Background

With a background in sales and seven generations of family farming to draw upon, Chris Herrera opened Deep Roots Farm, driven by a commitment to serve and nourish his local community. Inspired by other small market gardeners, he recognized the potential to provide local residents with a more flexible CSA program. Chris initially opted for LocalLine, a farm eCommerce platform he learned about through a farming podcast.

The challenge: Navigating growing pains

Chris thrived as he engaged with customers at his farmstand, jotting down their contact information with pen and paper and assisting them in navigating the CSA sign-up process. However, despite their unwavering support, LocalLine fell short of Chris's expectations. 

High extra fees and a less-than-user-friendly platform frustrated both him and his members. LocalLine did not come out of the box with Subscriptions, Credit Card Payment processing, or a Website Builder. Without it, ordering became a hassle for customers, as they had to enter their credit card information every week they wanted to participate in Chris’s CSA. Behind the scenes, the workload piled up – adjusting member subscriptions, managing payments, and keeping in touch with customers. It all became overwhelming, and even with a modest-sized CSA, the idea of expansion was daunting.

Chris realized that the flexible, subscription-based support he thought he’d be able to offer his customers would require a hefty upcharge to his existing monthly CSA software subscription. As a numbers guy, Chris knew that something wasn’t adding up. 

While switching platforms mid-season seemed risky, Chris’ eagerness to supercharge his business and meet the community's needs led him to Farmhand.  

The change: a mid-season migration leads to 8x growth

Chris partnered with Farmhand to bring his CSA vision to life without any upfront costs or interruptions. In just a few hours, Chris’ dream of a CSA with no setup fees, the option to skip weeks, and managed member sign-ups, communication, and payment was implemented, and all of his existing CSA members were migrated over to Farmhand with zero interruptions.  

Chris asked Farmhand to launch a secure, mobile-friendly custom website to tell his brand story and compliment the comprehensive free-to-use CSA management platform and customer facing signup page. Paired with new farmstand flyers and signage, also created by Farmhand, Chris had everything he needed to digitally capture leads from his Farmstand and turn them into repeat CSA subscribers for less than the cost of his original Local Line subscription 

In just one month, Chris realized real revenue and membership growth, but the growth didn’t stop there. After partnering with Farmhand, Chris was able to quickly iterate on his CSA offerings and diversify his sales channels. Today, he’s 8xed his ever-growing CSA member base, and grown revenue by %xx through an add-on and retail shop, farm event sales, and an Honor Stand–all managed through Farmhand. 

In Chris’ own words, “I love being able to text Farmhand with my updates, and then go focus on other areas of the farm with confidence that my newsletter, customer communications, CSA membership support, and invoicing are all taken care of.”

Deep Roots Farm’s journey with Farmhand not only resulted in tangible growth, but also provided a strong base that can scale alongside Chris as he grows the farm for years to come.