Rad Roots Farm — Radically Local.

Small and mid-scale farmers face a brutal math problem: a half-acre market garden, run with extraordinary skill and grinding hours, might gross $40,000–$80,000/year — and after inputs, land, and the farmer's own labor, there's often nothing left. The Farm Hub model breaks that equation by turning a small farm into more than a farm: a local food aggregation point, an online marketplace, a membership-based community food system, and a home delivery service — all operated by the farmer, on the farm, using existing customer relationships as the foundation.

Grow what you grow on the half acre; partner with other local farms and artisans (meat, eggs, bakers, cheesemakers, fermenters, honey); sell their products alongside yours through one online store with weekly home delivery. You become the local food hub — one stop, one order, one delivery, full diet — and earn a margin on everything that moves through.

This is the model documented by Nathan Wiebe at Small Scale Rebellion (SSR), who turned a half-acre BC market garden into a ~$200,000/year business with a 30% margin and a two-person team — no farmers' markets, no wholesale, no hoop house, no employees, no grants. This study adapts it for a California launch (San Diego, then Monterey), evaluates Rooted Farmers vs. the Shopify stack as the backend, and tests whether a solo/two-person operation can reach $100,000–$200,000+ annual revenue within 2–3 years.

1.1 Mission. To build a community-scale food system that makes eating local as easy as ordering groceries — by operating a micro food hub that aggregates products from a network of local farms and artisans, sells through an online store, and delivers directly to households.

1.2 The opportunity. The math doesn't work for small farms alone (½ acre grosses $40–80K; aggregating 10–20 vendors at 20–35% margin lifts the same operation to $100–200K+ without adding acreage, equipment, or employees). Consumers want local food but can't access it easily. Vendor farms need sales channels they don't have to build. The technology is now purpose-built (Rooted Farmers and similar). The model is proven (SSR has launched 21 Farm Hubs, $75K–$200K+). And federal funding supports it (USDA LFPP, FMPP, Value-Added Producer Grants).

1.3 The model at a glance — five integrated revenue layers (all run by 1–2 people from a half-acre garden): Own Production (high-value quick-turn crops — salad mix, microgreens, herbs, specialty — sold through the store); Vendor Aggregation (curate and resell 10–20+ local farms/artisans at 20–35% markup); Farm Credit Membership (members prepay for store credit at a discount — e.g., pay $400, get $450 — generating upfront cash and locking in customers); Home Delivery (weekly routes within a 15–25 mile radius; $5–10 fee or free above a minimum); On-Farm Pickup (lower cost, higher margin, community touchpoint).

1.4 Key facts. Legal entity: LLC at launch. Brand: Rad Roots Farm — "Radically Local." Core model: market garden + aggregation + online store + home delivery + membership. Farm size: ½ acre (leased or owned). Platform: Rooted Farmers (Hub Pro) evaluated as primary backend. Service area: San Diego County → Monterey County. Target customer: households within a 15–25 mile delivery radius. Vendor network: 10–20+ local farms and artisans. Startup capital: $8K–$25K depending on land and vehicle. Year 1 revenue (est.): $60K–$120K (part-time launch). Year 3 revenue (est.): $150K–$250K+ at 25–35% blended margin. Team: 1–2 people, no employees at launch. Founder: Drew Keske — impact operator with hands-on training through the Ecology Center market garden and a Food Shed Cooperative apprenticeship (direct North County farm relationships); adjunct instructor; background in cooperative food systems. Concept stage: early concept — feasibility and validation phase.

2.1 Identity. Rad Roots Farm is a micro food hub — not just a farm (production only), not a co-op (member-owned), not a CSA (subscription boxes without choice), not a grocery delivery service (no warehouse/industrial supply chain), not a farmers' market (no booth, no fixed hours). It's a farm-based local food aggregation and distribution business that uses e-commerce and home delivery to make local food accessible and convenient. The half-acre garden is real, but the business model is aggregation: becoming the single place a household orders everything from local producers, one cart, one checkout, delivered. The garden is the anchor tenant; the vendor network is the revenue engine.

2.2 Guiding principles. The farm is the anchor, not the ceiling. One cart, one order, one delivery. Pay vendors fast and fair (Net-7, transparent margins). Convenience is not a dirty word. Grow the food system, not just the farm. Stay small on purpose (a livelihood-scale enterprise for 1–2 people — the goal is $60–80K owner comp, not $10M revenue).

