204 A Two-Year Roadmap for New CSA Farmers with Glen Young of Cold Springs Organics
My Digital Farmer | Marketing Strategies for Farmers
Release Date: 03/29/2023
339 How I Got 234 CSA Members to Sign Up in One Day
My Digital Farmer | Marketing Strategies for Farmers
What would it feel like to generate $250,000 in revenue from your farm in just one week? In this episode, I take you behind the scenes of our biggest—and most important—promotion of the year: our CSA Early Bird Renewal Campaign. We just wrapped up the 2026 launch, and the numbers are in: ➡️ 265 shares sold in 7 days ➡️ 234 of them sold in the first 24 hours 🤯 ➡️ Average order value: ~$950 ➡️ Platform: Local Line (and nope—no crashes!) If you're wondering how we got hundreds of customers to show up, click, and commit on Day One, you're going to want to listen to this. ...
info_outline
BONUS Quick Tips for Selling More Farm Products for the Holidays
My Digital Farmer | Marketing Strategies for Farmers
Thanksgiving is right around the corner, and you might be thinking, “It’s too late to pull off a holiday promo.” But guess what? It’s not. This time of year, your customers are already in buying mode -- planning meals, prepping for gatherings, and looking for unique local gifts. Which means there’s money sitting on the table right now for your farm. In this episode, I’m showing you how to grab it. In this week’s episode, I’m giving you plug-and-play ideas for last-minute Thanksgiving offers you can launch this week -- even if you feel behind. You’ll learn: 🥕 How to...
info_outline
338 How to Manage Your Farm Facebook Group Between Seasons
My Digital Farmer | Marketing Strategies for Farmers
This week’s episode was inspired by an email from a listener named Jenna, who wrote in with a fantastic question: “As our season ends in December and the next CSA won’t begin until spring, I’m wondering how you handle your private CSA Facebook group between seasons. Do you create a new group each year, or do you maintain the same group and remove members who don’t continue?” If you run a CSA, you’ve probably wrestled with this too. What do you do with your private Facebook group when the season ends? Do you close it? Keep it open? Kick people out who don’t renew? In this...
info_outline
337 How to Build a Simple Referral Engine for Your Farm
My Digital Farmer | Marketing Strategies for Farmers
What’s the best way to get new customers for your farm? Answer: Word of mouth. And the best part? You already have a loyal fanbase! You just need to activate it. Okay so how do you do that? In this episode, I show you how to build a simple referral system that runs quietly in the background and brings in your dream customers—the ones who are already pre-sold by someone they trust. You’ll learn: Why referrals work better than ads (and cost you way less) 5 ingredients of an irresistible referral offer When and how to ask for a referral (timing is everything) Real farm examples by...
info_outline
When Your Best-Selling Farm Product Disappears - Inside a FMS Coaching Call
My Digital Farmer | Marketing Strategies for Farmers
What would you do if the product your customers loved the most—the one they buy first, talk about the most, and happily pay premium prices for—was suddenly GONE… and you knew it would be two years before you could sell it again? This happened to one of my Farm Marketing School members, Stacie. She raises meat and sells a monthly membership that gives her customers first access to everything. But as of this month… her freezers are completely out of beef. Zero inventory. And she won’t have more until 2027. She came to our group coaching call in full-on panic mode: “How do I keep...
info_outline
335 Rinse and Repeat — This Simple Farm Marketing Hack Will Save You Time
My Digital Farmer | Marketing Strategies for Farmers
As farmers, we live and breathe systems. We know when to seed, when to transplant, when to harvest. It's all about rhythm and routine. So why do we make our marketing so much harder than it needs to be? When I finally embraced this one simple mindset shift in my marketing — rinse and repeat — everything changed. Suddenly I wasn’t recreating the wheel every season. I was building campaigns that got easier, faster, and more effective with time. I wish I’d adopted this sooner. In this episode, I unpack the powerful (and often overlooked) marketing hack of repeating what worked — instead...
info_outline
334 The Anatomy of a Great Email Offer — A Deep Dive Audit
My Digital Farmer | Marketing Strategies for Farmers
Every once in a while, an email offer lands in my inbox that stops me in my tracks. It's not just well-written... it's strategic. It makes me want to forward it. Study it. Steal from it. In today’s episode, I’m auditing one of those unicorn emails — and I’m showing you why it worked so well. This email (from Function Health) was a masterclass in offer psychology. It played multiple sales motivators all at once, had brilliant positioning, and used subtle language that made it feel like a gift — not a pitch. It’s rare to find something this clean, so I knew I had to share it with...
