Herrle's Country Farm Market

The Challenge

Today, the urban consumer wants access to fresh fruit and vegetables and Herrle’s, a popular farm and country market near three mid-sized cities in Ontario, is seeing a growing demand by consumers to get their fruits and vegetables straight from the farm and to eat locally. Herrle’s wanted to strengthen the connection between rural and urban communities.

The Solution

Trevor Herrle-Braun began using his BlackBerry® smartphone to send out “TractorTweets” about food production throughout the farm. Realizing the potential to reach new and existing customers he began using the BlackBerry® Playbook™ tablet with his BlackBerry smartphone and BlackBerry® Bridge™ app to help communicate with customers, keep track of field scheduling and check weather conditions. Herrle-Braun also downloaded the SellSmart application to check fluctuating grain prices to determine the optimum time to sell. The entire Herrle family is now using BlackBerry smartphones to communicate with each other on Blackberry® Messenger (BBM™) about day-to-day business. 

Herrle’s Country Farm Market’s Benefits

• More responsive to consumers which increases sales potential
• New channels to generate more customer traffic through store
• Option to act quickly on business decisions
• Mobile field record keeping
• Family and staff can keep in touch from virtually anywhere
• Ability to better manage farm decisions and family commitments