Farm Feature: Huarache Farms

Background

Huarache Farms started as a small group of urban dwellers, seeking to support and grow local and sustainable urban agriculture in the greater Los Angeles area. Led by founder Mike Wood, Huarache Farms developed ways to grow in backyards in Los Angeles that suited the subtropical climate and used wise water use practices. To meet the high costs of growing in the city, they chose high-value and profitable specialty crops that could sustain their business. Looking to expand outside of farmers’ markets and into online sales during the pandemic, Huarache Farms Collective turned to Sustaina to help neighborhoods around their backyards who wanted and needed produce. With the Sustaina platform, Huarache Farms has been able to:

• Double their revenue since the launch of its online sales
• Manage and partner with more backyard locations and partners to increase their offerings
• Reached 70+ customers weekly during a global pandemic

Challenge

At the onset of the pandemic, in-person sales at the farmers’ market came to a halt and even when the market reopened, sales were cut more than half as people stayed home. Huarache Farms Collective saw the opportunity to sell online and deliver to their community, but they needed a tool that could handle their unique cooperative set-up. They needed an online tool that could (1) allow them to flexibly put up a weekly menu with custom delivery zones and pick up options, (2) route orders in an efficient way and help drivers make the deliveries, and (3) help them manage their team, partners, and backyards.

Solution

Within a week, Huarache Farms was able to put up a menu of goods and start selling their produce. Within a few months of promoting their online sales, several blogs and news outlets wrote pieces that included Huarache Farms on the best produce boxes in LA list. Several partners reached out to add their offerings and boost the value of their produce bundles, which they could easily add on to their menu using the ecommerce tool suite.

As they started to sell more, they sought to increase production to meet the growing demand. With Sustaina's farm management and accounting tools, Huarache Farms started to track their infrastructure, increase production yields, plan out their tasks for their shifts, and understand how to split their profits with partner organizations.

Looking ahead, Huarache Farm has helped provide guidance to Sustaina as they continue to adapt and improve the tools for farms of all sizes. Need a custom tool that allows you to control your menu and deliveries in a scalable way? Look no further, we'll help you plan and sell online; connecting you to more markets and making you more profit!