info_outline
333 Finding Your Farm's Gateway Offer
My Digital Farmer | Marketing Strategies for Farmers
Most farmers try to push the “big sale” first… but what if your smallest product was actually the secret to long-term customer loyalty? In this episode, I break down the concept of the gateway offer—a key piece of your sales funnel that many farms overlook. You’ll learn what it is, why it matters, how to identify yours, and how to use it to grow your customer base on purpose. You’ll discover: What a gateway offer is (with examples for veggie, meat, flower, and value-added farms) Why small, low-risk products are often your most powerful marketing tool How to position and...
info_outline
332 Quick Tip - How to Get Your First Farm Testimonials
My Digital Farmer | Marketing Strategies for Farmers
One of the biggest struggles for new farm businesses? No testimonials. When you're just starting out, you know your product is amazing—but your customers don’t. And without social proof, it's hard for new buyers to feel confident putting your food in their cart (or their bodies). In this episode, I share a simple, repeatable strategy to jumpstart your testimonials—even with zero reviews. And yes, it involves giving away product strategically to build the kind of trust that drives sales. You’ll learn: Why testimonials are one of your biggest marketing levers The catch-22 most...
info_outline
331 Coaching Call: Advice for a Farmer in their First Year
My Digital Farmer | Marketing Strategies for Farmers
Ever wonder what it’s really like inside one of my monthly FMS coaching calls? In this episode, you’ll listen in on a real strategy session with a first-year chicken & egg farm business. We dig into their sales funnel, troubleshoot the sticking points, and uncover where the energy (and growth potential) really lives. Inside this call, we cover: What’s clogging the sales pipeline in their direct-to-consumer model How to build a product ladder that bridges the pricing gap Why their quirky Chicken Bingo event is a marketing goldmine Why the fear of running out of product can...
info_outlineWhat if someone could give you a roadmap of "what to do" in your first 2 years to build your CSA business? In today's episode, I interview Farmer Glen Young -- a 2-year farmer who is hell-bent on building his new farm business to be profitable by year 5.
Glen has made all of the mistakes possible in his first two seasons of organic market gardening as he has built up to a 40 member CSA and a once-per-week Farmer's Market operation. He has "bet the farm" on making Cold Springs Organics environmentally and financially sustainable and he has a deep-rooted interest in seeing other new farmers do the same. Join him and Corinna as they discuss all the sales and marketing things that have worked and what he would do differently if he were to have a do-over for the first two years on the farm.
This podcast was sponsored by Local Line, the leading e-commerce platform for the local food system. Try Local Line for your farm today! Local Line is offering a free premium feature for free for one year on top of your paid subscription. Claim your discount by signing up for a Local Line account today and using the coupon code: MDF2023. Head to my special affiliate link to get started: www.mydigitalfarmer.com/localline
LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
Join my free email list! I have a great "email onboarding sequence" that will guide you through the marketing jungle over the course of several months. Each week, you'll get a new email with suggestions and tips to make your marketing better.
Building a Storybrand by Donald Miller -- Glen mentioned this book several times, as a key resource that helped him identify the framework for his farm's "brand script."
Accelerator Group Coaching with Corinna -- get on the wait list for this 15-member group Mastermind and Farm Marketing School experience.
A to Z Vegetable Storage Guide -- join the dozens of farmers who have purchased this Canva template to use as a lead-generating tool
Glen offered his farm's business plan to our listeners. You can find it on his website here.
ChatGPT -- an AI powered bot that will blow your mind with its creative writing potential.
Sign up for my CSA Academy -- and get access to my CSA member resource library to use for your own CSA (as long as you're a paying member). Use coupon code TRIAL to get your first month for $1.
CSA Early Bird Launch Course -- Learn how to get your CSA members to renew their shares when you want them to, using the "launch" promotion technique in this online course
CSA Quickstart -- Glen enrolled in this comprehensive course that teaches you how to start a CSA from scratch -- all the systems and production stuff -- in 60 days.