Initiative Report
Strategy Day for Farmers
About Strategy Day
for Farmers
In an effort to support the local foods community throughout the seasons, Local Food is Essential hosted a free program in January 2021, Strategy Day for Farmers.
Farmers who were experiencing a specific challenge were encouraged to submit an application for the team to review. Then, LFIE parterned three to five volunteer experts with each farmer, based on their individual need.
The groups met the last week in January for one 60-minute session and one three-hour session.
Volunteers utilized their expertise to support the farmer’s challenge, and the farmer waled away with tangible action steps and/or deliverables.
“They all really do want to help and that in itself is truly amazing! Really, really great is I have something tangible to work with to improve my records and projections in regards to my farm planning and financial end results I aim to get.
Thank you for this wonderful experience and opportunity!! I’ve been involved in other mentor programs and this one has cracked the code for me I believe in exactly what I wanted and needed help with in my farm business.”
– Strategy Day Farmer
Strategy Day for Farmers // By the Numbers
68
Hours Donated
by Volunteers
05
Farmer Participants
17
Volunteer participants
Strategy Day for Farmers // Challenge + Deliverables
Challenge: Farmer needed help optimizing business enterprises (CSA, farmers market sales and value added products of the farm) to maximize time and efficiency as a solo beginning farmer working to become profitable in their third year of business
Deliverable: Moved hand written notes with yield and sales projections to a professional Profit and Loss spreadsheet for better organization and forecasting accuracy
Challenge: Farmer needed professional marketing advice across multiple platforms to increase reach, drive engagement and sales, and make creating new content easier
Deliverable: Generated content ideas/list of differentiators (group brainstorm) to use when creating new content; Created (and started filling in) a content calendar to help plan and repurpose content across multiple platforms; Reviewed the website and created a list of prioritized updates; Created a list of contacts and resources, potential partners who could help amplify the farm’s message
Challenge: Farmer was struggling with her e-commerce site upkeep and functionality; She didn’t feel confident in making updates because it wasn’t user-friendly or easy to understand
Deliverable: Created a new, four-page website on WordPress, using a user-friendly design; Updated her site’s security to guard against hackers and keep private information safe