Top Five Questions, Answered

Q: Will CSAware work for my CSA?

While we believe that any CSA would benefit from using CSAware, we have found that our software is most beneficial to farmers whose CSAs have a lot of "moving parts," due to a large membership, sale of add-on products, a unique sales model, or a rapid growth rate.

Having worked with CSAs for over 11 years, we know that CSA programs can be set up in dozens (and dozens) of different ways. Each is a little different, be it from how you handle members' vacations, payments, reports, credits and refunds, etc. We've worked hard to ensure that our software is flexible enough to be shaped to your particular CSA. One way to find out - take an online tour of the software and see for yourself.

Q: How much does it cost?

The cost is 2% of sales, payable when the products are delivered. Once your deliveries start, we bill you monthly. There is a $100 per month minimum fee, applicable only in months when your farm is delivering products. (The monthly minimum is $100 or 2%, whichever is greater.)

Q: When can we start?

If you are ready to try CSAware, we will send you a copy of our contract, work with you to answer any questions you have about it, and then begin working with you to set up the software for your program. We will create a roll-out plan that works with your farm's schedule. The whole thing can take from as little as one week to as much as two months, mostly depending on your needs.

If you plan to use CSAware next season, you might consider signing up in the next month or two so we can schedule your launch. Offering ample customer support is super important to us, so we limit the number of farms we are launching in any given month.

Q: Why don't you sell the software, instead of offering it as a service?

The benefit to farmers of having CSAware offered as a service is that the LocalHarvest team is available to offer excellent service to you every day of the week. We pride ourselves on our ability to respond quickly to farmers' questions and requests. We look at our work with our CSAware users as a partnership, and work hard to make our software take over as much of the office work as possible, freeing you and your employees to do the work you enjoy - while offering a comfortable, glitch-free experience for your members.

And the technical reason: software of this complexity doesn't run "on its own". It requires a dedicated IT team to monitor the systems, catch problems, seamlessly make changes and improvements, etc. When developed for a small market, software of this type would cost tens of thousands of dollars if offered "for sale," and would require you to have systems engineering skills in house.

Q: How do I sign up?

If you'd like to schedule an online demo with us, please send us an email. Please include your phone number and we'll give you a call!