2.3 What this is not. Not a co-op, not a CSA, not a grocery store, not a restaurant/prepared-food operation, not a nonprofit, not a tech company.

2.4 Brand: Rad Roots Farm. Tagline "Radically Local." "Rad" is California energy — casual, enthusiastic, fun; "Roots" is the farming anchor and community roots; "Farm" grounds it in a real operation. Secondary taglines: "One cart. Every farm." (store/landing); "Local food. Full diet. Front door." (ads); "The Good Dirt" (newsletter); "The Drop" (delivery day). Voice: direct, warm, a little irreverent, competent, rooted. Year 2+ signals to consider: B Corp, 1% for the Planet, USDA Organic handling cert, food-policy-council affiliations.

2.5 The Farm Hub vs. traditional models. Farmers' market (weather/hours/labor-limited → online ordering + delivery removes constraints); traditional CSA (upfront cash but no choice → Farm Credit Membership gives upfront cash with choice); wholesale (volume but low margins → hub sells at near-retail); farm stand (location-bound → online store is always open); solo market garden ($40–80K ceiling → aggregation breaks the ceiling without adding acreage).

3.1 Own production (the half acre). Focused, not diversified — 8–15 high-demand, high-margin items optimized for the weekly order cycle: salad mix/greens, microgreens, fresh herbs, specialty items (edible flowers, specialty peppers, cherry tomatoes), seasonal anchors (strawberries, snap peas, squash, root veg). At $2–5/sq ft, a half acre could gross $25–65K from own production; realistic estimate $20–50K after paths/infrastructure — the high-margin base, 100% retained. The store listing is the crop plan.

3.2 Vendor aggregation (the revenue engine). Partnering with 10–20+ local farms/artisans adds $80,000–$150,000+ gross without adding a bed. Vendor supplies at wholesale → hub lists, markets, fulfills, pays Net-7. Typical margins: meat & poultry 20–30%, eggs 25–35%, dairy 20–30%, bread 25–35%, preserves & pantry 30–40%, fermented 25–35%, coffee 30–40%, prepared 25–35%, flowers 30–50%, value-added ag 30–40%.

3.3 Farm Credit Membership. A credit-based CSA alternative and the financial engine of launch — members prepay $400, receive $450 in store credits (12.5% bonus). Annual/seasonal program, 2–4 enrollment windows/year. Launch target: 30–50 founding members at $400 = $12,000–$20,000 upfront cash — covers platform, initial vendor purchases, and 3–6 months of marketing.

3.4 Home delivery. The convenience differentiator. Cutoff Tuesday midnight → pack Wed–Thu → deliver Friday. Radius 15–25 miles. Fee $5–10 or free above a $50–75 minimum. Personal vehicle + insulated bags at launch; refrigerated van ($15–25K used) when volume justifies. Economics: at 30–40 orders/route, a $7 fee × 35 orders = $245/week against $40–60 fuel; delivery turns profitable at ~20 orders/run.

3.5 Sample order unit economics. A typical ~$85 order: own-production items 80–90% margin; vendor items 25–35%; subtotal $78.00, hub cost $45.70, hub retains $32.30; plus a $7 delivery fee ($1.50 fuel, $5.50 retained); order total $85.00, retained ~$37.80. Blended margin: 44%. At 35 orders/week × $75 → ~$57,500 retained annually.

3.6 Seasonal calendar. Winter: greens, roots, microgreens under cover; membership-drive season. Spring: greens, peas, strawberries; peak garden workload. Summer: tomatoes, peppers, squash, basil; highest order volume. Fall: roots, squash, late fruit, Thanksgiving push, new membership window. California advantage: year-round growing — microgreens and salad mix can run 12 months in SoCal without a greenhouse.

3.7 Scaling trigger points. Add Routific at 20+ deliveries/week; add a second delivery day at 40–50 orders/week sustained; upgrade cold storage when vendor volume exceeds capacity; hire a part-time delivery driver at 50+ orders/week and >8 hrs/week operator delivery time; upgrade to a refrigerated van at 60+ orders/week; add packing help at 10+ hrs/week; consider a second hub operator at $200K+ gross.

