to organize and communicate with our members. Harvie allows them to customize their shares based on what they like and don’t like.
I appreciate the comments from Pierson and find his perspective very enlightening. Is a CSA/Farm Share a viable option for other berry growers, too? This story sounds very interesting to me, and I hope this information highlights a few key aspects of this unique marketing system. Let the berry good times roll!
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