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!

Customizable Box CSA
YES!
  1. FAQ
  2. Contact our support team to start set up
  3. Example Farm: Ridge to Reef Farm

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

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.

Multi-farm CSA
YES, depending

  • 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!

  1. Create a Year-round schedule.
Sliding Scales or Tiers
YES!
  1. Use a share template to make a share and then have different price tiers nested in that template
Workplace CSA
YES!
  1. Works like other CSAs
  2. Can use a private CSA if only employees can pickup from this location.
Delivered CSA
YES!

  1. See this article on delivery.

Shipped CSA

YES!
  1. See this article on shipping.

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