3.8 Customer operations policies. Out-of-stock: notify within 12 hrs; offer substitution or refund. Substitutions: equal/lesser-price item, customer confirms. Damaged/quality: full refund or credit, no questions. Missed deliveries: redeliver within 24 hrs if perishable. Delivery window 2–3 hrs, text 15–30 min before. Modifications until Wednesday morning. Membership credit no expiry within the period. Text for logistics, email for newsletter; respond within 4 business hours.

3.9 Pricing strategy. Price at farmers'-market parity or slightly below. Never undercut your vendor's direct price. Margin varies by category (pantry 30–40%, eggs/meat 20–25%, own production 80%+ — let the mix work). Anchor with own production. The delivery fee earns its place. Membership discount is built into the credits. Be transparent.

3.10 Value-add potential. Cottage-food-eligible in CA: dried herb blends, herb salt, herbal tea, dried flowers, hot sauce/salsa, seed packets. Revenue potential $3,000–8,000/year at very high margins; keeps the winter catalog interesting. CA Cottage Food law (AB 626 / AB 1616): Class A/B; county registration; Class B annual cap $75,000.

3.11 Weekly operating rhythm. Sun: store opens, newsletter sent. Mon–Tue: orders accumulate; vendor confirmations. Tue midnight: cutoff. Wed: harvest, receive vendor products, begin packing. Thu: finish packing, vendor payments. Fri: deliver + on-farm pickup. Sat: admin, financials, content, crop planning.

The vendor network is the hub's most valuable asset — more than the garden, the platform, or the customer list. If vendors stop supplying, the hub dies within weeks.

4.1 Finding vendors: walk farmers' markets and pitch directly; farm directories (SD Farm Bureau, Monterey Ag Commissioner, Buy Fresh Buy Local, CAFF); social media; word of mouth; extension offices and farm orgs (UCCE, CAFF, Kitchen Table Advisors).

4.2 The vendor pitch: "I run a half-acre market garden and I'm building an online store that delivers local food to homes every week. I want to carry your [eggs/bread/meat]. I buy at your wholesale price, handle all the marketing and logistics, and pay you every week." Vendors want fast payment (Net-7), reliable orders, no platform to manage, respect for their product.

4.3 Onboarding (Weeks 1–8): initial conversation → written terms sheet → product photography → store listing with preview approval → test order → go live with close monitoring → 30-day check-in.

4.4 Vendor terms: 20–35% markup; Net-7 payment; vendor sets minimums; hub may refuse substandard product; non-exclusive; weekly order notification; hub handles photos/listings; vendors carry their own product liability insurance. Target: 15–25 partners within 6 months.

Marketing is not optional — this is direct-to-consumer; if nobody knows you exist, the garden is a hobby. SSR's playbook (tested across 21 Hubs) is the foundation.

5.1 Customer journey (SSR's 7-point model): Awareness → Interest → First order ($10-off coupon) → Delivery experience (on time, cold, handwritten thank-you) → Reorder (Tuesday reminder email) → Membership (pitch after 3–4 orders) → Referral ($15 to refer, $10 off to join).

5.2 Channels: Email newsletter (primary, highest-ROI; SSR's 4-step Sunday template). Local Facebook groups (organic — free, hyperlocal, converts). Instagram (3–5×/week). Facebook Marketplace (free listings). Referral program. On-farm events (2–4/year, $100–300/event).

5.3 CalFresh / EBT & Market Match. Accepting EBT online doubles SNAP produce dollars via Market Match. Requires USDA FNS authorization and a compliant payment system. Recommendation: defer to Year 2 but begin the USDA FNS application during soft launch.

5.4 Marketing budget (Year 1): email $0–150; FB/IG ads $0–600; cards/signage $100–300; events $200–600; product photography $0–200; referral credits $500–1,500. Total $800–$3,350 — intentionally low; organic and relationship-based first.

The online store is the nervous system. SSR's standard stack is Shopify ($39) + EasyRoutes ($30) + Delivery Date Picker ($17) + free apps (~$86/mo). This study evaluates Rooted Farmers, built specifically for farms and hubs.

