How to use GrownBy for different CSA types, including Custom

How to use GrownBy for different CSA types, including Custom

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) share types have evolved significantly over the years and we see many innovations. Farmers use the phrase “CSA” and its framework to describe all kinds of selling strategies. 

With this chart, we aim to help you understand how GrownBy can work for your variation on CSA. Our support and sales staff are on hand to help you set up your shop and we highly encourage you–especially if your model is a bit quirky–to reach out to us!

“Type of CSA Style”

Does this work on GrownBy?

Considerations

Traditional CSA

YES!

Spenddown CSA (or Credit CSA)

YES!

  • Works great for pre-ordered shares. 

  • Sell farm credit to the member and then they can shop each week

  • Set up farm credit as a digital product

  • Use promotions and discounts if that’s part of your model

  • Can work well for “shares” that are debited at a market stand, too, if farmers or customers use the mobile app.

  • Example farm: The Lo Farm

Free Choice Shares

Can work

  • If the member picks up on site, GrownBy works wonderfully.

  • Other methods like pre-ordered boxes can also work, and you should contact our team to set up.

  • Example farm: River Queen Greens

Flexible week CSA

YES!

Bi-weekly or monthly shares

YES!

  • Many farms use this strategy, often with two different share products with names like “Bi-weekly A week” and “biweekly B week”

  • Using a share template makes it extra easy and makes reports clearer!

Small/Medium/Large shares

YES!

  • Simply create different share products for each size

Customizable box CSA

Can work

  • Farms do this in many different ways, so contact our support team to discuss your method and how to do it on GrownBy

Rolling shares

YES!

  • Work with our support team to make a schedule that is longer than the number of pick-ups in the share.

  • Pay extra attention to the billing end date.

  • Example Farm: Veggi Farmers Cooperative

Multi-farm CSA

Can work

  • Any farm on GrownBy can add products from other producers.

  • Use the producer field in a product to be transparent with customers. Consider prominently featuring the logo of the other producer in the product photo. 

  • Sign-in sheet exports and Invoice Detail exports include producer fields to allow for better management.

  • Payment goes through one primary farm.

U-pick CSA

YES!

  • Farms do this in many different ways, so contact our support team to discuss your method and how to do it on GrownBy. 

  • Some farms sell a one-priced share and others might sell time slots.

Year-round shares

YES!

  • Create a Year-round schedule.

Sliding Scales or Tiers

YES!

Workplace CSA
YES!

  1. Can use a private CSA if only employees can pickup from this location.

Delivered CSA

YES!

  1. See this article on delivery.
Shipping CSA
YES!
  1. See this article on shipping.

Distribution Strategies. 
  1. Market Style - Members choose the exact item they want from a bin. For example, the list says “one bunch of beets” but the member can decide which bunch of beets they want. (Note that for this model, you’ll usually need to leave bins at the distribution location from week to week, so you’ll need to own enough bins.)
  2. Pre-Boxed - All of the items for the week are pre-boxed and the customer just takes their box home. Customers might return the boxes to be used again.
  3. Free Choice - In this style, all of the produce is out on display and members might be able to take a specific number of items. Or there might be no limit at all and members just take what they need.
  4. Flexible-week CSA - In this model customers can choose the weeks they want to pick up. May work well in a university town or a place with lots of part-time residences.
  5. Weekly, bi-weekly, and monthly shares: Some farmers offer a variety of schedules.
  6. Many farms offer their shares on different schedules.
  7. Some farms offer only weekly shares but allow customers to pair with another customer to pick up every other week.
  8. Differently sized shares are another approach that can allow a farm to market to more families. Some farms might offer a larger sized share for bigger families. 
Production Strategies. 
  1. Multi Farm - Two or more farms grow items for the CSA share in collaboration. They may share administrative duties, might divide the crops, might both relieve some payment up-front. (In some CSA farms the primary farmer might buy in a crop or two that they can’t or don’t want to grow, for example, potatoes, green beans, or sweet corn. We wouldn't consider that a multi-farm CSA, but would encourage those farms to be transparent about who they’ve bought the additional items from.) 
  2. Member Run - In this version, the members do all of the harvesting and most of the labor. As you could imagine, it doesn’t work everywhere or for every farm! Some farms might call this a U-pick CSA. 
  3. Year-round shares - This model has pick-ups all year long. This might be sold as separate seasonal shares but could also require the members to join for the whole year.
  4. Winter-only shares- Some farms that have developed strong storage and winter growing practices offer winter shares at their distribution locations or at other sites where the seasonal farmer doesn’t offer a winter share. Some farms have experimented with being winter-only. 
Sales strategies
  1. Traditional CSA- In this model, members pay at the beginning of the season and get a share of what is harvested each week. Members share in the bounty and risk of the farm. The farms often have membership agreements. If a customer doesn’t pick up, their share is donated or composted.
  2. Sliding Scales/tiers - In this model, a member chooses the income level that best describes them and the cost of the share reflects their income level. This is a way to make shares available for all families. 
  3. Spenddown CSA or Farm Credit CSA - In this model, customers buy credit from the farm at the beginning of the season. Some farms give additional credit for prepaying. For example, a member buys $500 in credit and gets $525 to spend for the season. Some farms have a swipeable card to use at a market stand. Others use online platforms to manage to debit the credit amount. Customers place their orders each week for the crops they want to receive and the costs of those items are deducted from the customer’s balance.
  4. Customizable Boxed CSA - This model varies widely. Sometimes, the farm has a share planned for the week but customers can use the software platform to swap out items they don’t want for items they’d prefer.
  5. Rolling shares - In this model you can buy for a set number of weeks or distributions in the future. For example, a farm might offer 12 weeks of egg deliveries.
Site Strategies
  1. Workplace CSA: This type of share is distributed at a workplace and might only be available to employees. It is often supported by management, perhaps financially or with some staff time. 
  2. Delivery: Some CSA farms offer delivery. Takes considerable time for deliveries.
  3. Shipping: Shipping can work well for stand-alone shares of meat, grains, or medicinal herbs.
Add-on shares
  1. Add-on shares can mirror many of the strategies above.
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact support@grownby.app or schedule a time to talk with us here!





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