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In recent years, the concept of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) has gained momentum, transforming the way consumers engage with food production. A single farm might operate a CSA program, sell at local farmers' markets, and supply fresh produce to nearby restaurants and food hubs, creating multiple avenues to support sustainable agriculture.
At its core, a CSA facilitates a direct relationship between consumers and producers, allowing individuals to subscribe to seasonal produce and receive fresh goods from local farms. Various models of CSA have evolved, each offering unique features and catering to different consumer needs.
This guide explores three popular CSA models: The Farmer's Choice Model, The Customizable Box or Buy-Down Model, and The Subscription Model. Each offers unique benefits and considerations for farmers looking to start or improve their CSA program.
A CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) is a partnership between farmers and their communities. Members pay upfront at the start of the season, giving farmers the funds they need to grow crops. In return, members typically receive a weekly share of fresh, seasonal produce, which may include fruits, vegetables, and other farm goods like eggs or dairy.
Many CSAs offer seasonal options like summer shares (typically running June through October with fresh produce at peak harvest) and winter shares (usually November through February/March, featuring storage crops, greenhouse produce, and preserved items).
CSAs aren’t just about food—they’re about supporting local farms, reducing the distance food travels, and creating stronger connections between farmers and the people who enjoy their harvests. CSAs complement other sales channels for many farmers, such as farmers' markets or partnerships with restaurants and food hubs.
👉Read more: Is a CSA right for you?
The Farmer's Choice model is a simple and straightforward CSA structure. Farms sell shares months before the season begins, often offering a choice between a small or large box based on household size. Members receive a standardized box of fresh produce weekly at a designated pick-up location.
To successfully run a Farmer’s Choice model, you want to be able to track the outgoing inventory of individual items and outgoing boxes to your customers. Having both of these tracked separately allows you to know exactly how many individual items you sold at the end of the season for planning and ensuring that customers get their orders each week.
Tools like Local Line’s Box Builder enable farmers to pre-design boxes that customers can view before purchasing. Farmers can easily create and manage weekly offerings, updating box contents based on harvest availability. This streamlined approach reduces administrative workload, simplifies packing and distribution, and ensures a smooth customer experience for pick-up and delivery. The biggest benefit? At the end of the season, you can pull a report to show exactly what you’ve sold.
This model builds on the Farmer's Choice concept by allowing customers to select their weekly box contents. Customers purchase credit at the beginning of the season and use it to customize their box orders weekly based on their preferences and the farm’s inventory.
For a Customizable Box or Buy-Down Model, you need two things to ensure success: 1) a way to track how much credit each customer has, and 2) allow customers to “build their box.” Local Line’s Store Credit feature allows farmers to track customer credits in real-time, enabling members to apply their balance to weekly orders and adjust as needed.
Next, with Price Lists, you can create a unique CSA storefront that lists all the products your members can choose from. Allow them to build their orders and pay with store credit. At the end of the order cycle, you get an exact breakdown of all the individual orders, and customers know how much they have left for the season. This streamlined approach ensures transparency, encourages repeat purchases, and opens opportunities for upselling when customers exhaust their credits before the season concludes.
The Subscription model has gained popularity across various farm products, including vegetables, meat, dairy, and value-added goods. In this model, customers subscribe to a product or service (e.g., a weekly vegetable box) for a set period or indefinitely. Payments are collected on a recurring basis, such as weekly or monthly.
You need sales software that supports subscriptions: the ability for customers to subscribe to a certain product, this case a CSA box, with a certain fulfillment frequency, at a certain price. Local Line’s Subscriptions feature does just that. You can automate recurring payments and simplify order tracking, making it easy for customers to sign up and for farmers to manage subscriptions.
Paired with a tool like Box Builder, farmers can offer customers the ability to customize their recurring orders, enhancing satisfaction, fostering loyalty, and reducing waste. These features work together to streamline operations and create a flexible, customer-friendly CSA experience.
Each CSA model offers unique benefits and challenges. Below is a side-by-side comparison to help you determine which model aligns best with your farm and customers:
👉Need help setting up your CSA online? Book a demo with someone from our team and they would be happy to show you around Local Line.
Choosing the right CSA model depends on the unique needs and priorities of farmers and their customers. Here's what to consider:
Running a CSA involves significant administrative work, especially as you scale up. Tasks such as managing customer orders, tracking payments, coordinating deliveries, and handling last-minute changes can quickly become overwhelming without the right systems in place. Farms with limited administrative resources or time may find the Farmer's Choice model more manageable, as it simplifies these processes. Farms with robust organizational tools or access to management software, like Local Line, may feel confident offering more complex models, such as subscriptions or customizable boxes, which require higher levels of coordination but deliver greater customer satisfaction (and can help with retention, too).
👉Learn how Deck Family Farm fulfills 300+ CSA orders while saving 20 hours weekly! Talk about efficiency!
The size and diversity of your farm’s output are crucial in determining the best CSA model. Smaller farms focusing on smaller volumes with tons of rotation may prefer the Farmer's Choice model, where they can plan consistent weekly boxes for all members without overextending their resources. On the other hand, larger farms or those offering a wide variety of products and larger volumes may benefit from customizable or subscription-based models, as they can cater to broader customer preferences.
Different CSA models require varying levels of interaction with your customers. The Farmer's Choice model involves minimal customer engagement after the initial sale, as all members receive the same box each week. This is ideal for farmers who prefer to focus on production rather than customer communication.
In contrast, the customizable box and subscription models foster a closer relationship with customers, as they involve more frequent interactions through order customization, account management, or subscription adjustments. The more complex your model is, the more work is needed to balance incoming customer requests, changes, and more.
The right software can make or break your CSA program. CSA software like Local Line provides essential features to streamline operations, such as automated payments, order tracking, CSA member communication, subscription management, and customization options for customer orders. For example, the Box Builder tool simplifies the creation of pre-designed boxes, while Store Credit and Subscriptions help manage more flexible models. A reliable software solution reduces administrative burdens, minimizes errors, and improves the overall customer experience. With the right tool, farms can confidently scale their CSA program while maintaining efficiency and satisfaction for both the farmer and the members.
👉Learn more about choosing CSA software for your farm.
Choosing the right CSA model is key to balancing your farm's operational capacity with customer satisfaction. Whether you prefer the simplicity of the Farmer’s Choice model, the Customizable Box model's personalized appeal, or the Subscriptions' flexibility, each approach offers benefits tailored to different businesses.
No matter the model, managing CSA can be a lot to juggle—signing up members, tracking payments, managing farm operations, organizing deliveries, and more. That’s where Local Line comes in.
Local Line simplifies CSA management with tools that handle everything from customer sign-ups to customizing orders, managing your CSA website, and streamlining logistics. It’s designed to save you time, reduce stress, and let you focus on what matters most—growing your business and building connections with your community.
👉Ready to make your CSA easier to run? Register for Local Line to see how it can help your CSA thrive.
Community Supported Agriculture, a system where consumers and farmers share in the risks and rewards of farming.
The best CSA model for farmers depends on their resources, goals, and customer base.
Each model has its strengths, and the right choice will align with the farmer’s production capacity, desired customer engagement level, and ability to manage logistics. Using CSA management tools like Local Line can make any model easier to implement and run successfully.
Local residents set up and manage the CSA, hiring a farmer to produce crops while they handle logistics and administration.
Yes, some CSAs include items like eggs, meat, dairy, or baked goods, particularly in cooperative models.
The California-style CSA model offers flexibility by allowing members to customize their shares and order week-to-week, often including optional add-ons like eggs or flowers. This approach reduces waste, increases satisfaction, and uses digital tools to streamline management.
