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“You’re Really Going to Pay That?” or How I’m Going to Make your Farm More Profitable

[Also in this series: The Albatross of Vegetables,  “We sold out 7 weeks before first delivery…”, Here’s how I help market farms  ]

(No time to read? Harvie is the kind of cost that makes you money.)

Dear Farmers and Supporters,

At the root, my work for the last 12 years has been about helping local farms achieve profitability. That’s my ultimate vision: that farming the way we do can and should be economically sustainable to the farm family and the people who work on the farm. (Read One Dollar, One Vote.)

I want to help farm achieve financial success, but to do that we need to charge for our services.

So, the case I must make with farms is, while you pay us, Harvie will at least maintain profit margins, if not increase them. If I can’t make this case, your farm should not adopt Harvie.

Here’s what farms using Harvie say about the cost of the service:

“The cost of Harvie seemed steep, and we definitely hesitated before signing up.  What we’ve realized is the cost isn’t just for great software, it’s for marketing assistance and customer service support, too.  I’ve spent significantly less time answering and solving basic questions like how to put a hold on a box, how to set a vacation hold, questions about payments, and so much more.  Our customers, even longtime members who would support us no matter what, have been extremely happy with the Harvie system, and tell us all the time how much they love it.  It’s hard to imagine going back to the old way of doing things, and I love giving our customers what they want.”  – Barr Farms

“We’re loving everything about Harvie. I initially was thinking my goodness a % of my sales goes to a tech company…and geez, another % to credit card processors??? In all reality, it works so well and the support that you receive with Harvie is amazing. You know when you finally get to that point that you can buy a really high quality tool that works so well in so many conditions….that’s Harvie. But that’s not it. They have people on their team that help create promo and marketing material for your farm. Its really exciting to be part of a great network of enthusiastic farm people. I’m a total cheerleader for Harvie because its helped my business.” – Sustainable Harvest Farm

“As a farmer using Harvie I can tell you that the fee is pretty easy to justify in saved time. I suspect I am one of the smallest farms using the platform, but this year for about $150/wk I’ve cut my share administration time down to about 30min/wk, increase customer satisfaction by miles and take two mornings off farming a week to spend at home with my toddler. I no longer have to track payments, deal with a complicated inventory system like when I used Farmigo, or even answer customer emails most of the time as Harvie support has usually answered and sorted requests or problems before I even sit down for lunch and check my messages. Best of all, almost all my work time is now spent farming! I haven’t tracked hours to be sure but I believe I’m saving several hundred dollars per week.” – Daniel, Country Thyme Farm

How much does it cost?

$500 one-time set up fee

7% of sales, with discounts for farms over $250,000/yearly revenue

3% fee for credit card transactions

Simple. We only get paid when you get paid.

What does this include?

  • The technology platform to run a high retention CSA / farm share program
  • Cooking Suggestion Engine: members get recipe and cooking preparation suggestions based on their box
  • We’ll set up your Harvie site for you
  • Marketing / sales assistance, consultation, and resources
  • High quality customer support both to you as the farmer and your consumers
  • Training from set up to setting delivery estimates to delivery logistics
  • On-going support from my team to make sure you are using Harvie

How to pay for it?

This is an increased cost, so you must account for this in your margins. There are a variety of areas you could look at to justify the added cost:

  • Many of our farms increase prices to cover the fee since this is a service to the customers.
  • Many farms give 10-30% more retail value in shares than members pay for. With Harvie’s technology and customized shares, members get what they want and they get retail value. This means that our farms can generate 10-30% more revenue off the same production.
  • Decrease in admin time means saving on staff costs – many of our farms report not needing a dedicated farm share manager.
  • Harvie helps farms grow membership so the same equipment can be used to serve more members which increases profitability.
  • Moving farm sales from low margin channels like wholesale to high margin farm share sales increases profitability.
  • Reduced marketing expense due to higher retention rates.

Cost-Benefit Analysis

If you are a “numbers” person you will appreciate this Cost-benefit analysis spreadsheet to quantify the added costs and benefits of Harvie. Download your own copy and edit with your own numbers using these instructions or I can work through this with you.

For example, an average 250 farm member farm will see a yearly net-benefit of $72,000 by joining Harvie.

Harvie is the kind of cost that makes you money.

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