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.

Still have questions? We have answers. Email GrownBy support directly at [email protected], or schedule a one-on-one call with one of our team members. A real human with farming experience will get back to you as soon as possible!


 


    • Related Articles

    • CSA Groups

      What is a CSA Group? GrownBy has many tools to support CSA groups and subscription sales. Currently, all shares or subscriptions MUST be associated with a CSA group. Before creating subscriptions through shares, please set up a CSA group. A share or ...

    • The Custom Shares Dashboard

      The Custom Shares Dashboard If you are running a customizable CSA on GrownBy, the Custom Shares page of your dashboard is the place to go for settings and information related to that customization. It’s also the place to go to set your customization ...

    • How Customized Shares Work in GrownBy

      Custom Shares GrownBy offers customizable shares for shoppers. A custom shares plan is necessary to offer customized shares. You may also be interested in a different type of custom share system (such as a spend-down CSA). You can read more about ...

    • Transitioning Your CSA from One Season to the Next

      Transitioning Your CSA from One Season to the Next You may ask yourself: What do I do at the end of a year? How do I transition my GrownBy set-up from one season to another? How does the way I set up my GrownBy influence the data I can get from ...

    • Charging Site or Membership Fees for CSA Shares

      Charging Site or Membership Fees for CSA Shares This article is about community location/site fees for share/subscription products. Other related topics are covered in the following articles: GrownBy offers built-in tools for charging delivery and ...