Are you looking for a way to make money on your homestead or hobby farm? Then, starting a CSA might be perfect for you. Today we will talk about everything you need to know about CSA’s and how can it help your homestead.
What is a CSA?
CSA means Community Shared Agriculture. Essentially, the concept is the consumer pays “a share” for the season. What they get or how long the payment covers depends on which type you do.
How do CSA’s help homesteaders?
This can give a guaranteed non-refundable sale and recurring income instead of just the chance of someone buying your products. Since they already paid for it, they have invested interest, meaning less food will go to waste. CSA’s can also help you plan how much you need to grow so you don’t have produce going bad (and costing you).
Full Season Box
This one has to be the most common CSA. In this kind of CSA, a consumer pays an upfront cost to the farmer for the growing season and essentially gets a box of produce, meat, honey, eggs, or dairy products once a week or once a month like a subscription box.
A popular to way for people use this method is to sell meat for a season. You can list how much meat you will have for sale and then offer slots.
Monthly Box
This approach is the same as the Full Season Box however the consumer pays a smaller fee each month instead of a big payment at the start of the season. The benefit of this CSA is you get a consistent monthly income and you can sell different goods as the seasons change. This is also good for farmers and homesteaders that have a short growing season or who will only have goods to sell for a few months.
Market Bucks CSA
Another approach people is to give seasonal farm bucks for farmers’ markets. By paying up front, costumers get benefits like reserved products or extra farm bucks. For payment, the most popular way is to have a season sign up form (on your website) where the consumer pays for the whole season up front.
Joint CSA Box
A cooperative CSA is where multiple businesses come together come together to offer a CSA box. This could be a produce farmer, a flower farm, a dairy farm, creamery, or any other homestead product. You can do this type of CSA seasonally or monthly. The best part of this type is that it is so customizable, you could bring on different partners for each box or change it up seasonally.
Many homesteaders and farmers use CSAs as a part of their income (if successful, maybe even all of their income) so if you are looking to make money off your homestead, starting a CSA might be a good option for you.
Looking for other ways to make money on your homestead? Than you are going to love our Monetize Your Homestead Starter Kit! It includes our Farm Name Formula ebook, 101+ Ways To Make Money On Your Homestead workbook, Branding Checklist, Social Media Checklist and a 45-Minute strategy call.