Tag: small farm business ideas

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Let’s be real—no one saw 2020 coming. One minute, we were setting up our usual booth at the Saturday farmers market, chatting with familiar faces about the weather and which tomatoes were doing best that season. The next… everything shut down. Just like that.
And suddenly, we were all left asking the same question: Now what?
If you’re a small farmer, you probably lived your own version of this. And if you’re just curious about how farms adapted during that time, well… it was a wild ride.
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When Everything Changed Overnight
Before the pandemic, most of us had a rhythm. Full-time job. Markets on weekends. Maybe a small farm stand during the week. Pick-your-own in the busy season. I knew our customers, remembered their favorites, and built real relationships—one conversation at a time.
Then all of that disappeared.
No more chatting over baskets of strawberries. No more kids running through the fields. No more “try this, it’s the best one I picked this morning.”
But here’s the surprising part…
While I was worrying about how to sell our food, people were suddenly very interested in where their food was coming from. With supply chains getting shaky, buying local didn’t just feel nice—it felt necessary.
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What Actually Worked (From One Farmer to Another)
1. Getting Online (Even If It Felt Awkward at First)
I’ll be honest—unlike me, most of us didn’t sign up to be tech experts. Even I had a learning curve and I’ve been in the IT field for over 33 years, but I figured it out, little by little.
Nothing fancy. Just simple, practical steps:
• Learning to use AI to edit and review my posts before they went up
• Create a basic website so people knew what I had (Using AI can make this easier)
• Posting photos on Facebook or Instagram (nothing polished—just real farm life)
• Sending a weekly email update
• Letting customers pre-order for pickup
That was it.
And guess what? People didn’t care about fancy graphics. They just wanted to feel connected. Your story—the real, messy, everyday version of it—mattered more than anything.
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2. CSA Programs
Not in my current, short-term plan, but if you’ve ever considered starting a CSA, this was the moment they really proved their value.
CSAs are basically a group of customers who pay upfront for a weekly box of whatever your farm is producing.
During all that uncertainty? That upfront income made a huge difference.
For many, CSAs went beyond the money, something else happened—people felt invested. They were excited. Curious. Genuinely part of the farm.
Honestly, it turned customers into a community.
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3. Working Together Instead of Competing
This was a big shift.
Instead of seeing other farms as competition, we started teaming up. And instead of just thinking about selling to restaurants, we sought to partner with them.
Some of the best ideas came out of that:
• Sharing products across farms to create mixed boxes
• Supplying local restaurants adapting to takeout
• Working with small grocery stores to highlight local food
• Even putting together deliveries for workplaces
It stopped being “every farm for itself” and became something much more collaborative.
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4. The Rise of “No Contact” Sales
This one surprised me the most.
I went from face-to-face everything… to barely interacting at all. And somehow—it worked.
Simple setups made all the difference:
• Driveway stands
• Scheduled pickups
• Delivery routes
• Honor-system payments
And here’s the kicker—people loved the convenience. Many still do.
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What I Really Learned
Looking back, the biggest lesson? Don’t rely on just one way of doing things.
The farms that adapted quickest were the ones willing to try, fail, adjust, and try again.
A few things really stood out:
• People care about who grows their food
• Convenience matters—but connection still counts
• Customers genuinely want to support local farms
• Technology isn’t the enemy—it’s just another tool
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Moving Forward (And Why It’s Actually Exciting)
I won’t pretend it was easy. It wasn’t.
But in a strange way, that period pushed us to grow—not just crops, but how I run our farms.
Now, it’s not one or the other. It’s everything working together:
• Online ordering and in-person pickup
• CSA boxes and farmers markets
• Restaurant partnerships and direct sales
And the result? Farms that are more connected to their communities than ever.
If you’re just starting out—or thinking about making changes—keep this in mind:
• People want real food from real people.
• They want your story. They want to support you. They want to feel good about what they’re feeding their families.
And that connection? It’s stronger now than ever.
So wherever you’re at—start there. Use what you have. Try something new.
Because every farm that made it through this started the same way: someone was willing to change their way of thinking and figure it out as they went.