Thriving Farmer Case Study: Longbottom Farm

These Virginia farmers mastered farm marketing. Now, online sales make up HALF of their business!

Jason & Lexi Feyerherd are the dynamic duo living their farm dream at Virginia’s Longbottom Farm. But not long ago they were living a different dream…the typical “suburban dream.” As Lexi describes on their beautiful website, “We had a growing family in a wonderful neighborhood, with good schools, nearby amenities and all the Netflix our wi-fi could handle. It was a wonderful life, but something was missing. Little did we know that a seed had been planted in both of our hearts. And what started as a spark of desire to move to the country, grew into a full-fledged passion for farming. There were many factors at play, but ultimately the desire to responsibly raise safe, nutritious food was the reason we started our small family farm. When we purchased our property, it was advertised with 30 acres of bottomland with a long river frontage. The name Longbottom Farm just jumped out at us.”

Their farm encompasses 55 acres, located along the James River in Scottsville, Virginia. In the past, the land had been used for cattle and pork production, wood milling, and most recently corn and soybean farming. The land needed tender loving care, and livestock was a great way to heal the land. Now, chickens are rotated around the farm, fertilizing the soil while producing some of the best free-range eggs available. The cattle mow and fertilize the fields, which nourish the pastures that in turn nourish the cattle.

Today, Longbottom’s products include grass-fed/grass-finished beef, pastured pork, and fresh eggs from pasture-raised hens.

So, why did Jason and Lexi engage with Small Farm Nation?

“How to market online was our biggest challenge,” Lexi explained. “Learning copywriting skills, building email lists, branding, and engaging our customers online. Farmers Markets have been a large part in growing our farm, but online sales now make up half of our revenue and continue to grow.”

Like so many farmers, it was a passion for the lifestyle that led Jason and Lexi to farming. And they have taken to it with a vengeance. But if there are no customers to buy the farm products, profitable farming can instead be a money-sucking hobby. So they decided to invest in learning the critical marketing skills they needed to ensure their farm would thrive financially.

“The Small Farm Nation Academy courses did a great job in teaching us how to brand, how to convert social media likes into website traffic, and how to be engaging with our customers through emails and social media,” Lexi said. “The forums are also a great resource for knowledge as well as to interact with other farmers building their farm businesses.”