Adopt a Tree

Connecting to your customers and making them customers for life is one of the keys to building a great small business. Finding innovative ways to finance start-up and growth is another key factor. Several farmers have found ways to combine both keys through “adoption programs” for their productive assets.

St. Helena Winery in the Napa Valley allows wine lovers to adopt a vine for $79.95 per year, which gives them a certificate of adoption, a name tag on the vine and a choice of one or two bottles of wine. In addition the winery has a guest cottage for their “partners.”

A similar program is offered by WineShare for French and Italian wines. Nudo, started by two former British television producers, has had 548 of their 881 olive trees adopted at $110/year. Yachana Gourmet does the same thing with coco trees.

Could one of your new farmer entrepreneurs use this model to help finance their fledgling operation?