g u i d e business

& farmer the modern

“The decision to take our store and farm online took us from
just another farm to a real business”

By Lyndsey Smith, CG Field Editor

or Tim and Carla Shultz, BSE
was a game changer, just as it
was on so many other farms.
Overnight in May, 2003, the
Shultzes had to rethink every
hope they’d had and every move they’d
made, and they had to wrestle again and
again with the question: Could they survive?
As it turns out, the technology that
would help to save them hadn’t even been
invented yet.
Earlier that year the Shultzes had
started farming at Osage, Sask., feeding 80
head of cattle on the farm an hour south-
ing on a shoestring in their 20s, the Shultzes
have grown their farm into a successful
custom-grazing operation, now running
over 400 head. They’ve also diversified, get-
ting into market gardening and producing
everything from beef to chickens, lamb, eggs
and even their own local organic flours.
They’ve also gotten into direct sell-
ing, targeting restaurants and foodie
consumers. And they’ve done all that
even though Regina’s restaurants and
suburbs are all an hour away.
At the heart of their success is a tool
that more and more people use daily, but
Consumers can shop online at www.
thegreenranch.ca , placing orders that
Tim delivers to Regina each Friday. But
that’s just the start of the relationship.
The Shultzes then keep in touch with
all their customers via Twitter and a
weekly e-newsletter. “Having the web-
site means we can watch the hits to our
site grow. Our mailing list grows every
week,” Tim says.
The Shultzes are also involved in
CSA — Community Supported Agri-
culture — a type of crop share that
splits the risks and benefits of farming
Photo credit: Carey Shaw

east of Regina. Young and determined,
the couple had known all along that they
would have to do things differently to stay
viable. They just didn’t know it would
have to be quite so different.
But they aren’t looking back. After start-
which few tap for its full business potential.
It’s the Internet, and Tim is frank about its
importance to their farm. It has made all
the difference, Tim says. “The decision to
take our store and farm online took us from
just another farm to a real business.”
between the farmer and the consumer.
CSA members often use the website to
order and keep in touch.
With the business finally hitting its
stride in 2007, the Shultzes rechristened
their farm The Green Ranch.

34 country-guide.ca FEBRUARY 2010

 business

gOing liVe
Creating a website can be easy. There are countless free tem-
plates and hosting sites, as any Google search will reveal. But Tim
found that “free” comes with a price.
Free templates and hosting sites are often inflexible, they’re
clunky to update and they end up producing websites that almost
make it look like you know what you’re doing, but not quite.
“I had always wanted a web presence, but really didn’t know
how to go about it,” Tim says. “I used some free sites on the
Internet to try and design a website, but realized that I would
never be happy with a basic template.”
Then, while browsing an online forum for market gardens
Tim discovered Small Farm Central — a website design and
hosting company focused on farms and direct selling. With the
use of Small Farm Central’s design and support staff, Tim says
the site is as easy to update as doing basic word processing.
It’s that updating, Tim says, that is crucial to a credible
web strategy.
Staying current is most important if the site acts as a market-
place, Tim says. “The No. 1 thing (in online selling) is keeping
your online store up to date. Nothing turns a customer off more SOCial gUFFaWS
than not being able to get what they ordered.”
For The Green Ranch, this is especially challenging because of Logging on to sites like Facebook and twitter can be a great
the seasonal nature of some products, and the curve balls Mother way to reach customers, but it’s not without its pitfalls. here are
Nature can throw. If Tim and Carla don’t keep the website updated, a few tips:
their customers can’t keep track of what crops are coming on. • It’s important to keep personal and professional identities separate.
It’s challenging too because the website can need updating at Never post anything you wouldn’t want your customers to see.
the very time when they’re busiest on the farm. If they’re in the • Keep Tweets, wall or blog posts positive — nobody likes a
middle of harvest, for instance, the last thing they may want to debbie downer.
do at the end of the day is sit down at their computer and work • Remember to keep updating regularly. A stale website or account
their way through complex web coding to let consumers know is no use to anyone. Set a goal, for example one post a week.
what crops they’ll be selling the next day. • Learn the tricks and tools offered on sites like Twitter. Tweets
Yet staying current is worth it, Tim says. “I’ve been on many are searchable and can be a great way to connect with other
farm websites and noticed that their last entry was over a year like-minded people. twitter isn’t about posting what your crazy
ago. Usually when I see that I just close out and keep searching.” cat is doing right this moment. Keep it professional.

continued on page 36
Photo cREdit: cAREY ShAw

FEBRUARY 2010 country-guide.ca 35

 business

Continued from page 35
So does everyone else, says Simon
Huntley, lead developer at Pittsburgh-
based Small Farm Central.
Timeliness is one of the key criteria
that your customers will use to rate both
your website and your farm, Huntley
says. The website doesn’t have to be
flashy, but if the most recent post is a
blog report you filed six months ago,
consumers will wonder if you drop the
ball on your food production too.
Besides, says Huntley, who also runs a
small local-food-based farm in Pennsylva-
nia, consumers are starved for other ways to
keep up with what’s going on in the coun-
tryside. Newspaper readership is down, and
many small papers have closed completely.
Costs for launching a website through
Small Farm Central typically range from
$100 to $350, depending on the amount
of consulting that’s needed. After that,
there’s a fee of $20 to $50 a month
depending on the number of services that
are used.
“If you’re thinking of going to Inter-
net marketing, start collecting email
addresses now,” Huntley says. “Even if
you aren’t going to get your site up for
a year, or even two, start getting those
addresses.”
Tim credits The Green Ranch web-
site and use of social networking tools
such as Twitter with getting them expo-
sure and helping them make a go of it,
although as yet it’s difficult to pinpoint
what percentage of sales or added sales
being online has garnered.
Online ordering also works for the busy
restaurant and store owners they supply.
“Chefs and store managers are very busy,

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 business

as are we in the peak growing season,”
Tim says. “It’s always hard to find the
right time to call and take orders.”
The number of individual customers
ordering online is relatively small right
now, but those who use the service like the
convenience of ordering from their home.
Tim and Carla are at the Regina farmers’
market each week and bring orders for
their customers to pick up. “There’s no
waiting in lines and you always know
you’ll get what you need,” Tim says.
Expanding the online ordering part of
the business is a goal for Tim and Carla. “It
really simplifies things for us. It’s great going
to the city knowing that you have pre-sold a
good portion of what you are bringing.”
Sharing the skills
Discovering that e-marketing can be fun
and satisfying, Tim has expanded sales on
their site from their own cattle and market
garden to a whole host of other products,
such as eggs, flour, wild hog and more.
“I realized I enjoyed this part of it and
instead of several other farmers trying to
reinvent the wheel, now we market their
products under our banner,” Tim says.
This is especially helpful when supplying
restaurants who need such a wide variety
of meat and vegetables — too much for
just one farm to produce reliably.
Beyond an information site and a mar-
ketplace, the Internet offers cheap, effective
ways of promotion, if you can tap into it.
“There is so much to learn about Internet
marketing and I feel like we are just scrap-
ing the surface,” Tim says. “We are just
now playing with Twitter and considering
Facebook as another method of connect-
ing our customers with each other and
with what is happening at the farm.” CG

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