Think about the last item you purchased — new clothes, a book, or last night’s takeout. How did you find it and how did you buy it?
Chances are, you found and bought it online.
Online sales have completely changed the way we buy things. The Department of Commerce estimated that total e-commerce sales in 2021 in the U.S. topped $870.8 billion — a 14.2 percent increase compared to 2020. Whether the continued increase of online shopping is due to newfound convenience or to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, online sales are solidly here to stay.
For sellers, online sales mean higher profit margins, a direct line to customers and an efficient approach to accounting. Online sales offer flexibility and open up a whole new segment of customers. Standing at a farmers market booth all day is no longer needed; just turn on your online store and share it with customers.
This all sounds great — especially for the farmer looking to make life a little easier for themselves –– but what do online sales really mean for family farms across the country?
One word: access.
Selling online increases farmers’ access to customers and — maybe more importantly — customers’ access to local farmers. Farmers markets and co-ops are great sales channels to find customers and establish relationships, but they come with challenges and don’t scale very easily. Selling online allows a farmer to set their own terms, establish their own expectations and grow their business without having to rely on a third party.
With new ventures comes a need for new skill sets. Getting started with selling online can seem like a black box. There’s a lot to learn and a lot to do. Setting up a website with an online store, choosing sales channels, getting noticed on Google and social media … the list goes on.
On top of that, a lot of farmers aren’t salespeople. Most haven’t cultivated the sales and marketing skills necessary to compete in today’s market. Digital marketing, customer communication and administration are not often taught in traditional farm-focused resources.
Ready Farmer One: The Farmer’s Guide to Create, Design, and Market an Online Farm Store is the first book of its kind — one that will teach these skills, which are fundamental for online sales. It takes readers through the different stages of starting and scaling an online farm store. From choosing the right sales channels to building your online store to becoming a master of branding and storytelling, Ready Farmer One can help grow your farm’s online sales.
The book was co-written by Diego Footer, farm podcaster and owner of Paperpot.co, and Nina Galle, Head of Content at Local Line — a platform designed to help farmers sell online. Their aim is to create the industry standard for farmers starting and building their online store and presence.
“In 2020, I hosted an online sales series on my podcast, Farm Small Farm Smart. Throughout this series, I interviewed folks using Facebook groups, email lists, spreadsheets and e-commerce platforms like Shopify or Local Line,” explains Footer. “I knew this series needed to go a step further — to provide farmers everything they needed to thrive in this online world.”
“I’ve learned the ins and outs of local food systems at Local Line the past five years — what consumers are looking for, how to get farmers in front of them, and how to make it all happen logistically,” says Galle. “That’s how we came to the idea of equipping farmers with the skills needed to develop and reach their sales channels.”
Ready Farmer One helps farmers learn how to choose a sales model and a platform that can be used to manage sales; how sales and delivery systems can save time and frustration; how to set up an online store to maximize sales and build a website to convert prospects into customers; and a four-part marketing strategy to grow a customer base and create loyal fans — i.e., all the knowledge, skills and tools you need to create a successful online store.
The book is full of proven, successful methods used by farmers who are excelling in online sales. It includes anecdotes and lessons from dozens of active farmers, ranchers and farmers market managers. Melissa Ballard, a rancher from Bluegrass Beef in Kentucky, describes how she sends her followers multiple updates every week on what’s happening on the farm and what they can expect next; by opening up the realm of digital communication, she’s more connected than ever and has a broader range of customers.
Hermann Bruns, a vegetable farmer at Wild Flight Farm in New York, was concerned with how he was going to manage the move toward diversifying his farm’s sales models to wholesale and direct to consumer. He’s now operating predominantly online and his time spent record keeping has been drastically reduced.
Or Hilary Papuchis, a grower at Hildan Produce in Maryland — when starting her microgreens business, she knew she wanted to sell to chefs in her community. She used social media to target chefs directly, and consumers quickly started showing interest in her products. Her customer base doubled, and online sales allowed her to service wholesale customers and her retail store through one avenue — no farmers market required.
Ready Farmer One has the potential to revolutionize farmers’ business and marketing skillsets. J.M. Fortier, organic grower and teacher of the Market Gardener’s Masterclass, writes in the book’s forward, “You will learn how to utilize the technological tools that are now paving the way for successfully conducting a small-scale farming business. Ready Farmer One is the most important new farming book of the next decade. I’ve learned a lot, and you will too.”
And Joel Salatin says, “I haven’t been this excited about a book for a long time. Most of us farmers aren’t savvy about electronic marketing and social media, but Diego and Nina answer every question like a recipe book — you can do this.”
Learn more about the book at readyfarmerone.com.
