Learning to adapt

For those that have been coming to our farm over the past couple of years, you know that our farm has experienced a lot of change. It seems so long ago when we first started selling raw milk out of our small repurposed tool shed from the 1940’s. It was such a big deal to us to start carrying our first local vendors. It was a tremendous moment when we moved into our beautiful new farm market in our old horse barn, which was originally built in the 19th Century. It was so nice to be able to have a space big enough to able to have whole families lined up to take photos with Santa. These past few years, we have experienced so much wonderful change.

But of all of the changes we have experienced thus far, COVID 19 has the biggest of them all. COVID-19 has upended everything about our raw milk farm and how we interact with our customers. Each day felt like we were reacting to new information about the virus and had to collectively discuss how we would respond in the best way possible to continue serving the community while also protecting our family and animals. It forced us to adapt to an evolving situation and take steps to deal with a threat the world did not fully understand.

The idea of temporarily closing our market did not sit right with our family, it would have negatively impacted our community, especially in a time when the nation's supply chains were fractured. We instead choose to move our entire store online, and not allow customers to shop in store. We implemented new safety precautions in addition to the enhanced cleaning and safety procedures we voluntarily enacted. Unfortunately, we had to temporarily close our barn to visitors, to make sure that it was a safe place for our family to work. 

We quickly realized that building the online store was a significant undertaking and a major learning curve for both us and our customers. All we had ever known until April of this year was managing in-store shopping. We had toyed with the idea of setting up an online store in the past, but never did it because of all of the challenges that would come with trying to sell online. But sometimes life does not give you the choice to take the easy road, and with COVID-19 we took the difficult but necessary choice to move our store online to help increase the safety of our family as we continue to serve our community. 

The move to an online store posed a set of unique tests that we had not encountered before, which was both tough and exciting. We had to completely reconfigure everything about our store from the way we stocked our shelves to all of the tables we set up for picking and packing orders. All of these changes did not come without their own pain points.

Early on we struggled, trying to adapt to the tremendous increase in order volume, sourcing new products at the request of our customers, all the while learning the new technology. We were working with a new system and trying to overcome new obstacles like trying to manage our inventory for online and in store or technical issues related to the e-commerce platform. To compound on these challenges, we faced issues with order accuracy, overselling items online or simply learning not to be overwhelmed with the new influx of customer demand. Even though we struggled, we knew that we could figure it out, improve and become more efficient over time if we worked at it.

With all of the struggles, we undoubtedly needed to get orders correct. We made order accuracy a key focus because we knew that if we were getting orders wrong, we were not serving our community to the best of our ability. Over the past weeks with that focus in mind, we have made a marked improvement in our order accuracy. At the end of the day, we are human and we still may make mistakes or may have oversold an item or two, but our family is doing our best to ensure this does not happen and we feel that we have adapted to achieve a higher standard of service. We have taken this improvement mindset to every aspect of the farm as we shift to meet the needs of those we serve.  

We finally feel like we are at a point where we are comfortable with the online system. A large part of all our improvements is due to all of your wonderful feedback. We have been able to shape and refine the way that we serve our customers. While we are comfortable with where we are at, we are consistently striving to make improvements in the way that we serve our customers and will continue to always look to provide a better experience.  

These changes are not unique to our own farm, there are farms all throughout the country that are facing similar issues as us. They are trying to find ways to adapt but with restaurants and closures, a lot of farmers are having to find different avenues to sell their food. While some are able to find ways to sell their food before it spoils, others have not. Further, farmers have struggled to find labor to help harvest their crops due to the lack of seasonal labor. A majority of the farmers that we have talked to have experienced a negative financial impact on their farm. While this time is challenging for farmers, our country will find a way to adjust to the circumstances that we are facing, and hopefully we can find improvements that will have a positive lasting impact.

With all of the difficulties, there has been a silver lining to all of this, we have seen a growing appreciation for local agriculture. With the global food supply network being disrupted by COVID, consumers have had to lean more on their local growers at farmers markets and farm stores like ours. Even though we are a small raw milk dairy, we can still help feed a lot of families in our community, and the same goes for all of the small farms around us. Local farmers are facing the same challenges that we are, and doing their very best to make sure that our community has food on their table at the end of the day. 

While we do not have to worry about a food scarcity on our farm, there is certainly an impact on the food supply network at a national level. Throughout this entire experience, local agriculture has played a crucial role in making sure that people still have access to food. It seems like every day there is an article coming out about meat processing plants shutting down or reducing their capacity across the country.  Even appointments at our local meat processors are booked up through the end of the year and farmers in our area are struggling to find places that will process their animals. If it wasn’t for the local producers in our area, we wouldn’t have been able to have keep our store stocked.

Growing Heart Farm, our greens farmer, has done a remarkable job of keeping up with our consumer demand in addition to launching their new CSA program. Additionally, all of the farms in the Harlem Valley Farm and Food Alliance have stepped up to continue making their fresh products available to the public. Who knows what the future holds, but our hope is that after we are able to move past this as a country, there is still continued support for local agriculture.

We wanted to thank everyone that has been supporting us. Your kind words, encouragement, and support has meant so much to our family. We hope to be able to continue to return the favor and support your families for years to come. 

Thank you and stay safe,

-The Vincent Family