6.1 Platform comparison. Rooted Hub Pro $58.25/mo ($699/yr), 7.9% + $0.30 online (5.5% off-platform), built-in multi-vendor + 7,500+ wholesale-buyer marketplace, no built-in delivery routing, Farm Credit Membership not natively supported, guided 4–6 week onboarding. Shopify + apps ~$86/mo, 2.9% + $0.30 and no platform commission, manual multi-vendor management, no marketplace, EasyRoutes for routing, SSR builds Farm Credit Membership natively.

6.2 Transaction fees at scale. Rooted is ~$333/yr cheaper on monthly fees, but the 5%-per-dollar gap overwhelms that fast: at $100K sales Rooted costs ~$4,667 more/year; at $200K, ~$9,667 more.

6.3 Recommendation. Choose Rooted if you want farm-specific multi-vendor tools and wholesale-marketplace access. Choose Shopify (SSR stack) if primarily D2C household delivery and want native Farm Credit Membership. A hybrid adds complexity — revisit Year 2. Decision: defer until after a Rooted demo and SSR community review.

6.4 Other technology: Routific ($49/mo), Mailchimp/MailerLite (free tier), Google Workspace ($7/mo), Canva, Square/Stripe, Google My Business, Instagram/Facebook.

7.1 Site layout (half acre): production beds 12,000–15,000 sq ft; packing/staging 200–400 sq ft (covered, shaded); cold storage 60–120 sq ft; vendor receiving 100–200 sq ft; vehicle staging/loading; tool/input storage 100–200 sq ft; composting 100–200 sq ft; paths/access 2,000–4,000 sq ft.

7.2 Cold storage options: residential chest freezers + refrigerators ($500–1,500, <20 orders/wk); CoolBot + insulated room ($1,500–4,000, 20–50 orders/wk); used commercial walk-in ($3,000–8,000, 50+ orders/wk); a separate frozen-meat chest freezer ($200–500) needed from Week 1 if carrying frozen products.

7.3 Wash & pack station: three-compartment wash setup; food-safe table; digital scale; label printer; insulated bags/boxes/ice packs; shade canopy (critical in SD summers). Total $500–2,000.

Food safety is where liability lives. The cold chain must be documented from Day 1.

8.1 Temperature categories: ambient/shelf-stable (honey, granola, hot sauce, dried goods); refrigerated 34–40°F (salad mix, herbs, eggs, cheese, yogurt, bread, kombucha); frozen 0°F (meat, poultry, frozen meals — separate freezer, deliver last on route).

8.2 Cold chain procedures: inspect and probe-temp all perishables on receipt (reject >40°F refrigerated or partially-thawed frozen); refrigerated → cooler, frozen → freezer, FIFO rotation; pack refrigerated/frozen last with ice packs; load immediately before departure; total delivery under 3–4 hours; daily cooler/freezer temperature log.

8.3 Food safety training: CA Food Handler Card (~$15) before launch; consider ServSafe Manager ($175) — valuable for USDA funding and institutional buyers.

9.1 The gap. California's local food market is underserved at the convenience layer. Two acute geographies: affluent coastal/suburban communities (San Diego) and agricultural regions with sparse local access points (Monterey/Salinas).

9.2 Target customer: health-conscious households (30–55, dual-income); young families; sustainability-motivated buyers; foodies; time-constrained professionals (currently using Instacart); retirees; CalFresh/SNAP households (Year 2+).

9.3 Geographic comparison. San Diego: 3.3M county pop, $89K median HHI, moderate farm density, $2–5K+/acre/yr lease, expensive water — immediate launch. Monterey: 440K, $78K HHI, Salad Bowl farm density, $500–2K/acre/yr lease, fog-belt growing — Phase 2. Validate and launch in San Diego, then transplant to Monterey upon relocation.

9.4 Competitive landscape. CSAs (single-farm); farm delivery services (Farm Fresh To You, Imperfect — hub is truly local); specialty grocery (Jimbo's, Whole Foods — hub is direct, home-delivered); farmers' markets (24/7, delivered); other food hubs (Foodshed Cooperative SD; ALBA Salinas — hub is solo-operated, online-first); grocery delivery (Instacart — hub is 100% local).

9.5 Demand validation strategy: pre-launch interest survey (100+ responses, 30%+ strong interest); founding member drive (30+ at $400); vendor conversations (10+ of 15–20 enthusiastic); soft launch (4–6 weeks, tight radius).

