219. Lindsey Lusher Shute on GrownBy, the Farmer-Owned Marketplace

What tools do you use to reach more customers?   In this Thriving Farmer podcast, we’re joined by Lindsey Lusher Shute: farmer, co-founder and former executive director of the National Young Farmers Coalition, and co-owner of Hearty Roots Community Farm.    An Ohio native, Lindsey first developed her love of farming on her grandfather’s land in the rolling hills of Appalachia. As executive director of Young Farmers, Lindsey grew the organization from a few volunteer farmers to a nationwide network with 40 chapters in 39 states and a grassroots base of over 120,000.   Lindsey edited and authored nine reports for the coalition, including Building a Future with Farmers: Challenges Faced by Young, American Farmers and a Strategy to Help Them Succeed.    Lindsey is the co-founder of Farm Generations Cooperative, the makers of GrownBy, the Farmer-Owned Marketplace.   Tune in to hear all about Lindsey’s remarkable and unique journey in the farming world! You’ll hear: How Lindsey got started in farming 2:16 How she got the idea to start the business 8:08 Overview of Hearty Roots Community Farm 13:16 What it was like for Lindsey to create a software product 25:19 New features in GrownBy 3.0 31:54 Next steps for GrownBy 39:46 About the Guest: Lindsey Lusher Shute is the co-founder of Farm Generations Cooperative, the makers of GrownBy. GrownBy is the first cooperatively-owned sales app for farms. Before co-founding Farm Generations Cooperative, Lindsey co-founded the National Young Farmers Coalition and led the organization as Executive Director for a decade. Under her leadership, Young Farmers influenced two farm bills and won change for farmers on the state and federal levels. Lindsey and her husband Ben are the owners of Hearty Roots Community Farm, an organic vegetable farm and CSA, in the Hudson Valley of New York.  Resources: Website: https://grownby.app/ and https://www.farmgenerations.coop/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/farmgenerationscoop Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/farmgenerationscoop/   The Thriving Farmer Podcast Team would like to thank our amazing sponsor!     GrownBy is the farmer-owned online marketplace. In the last three years, their 200 farmers have sold over $2M of products to shoppers on the GrownBy app. GrownBy works for all scales and types of farm sales. Spring Plant Sale? Yup. Annual Freezer Meat Emptying? Check. Multi-season, multi-farm 300 member CSA operation? Absolutely. GrownBy supports it all. As a cooperative, farmer success is their #1 priority. They are the first farmer-owned cooperative ecommerce platform in the world. With auto-payments, built-in customer notifications, CSA subscriptions, and customers helping to pay site fees, GrownBy is a tailored fit for your farm’s online sales. Upcoming, GrownBy will be the first online platform accepting SNAP/EBT with authorized farms. Startup is free, and pricing is transparent and affordable. The cooperative collects 2% of each transaction, but customers often contribute to this fee and bring down farmer costs significantly. Listeners to the Thriving Farmers Podcast get 50% off their first three months on GrownBy. Just email [email protected] to get this offer. You can learn more at GrownBy.com, or download the app on the Google Play or Apple App stores.