March 2025 Farm Marketing News
One theme on our mind this month is connection — to place, people, food, and community. Whether we’ve had the privilege of connecting with you IRL at a conference, we’re orbiting your socials from afar, or we’ll meet you soon on a consultation call, we’re grateful you’re here.
Just ahead, a visit to the California Small Farm Conference, a spring bounty of marketing news + tips, a Squarespace success story from Vermont, and the cuisine Emily can’t live without. Want to be the first to find out about the latest in farm marketing news and updates from Grapevine? Sign up for our newsletter!
Hello from the California Small Farm Conference
Our team members Brooklyn and Emily recently attended the San Diego regional gathering for the 37th Annual California Small Farm Conference hosted by our friends at Community Alliance with Family Farmers (CAFF). They loved meeting so many small farmers in person and gaining a deeper understanding of their experiences.
New! Waitlist Openings Now Available
Great news — we’re increasing our team’s capacity and as a result, we’ve just opened up more spots on our waitlist! If you’ve been contemplating farm marketing, website, or design projects, we’d love to connect. Let us know what you’ve been dreaming up, and our friendly experts will offer actionable guidance to achieve your goals.
To get started, you can download our latest pricing guide, which also includes a link to schedule a call.
More Farm Marketing News + Tips
Here’s the latest roundup of farm + food marketing bites:
Find Current Policy and Funding Updates with These Resources
We know the uncertainty that so many small farms and food businesses face in the midst of the current federal funding changes. If you’re searching for up-to-date information about policy, funding, public health, and more, check out the Food Policy Tracker by CivilEats, the Politico weekly agriculture newsletter, and the Farm Commons’ resource library.
Harness the Power of Social Media to Build Your Community
Even with a small marketing budget, social media is an indispensable tool for any farm or food business. Posting organically (without ad dollars behind the content), is a zero-cost way to connect with local, like-minded customers and build a loyal fan base around your business. For more social media tips, check out this article from Grazecart.
Build Stronger Customer Relationships with Email
Don’t worry, we’re not suggesting you spend 5 hours a day writing long, narrative newsletters (unless you want to!). Instead, find an email platform that integrates with your website and e-commerce to automatically keep customers engaged. We’ve done the hard work for you and determined the best email setup for every farm website platform. Take a look!
Read the Latest from GrazeCart
GrazeCart announced a number of platform updates this month, including improved accuracy and performance for Harvest Report; a new Quantity Override Warning feature that alerts you when adding or editing an order item exceeds available inventory; and a new option to apply updated pricing and fees when changing an order delivery method or location. If you’re a GrazeCart user, you can read more details in the backend of your website under What's New.
What We've Been Up To
Squarespace Landing Page for Green Mountain Farm Direct
Our team helped the folks at Green Mountain Farm Direct launch a new landing page for their Vermont food hub.
The team at Green Mountain Farm Direct sought more simplicity for their online presence — hoping to streamline content, cross-promote both their Farm Direct and Farm-to-School brands, and connect users seamlessly to their Local Food Marketplace storefront.
Our web design experts collaborated with their team to hone user journeys and messaging. Then, our budget-friendly website template and their existing brand elements brought the final design together.
Read all about it or check out the new landing page for yourself!
“Thank you all for your work on this [website] project — very exciting!!”
— Catherine Cusack, Green Mountain Farm-to-School
“Thank you so much Gabi! You and the team did a great job on the website! We're excited to have such a lovely web presence to represent us.”
— Becca Perrin, Green Mountain Farm-to-School
Meet Our Newest Team Member, Emily
Emily started working at Grapevine in December 2024 as our newest Website Consultant. You can learn more about her below!
A few fun Emily facts:
📍Where are you located?
San Diego, CA for the time being (but it’s so nice here I might have to stay).
✨What were you doing prior to working at Grapevine?
Freelancing for various businesses including a farm-to-table company that I toured the country with and helped to build a merchandise program to sell in person and online!
🍓 What’s your current favorite meal?
Any Mediterranean food, give me all the mezze!
🏕️ What do you like to do in your free time?
Get outside, go for runs, travel, hit the local farmers market or hunt for treasures at a thrift store. I also have my own small business, Community Supported Apparel Cooperative, which always keeps me busy!
🇯🇵 If you could travel to one place in the world right now, where would it be and why?
Australia/New Zealand is a big bucket list trip for me! I really want to snorkel the Great Barrier Reef before there is more loss.
📚 What was the last good book you read?
Eating to Extinction: The World's Rarest Foods and Why We Need to Save Them by Dan Saladino
🍽️ Who would be your ideal dinner guest?
The founder of a successful but sustainable retail business that does good for the planet and people.
🎄 What’s your favorite holiday?
Thanksgiving! Despite the problematic history, I love a food-centric holiday where I get to spend the whole day cooking and eating delicious food with my family.
🐶 Do you have any furry co-workers at home?
Sadly I do not!
✨What’s your favorite thing about working for Grapevine?
Getting to further my impact in our food system, working with like-minded people, and connecting with so many great farmers and food org folks!
More Local Food Marketing Resources
