I Didn't Market the CSA. I Marketed the Farm.

Published on

December 3, 2025

Farmer Morgan at Wissel Farms (Nampa, ID) added 18 new members in July and is running 100+ members more than last year — over 50% growth — without ever running a CSA marketing campaign. We asked her how. Her answer starts five years before this season. Here's Morgan, in her own words.

Farming is a long-term business

My dad always reminds me that farming is a long-term business.

We did have a jump in CSA members this year, but this is something that's a long time in the making. My parents actually started the CSA around five years ago. Back then we were using spreadsheets, different Excel sheets to organize everything — it was a complete mess. Very time-consuming and confusing.

But we did start five years ago. We planted the seed a lot longer ago than this year's numbers make it look.

I want to put that out there, because I think a lot of people expect to have 300 CSA members their first year.

The truth of the matter is, with owning a farm and growing food, you have to develop relationships where people are gaining your trust for them to want to invest in your farm.

The growth came from last year's members, not from ads

If I could attribute anything to this last year with no marketing, so much of it was building a fabulous relationship with our CSA members the year prior.

A lot of that was Farmhand — and this is not an ad for Farmhand. But the ability to take care of things so quickly, to respond to them so quickly, to write really great newsletters, to help them have one-to-one service that is really difficult to give them otherwise — that allowed them to feel special. And they ended up spreading the word about the CSA with their friends.

I marketed the farm. Then the CSA sold itself.

I didn't necessarily do CSA marketing, but I did do other marketing for the farm. I'm consistently posting about the farm and what's happening, and in doing that I was able to build relationships with our target consumers.

So when it was time that I shared about the CSA, people were ready to purchase.

I didn't do CSA marketing. I did farm marketing. By the time I shared about the CSA, people were ready.

Scarcity is doing more work than any ad could

One of the biggest drivers of getting people to sign up is the idea that there's a limited amount of spots. There are only so many boxes we can do. That scarcity has created the demand — people really want to sign up early and make sure they're part of the list.

I don't want to promote exclusivity, because that's not what it is. It's more that there's only so much as a farm. There's only so many people that we can have invest in our farm for us to meet their wants.

Having that capped amount is very important. It's not unlimited.

Why last year's members came back

I think our members returned because of our service.

Before Farmhand, I was using my personal phone, I was trying to answer our community and our customers on my email, on text — I was all over the place. And that's impossible when you're trying to manage a farm and help your customers at the same time. It was just impossible.

Having Farmhand has allowed me to really nurture each relationship, respond quickly, take care of any issues, answer any questions. Even if it's what do I do with my rosemary? I can get that text so simply and respond so simply, and that is enormous.

My parents always tell me we're in the produce business. But customer service has always been the top thing for our customers. Having parents who've been in the fresh food business for over 30 years, I've learned that customer service is number one.

My parents always tell me we're in the produce business. But customer service has always been the top thing.

The box itself is customer service

There are also some small things that I think CSA farms need to think about.

When people receive a box, they want to feel like it's substantial. That's something we're always thinking about. Does the box feel full? People want the abundance when they grab it.

Does the box have things that make sense when people add them together? Is everything super fresh?

You want to think through opening that box as a customer — experiencing that magic, making sure you have enough in there, that it looks nice, that it's put together, that it's synergistic. Thinking through that is very important. Me and my parents are always thinking through that.

How I set this year's capacity

You always need to be bringing new customers in. You can't depend only on the customers that you have. People move away. People decide it's not for them. People go through different times in their life where they can't necessarily allocate money toward a CSA.

So with that in mind, I know I have to continue to build and bring in new customers.

In doing that, I decided that 50 to 100 more members, if it was spread across several days, was probably not going to be a huge issue.

The other thing I added was I allowed people to pick up every day, versus just allowing them to pick up on one day.

And I added a delivery driver. I originally had one person doing all of the deliveries, but that's just really hard — with traffic and schedules, people just can't do that. So I have two drivers now.

Fifty to 100 more members spread across several days was not going to be a huge issue.

The math my dad taught me

One thing to note is that my dad always lets me know: doing 250 boxes is not much different from doing 300 boxes in terms of cost, when you're thinking about it that way. From a business standpoint, to continue to scale is really important.

I think there will end up being a cap where I can't do any more, or don't want to do any more, because I just want to keep it semi-small. We're not there yet. But who knows what the future holds.

— Morgan, Wissel Farms

What to take from this

If you're trying to grow your CSA:

Count the years, not the season. Our 50% jump sits on five years of relationship-building. Expecting 300 members in year one is the fastest way to quit in year two.
Market the farm, not the CSA. Post consistently about what's happening on the farm year-round. When sign-ups open, your audience is already warm.
Cap it on purpose. Limited spots create real urgency, and it's honest — a farm can only serve so many people well.
Your renewal rate is a service metric. Fast, personal, one-to-one answers are why last year's members come back and bring friends.
Make the box feel full. Abundance, freshness, and items that go together are customer service, not separate from it.
Add days before you add members. Spreading 50–100 new members across every pickup day, not one, is what made the increase work.
Add the second driver early. One driver covering every route caps your growth before your fields do.
Scale where the cost curve is flat. 250 boxes and 300 boxes cost about the same to run. Know where your own flat stretch is.

Farmer Morgan runs Wissel Farms in Nampa, ID, a family farm growing since 1911 that has run a CSA for about five years.