Online farm shops popping up as a way to get produce to customers
Farmers are rushing to open online shops to preserve direct-sales in the age of coronavirus.
CLONBINANE cattle farmers Lizette and Allen Snaith of Warialda Belted Galloway Beef are part of a tidal wave of producers who have launched online shops in the past week.
The couple’s primary sales channel has always been farmers’ markets. They made the tough decision last week to stop attending markets and focus solely on direct delivery of boxed beef after rapidly adjusting their business model in response to the escalating coronavirus situation.
“Our motivation for the online shop was that it is all very well and good for us to go to markets, but I’m not so convinced we want to expose ourselves to that risk,” Lizette said.
“I would have served maybe 140 people at the previous weekend’s market.”
In their first 48-hour online ordering period, the Snaiths received 69 orders for their boxes of mixed cuts, available in 2-6kg sizes.
The Hagan family, of McIvor Farm Foods, also opened an online shop last week, and collaborated with the Snaiths to deliver pork-and-beef boxes.
“I think of it as farm-to-front-door Esky. It is that simple,” Lizette said. “Our plan is for us personally to do the deliveries.”
Both shops are hosted by the Open Food Network web platform.
“Ten times as many shops have signed up in the past week as would normally sign up in a whole month,” OFN communications manager Jen Sheridan said.
“We’ve also seen heaps of new customers supporting their local farmers.”
Willunga Farmers’ Market manager Jenni Mitton also used the system to launch her market online in just two days.
“We are really excited to have this in our hip pocket ready to go,” she said.
“If we need to scale it up massively we will make it happen.”
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