10.1 Revenue streams (Years 1–3)

Gross includes the full retail price of vendor products; the hub retains only the 20–35% margin.

10.2 Retained revenue & margin: own production (100% retained) $15–30K / $25–45K / $35–55K; vendor margin retained (25% avg) $8.75–17.5K / $17.5–30K / $25–40K; delivery fees (net of fuel) $3–8K / $6–12K / $8–16K. Retained revenue: $26.75K–$55.5K / $48.5K–$87K / $68K–$111K.

10.3 Operating expenses (annual, Year 1): land lease $1,500–4,000; seeds/inputs $1,500–3,000; water $1,800–4,800; platform fees $700–1,100; transaction fees $2,000–6,000; delivery $2,000–4,000; packaging $1,000–2,500; insurance $1,000–2,200; marketing $800–3,350; route software $0–600; misc/tools $500–1,500. Total operating: $12,800–$33,050.

10.4 Owner compensation estimate: retained midpoint $41K/$68K/$90K, minus operating midpoint $23K/$28K/$33K → owner comp (pre-tax) $18K / $40K / $57K (~$17/$38/$55 per hour at 20 hrs/wk). Year 1 is tight but viable within a portfolio career alongside teaching and other ventures; Year 3 is a credible full-time livelihood.

10.5 Startup costs: land prep & garden setup $2,000–5,000; hand tools $500–2,000; cold storage $500–3,000; wash & pack $300–1,500; initial packaging $300–800; platform setup $0–380; launch marketing $200–500; LLC $70–200; legal consultation $500–1,000; food handler $15–175; insurance $1,000–2,200; vehicle $200–800; working capital $3,000–8,000; contingency $860–2,760. Total startup: $9,445–$30,315 — low-capital by design.

10.6 Grant funding landscape: USDA LFPP, FMPP, VAPG, CDFA Specialty Crop Block Grants, SARE, CalRecycle, HUD CDBG. Apply to LFPP and VAPG in Year 2 once the model has 6+ months of operating data.

11.1 Business structure. LLC recommended — liability protection, pass-through taxation, ~$70 CA filing fee. Form it before the first order.

11.2 Food safety & licensing: CA Cottage Food Operation; produce dealer license (CDFA); county health permit; seller's permit; city/county business license; CA Food Handler Card; vehicle temp requirements. Critical: aggregating and reselling other farms' products triggers more licensing than selling your own harvest. Map it fully before launch.

11.3 Liability as the aggregator. If a vendor's product makes a customer sick, the hub is likely partially liable as the reseller. Layered mitigation: require every vendor to carry product liability insurance ($1M/occurrence); hub carries its own product liability ($500–1,200/yr); indemnification clause; inspect on receipt; keep cold-chain logs. Consult a food-business attorney before launch ($500–1,000). Not optional.

11.4 Insurance: general liability $500–1,000; product liability $500–1,200; commercial auto $300–800; umbrella $200–500.

Every feasibility study should include what the founder doesn't know yet.

• Food aggregation licensing in CA → call SD + Monterey County Environmental Health; research CDFA produce-dealer requirements; budget for a food-safety consultant.
• Cold chain logistics experience → ServSafe Manager cert; shadow a food-delivery/food-bank operation for 2–4 ride-alongs; document procedures from Day 1.
• Vendor management at scale → start with 5–8 vendors at soft launch; over-communicate; pay fast; visit farms regularly.
• E-commerce operations → book a Rooted demo; join SSR Skool; run a full test cycle with friends/family before public launch.
• Market garden production planning for a weekly store → study succession planting; build a crop-plan spreadsheet; adjust monthly on actual sales.
• Delivery route efficiency → start tight (10–15 mi); manual routing for 4–6 weeks; add Routific when volume justifies.
• Financial management for a pass-through business → simple P&L tracker from Day 1; separate vendor-payment account; track margins independently; weekly review.
• Customer acquisition & retention → follow SSR's playbook precisely for 6 months — newsletter, Facebook groups, referral program from launch.

