Get the best prices for your apple crop?
Or offer organic, grassfed beef to the whole world?
Small Farm Central, the brainchild of 27-year-old Simon Huntley, creates websites for farmers who realize that e-commerce isnt just for retailers anymore.
Huntley says hes seen his two-person firm double its subscribers each year since its founding in 2007. Small Farm Central provides websites to over 250 farms and other related businesses across the U.S. and internationally. He expects the figure to double again this year. The reason: welcome to the future.
Farmers are really interested in how to get online, because its cost effective, but they need to know the tools, he says. Farms that are organic, that are marketing locally and doing CSA (community supported agriculture) are much more likely to be progressive in marketing too. Most customers are farming about ten acres with ten to 15 employees, he says.
And now, while fields are buried in snow, farmers are thinking ahead to marketing next seasons wares.
We definitely have the opposite season of farmers, says the Greene County native, who grew up on his parents farm and earned a degree in information technology from Penn State University. When theyre least busy in fields, theyre contacting us. Hurley also travels to conferences across the country, making presentations and workshops for agriculture extension programs.
Small Farm Central creates templates that farmers can use for customer orders, pricing, blogs and other outreach information.
Source: Simon Huntley, Small Farm Central
Writer: Chris OToole
