Burlington County Farmer Shares Business Success Tips at Agriculture Conference

Rose Robson, a fourth-generation farmer from Robson Family Farm in Wrightstown, spoke at the Northeast Agriculture Conference in Atlantic City about her marketing strategies. She emphasizes building her business around one word - 'cute' - and has shifted focus from vegetables to orchards and cut flowers over her 13 seasons.

ATLANTIC CITY — A fourth-generation Burlington County farmer shared her business philosophy at a recent agriculture conference, breaking down her approach to just one simple concept.

Rose Robson, who operates Robson Family Farm in Wrightstown, told attendees at the Northeast Agriculture Conference at Harrah’s Resort Atlantic City in late January that choosing a single defining word has transformed her business strategy.

“I think having a word is probably the most important thing you could do for your business. A word is basically the shortest form of a mission statement. Our word at Robson’s Farm is ‘cute,'” Robson explained. “If it isn’t cute, we’re not saying it, we’re not posting it, we’re not stocking it at our farm stand, we’re not making it into merchandise.”

The farm, located next to the Joint MDL Base (previously McGuire Air Force Base), has evolved into primarily orchard operations. Robson returned to farming after working in medical sales, which she described as profitable but ultimately unsatisfying. She’s now completing her 13th year running the family operation.

The business operates two main divisions, according to Robson – flowers and produce. Working alongside her mother and team, they provide customers with 32-ounce containers for self-picked flowers. While she previously handled wedding florals, she found that market too demanding despite good profits.

Their product lineup includes apples, peaches, paw-paws, donut peaches, cut flowers and sunflowers. Robson applies her single-word philosophy to analyze competing farms in her area as well.

“The closest businesses to me that do something similar to me would be Strawberry Hill Farm, which does peaches and apples, and Johnson’s Locust Hall Farm, which does a lot of stuff, almost everything,” she noted.

“Johnson’s Farm is the other direction from us and they offer everything, weddings, hayrides, all kinds of baked goods and they offer premium products. The word I use for their farm is ‘luxury,’ and I would put Strawberry Hill as ‘classic,’ and we at Robson’s Farm directly in the middle, are ‘cute,'” she continued.

During her presentation, Robson explained how she leverages the farm’s website, Facebook and Instagram for customer feedback, while weekly email newsletters help strengthen profits and build customer loyalty while attracting new visitors.

“The only bad review we had online was someone who simply said ‘Bad.’ And it was in February and I’m pretty sure it was a disgruntled neighbor — 99% sure I know who it is, so we don’t even count that one,” she mentioned.

The farm has undergone significant changes since Robson took over. Initially, they delivered vegetable packages to homes, which performed well financially but proved exhausting for her personally. They also tried farmers’ markets but found the time investment didn’t justify the returns.

“It was a nightmare, for me at least, so in 2019 we started saying ‘vegetable free in three,’ meaning in three years, we’re going to really commit to doing just orchard fruits and stop doing all the vegetable stuff. It just was not working.”

“Ultimately, I want to be in my own happy place and now I’m there, we also want to be the cutest and that is really important to me, so the scope of what we do is apples, peaches, paw-paws, you-cut flowers, and we have room to grow other unique crops, these items need to be unique hard-to-find and of high quality fit into what we are already doing. I’m putting in two new products this spring and it’s a lot of fun,” Robson shared, though she kept details about the new offerings under wraps.

For their flower picking experience, the farm charges $12, with the 32-ounce containers typically accommodating around 60 stems.

“Pay only for what you pick is what separates us from other farm businesses in our area, others charge an entry fee, so I’m constantly thinking about how we can add value without spending a ton of money,” she explained.

Robson stressed that successful marketing requires viewing everything from the customer’s perspective.

“You have to come at it from a customer-focused perspective, what’s in it for the customer,” she advised, describing wallet-sized cards she created for fruit picking customers.

“They give us their email address and we give them a cute little Peach Pass which is a cute little card. They come, they pick their own peaches, and they get 10% off what they pick.” The farm also distributes peach and apple scented scratch-and-sniff stickers during harvest months from July through October.

One of their signature events, paw-paw walks held multiple times each September, originated from an unexpected source. A National Geographic reporter years ago inquired about paw-paw events at the farm. Since none existed, Robson and her team developed guided walks where visitors can harvest from their limited paw-paw trees. These September events have become what Robson calls “paw-paw insanity month.”

She also emphasized the importance of training staff to handle common customer questions effectively.

“Because nothing is worse than asking an employee a question and having him or her stumbling and stuttering and not sure who to ask. It doesn’t inspire much confidence in what’s going on at the farm,” she concluded.