The meta-gap: the founder has deep experience in impact operations, cooperative food systems, and community-centered work, but has not previously operated a D2C food delivery business or managed a multi-vendor e-commerce platform. SSR's mentorship program (cost TBD) exists to bridge this. The question is whether the mentorship cost (likely $2,000–$5,000+) is worth the acceleration, or whether the free Skool community + Blueprint suffice.

Year 1 targets: households served (active, 2+ orders/month) 50–100; vendor partners 10–20; revenue to vendors $25–50K; local food delivered 10,000–25,000 lbs; delivery miles tracked; customer retention (3+ consecutive months) 60%+; membership conversion 30%+; referral rate 25%+; garden productivity $2–4/sq ft; new vendor relationships 15–25; newsletter/social audience 300–500; post-delivery satisfaction (1–5) 4.5+.

Rad Roots Farm is one component of a broader portfolio career, designed to be operated part-time in Year 1 (15–20 hrs/week) alongside teaching and other ventures, scaling toward primary income by Year 3.

The weekly operating rhythm is intentionally front-loaded into Wednesday–Friday. The garden workload peaks in spring and fall; April–May will be tight. Priority hierarchy: teaching (income floor) first, Rad Roots (growth) second. This hierarchy is a decision made now, not a crisis resolved later.

Phase A — Validation (2026–2027): research CA food-aggregation licensing; complete CA Food Handler Card; approach 15–20 vendor farms (secure 5–8 letters of interest); pre-launch interest survey (100+); evaluate Rooted vs. Shopify; secure land; form LLC, business license, seller's permit; begin garden setup; build the online store; launch founding-member drive (30–50 at $400).

Phase B — Soft Launch (2027): open the store with limited offering (own production + 5–8 vendor products); 4–6 weeks at reduced radius (10–15 mi); test packing, delivery, cold chain, weekly rhythm; iterate weekly; add 2–3 vendors/month; 4-step weekly newsletter live; referral program live; begin USDA FNS EBT application.

Phase C — Growth (2027–2028): expand to 20–25 mi; scale to 15–20+ vendors; add a second delivery day above 40 orders/week; run 2nd and 3rd membership windows; implement Routific; evaluate a CoolBot walk-in upgrade; consider a part-time driver; apply to LFPP or VAPG; explore Market Match enrollment.

Phase D — Maturity / Monterey Transplant (2028–2029): the vendor network can't be moved — it must be rebuilt. 6+ months before move: scout Monterey/Salinas vendors. 3–4 months: secure land. SD hub disposition: (a) hand off to a trained operator with revenue-share, (b) sell ($5K–$20K), or (c) close gracefully (60+ days notice). Monterey launch: operational within 3–4 months of relocation. Year 3 targets: $150K–$250K gross, $50K–$80K owner comp, 15–25 vendors, 100–200 active households.

16.1 Phase A gate. GO: 30+ founding members ($12K+ upfront); 8+ vendors confirmed; county health confirms a viable licensing path; land secured; store functional. DELAY: 15–29 founding members (extend 2–3 months); <8 vendors but strong interest; regulatory unclear but not blocked. RELEASE: <15 members despite strong outreach; <5 vendors willing; regulatory path blocked or prohibitively expensive. The test producing clarity is a win.

16.2 Phase B gate (after 8-week soft launch): order volume 20+/week; customer retention 50%+ reorder in month 2; vendor reliability 80%+ on time and at quality; routes profitable at current volume; zero food-safety incidents; workload fits the portfolio-career budget.

• Regulatory complexity (High) — map before spending; call county health first; budget for a consultant.
• Cold chain failure (High) — Day 1 procedures; ServSafe; temperature logs; insurance.
• Vendor reliability (High) — 2–3 vendors per category; clear terms; fast payment.
• Customer acquisition cost (Medium) — membership generates upfront customers; referral; organic social.
• Perishable product waste (Medium) — order-based model; donate unsold perishables.
• Delivery logistics at scale (Medium) — start tight; pickup points reduce delivery load.
• Founder time constraints (Medium) — cap 15–20 hrs/week Y1; priority hierarchy: teaching → Rad Roots.
• Platform risk (Low) — platform is a tool; relationships are the moat; can migrate.
• Competition (Low) — first-mover in vendor relationships; two hubs in a metro can coexist.
• Seasonality (Medium) — year-round CA growing mitigates; shelf-stable carries slow periods.
• Monterey transplant fails (Medium) — SD hub provides income during transition; vendor scouting begins early.
• Vendor relationship breakdown (Medium) — replacing a customer is easy, replacing a vendor takes weeks.

Core assets are transferable, but not equally durable. Vendor relationships transfer partially (vendors work with people); customer list & email subscribers transfer well; online store, brand, domain transfer; garden/land lease depends on naming; operational knowledge transfers with 3–6 month shadow + documented SOPs; Farm Credit Membership liabilities transfer (unredeemed credits are a liability the new operator assumes).

The honest truth: a one-person micro food hub is a personality-driven business — customers order because they trust the farmer, vendors supply because they trust the operator. A thoughtful, well-communicated transition can retain 60–80% of the base; an abrupt departure retains much less.

• Confluence Farms (SSR — Nelson, BC): $200K revenue on ½ acre, two-person team. The benchmark.
• Feed the North (SSR — Smithers, BC): raised $15K upfront from membership; even <20K-person markets support a hub.
• Plow Girl Farm (SSR — Creston, MT): CSA operator pivoted to Hub; connector approach.
• The Green Rebel (SSR — Miravet, Spain): rebuilt revenue through aggregation after crop loss.
• Dalmeny Acres (SSR — Ottawa, ON): doubled online sales to $75K; $14K+ from membership.
• Foodshed Cooperative (San Diego): worker-owned co-op distributing local food. Validates demand in SD.
• ALBA (Salinas, CA): organic farm training + food hub serving Monterey. Validates aggregation in the market.
• The Ecology Center (San Juan Capistrano): aspirational physical model — farm becomes community institution.

The 13 tactics documented by Small Scale Rebellion that form the foundation of this study: transform a market garden into a local food aggregation hub; build an online farm store; curate a full-diet offering with local farms and artisans; launch a Farm Credit Membership; implement a profitable home delivery system; develop a proactive sales system; create a 4-step weekly email newsletter; build automated customer-journey emails; implement a refer-a-friend program; use local Facebook Marketplace for free acquisition; master a 7-point customer journey; manage finances through regular P&L analysis; scale through systems, not labor or acreage. Source: smallscalerebellion.com · skool.com/small-scale-rebellion.

Rooted Farmers (rootedfarmers.com) is a farm- and hub-specific e-commerce and management platform. Plans: Farm Essentials $14.50/mo ($174/yr); Farm Pro $31.25/mo ($375/yr); Hub Essentials $30.75/mo ($369/yr); Hub Pro $58.25/mo ($699/yr); Hub Enterprise (custom). Transaction fees: 7.9% + $0.30 per online card transaction (includes Stripe's 2.9% + $0.30); 5.5% + $0.30 for cash/check/off-platform. Marketplace: 7,500+ wholesale buyers. Partners: USDA, NIFA, ASCFG, NC State, UNH, Larta Institute, Slow Food Fresno. Source: rootedfarmers.com/pricing.

• What does the SSR mentorship cost? (apply and ask; evaluate free Skool resources first.)
• Does Rooted support a Farm Credit Membership / credit-based CSA? (book a demo.)
• What are CDFA's produce-dealer licensing requirements for a hub? (call CDFA + county health.)
• Can EBT/SNAP be accepted for online delivery in CA? (USDA FNS Online Purchasing Pilot; CA SNAP.)
• What does aggregator product-liability insurance actually cost? (2–3 quotes from ag-focused brokers.)
• Is viable ag land available for lease in both geographies at target prices?
• What do SSR alumni wish they'd known?
• What's the realistic vendor-onboarding timeline in each geography?
• Is the model honestly compatible with the portfolio-career time budget?
• What's the minimum viable vendor count for a credible "full diet"?

To be built alongside this study: Vendor Outreach Template & Terms Sheet; Founding Member Marketing Kit; Weekly Operating Checklist; Cold Chain Procedures & Temperature Log; Financial Tracking Spreadsheet; Regulatory Research Summary; Platform Decision Matrix (after Rooted demo); Crop Plan & Succession Planting Schedule; Customer Operations Handbook; Standard Operating Procedures.

Concept stage — feasibility and validation phase. The model is proven. The tools exist. The gap is real. Now validate it locally. Radically.