Extension provides practical tools, expert guidance and hands-on resources specifically designed to help small produce and livestock farms succeed.
When operating a small farm, growers aren't just the producers; they are the pickers, the packers, the accountants, and the marketing strategists. By the time they harvest, clean and bundle their crops, the chore of selling them can feel like a breaking point.
That’s why Minnesota farmers, like Erik Heimark, are experimenting with farmstands to market produce. Whether it’s a roadside shed or a repurposed hay wagon displaying their goods, these structures serve as direct sales points that connect producers with consumers.
Zachary Paige coordinates programming for sustainable agriculture at the University of Minnesota Extension’s Northwest Regional Sustainable Development Partnership. Also a farmer and founder of North Circle Seeds, Paige understands the time constraints felt by small vegetable producers, and his research has led him to see farmstands as an underutilized tool.
Paige and partnering organizations worked closely with specialty-crop farmers to develop a suite of practical resources, including a marketing guide, consumer survey results and construction blueprints, designed to build resilient and sustainable farm businesses.
Letting the stand do the work
“Farmers have to wear so many hats,” says Erik Heimark, who co-owns Maple Ridge Produce with his husband. In addition to managing their two farms and a popular Spartanette trailer farmstand in Aitkin County, Heimark works as a farm business management specialist. He looks closely at how farmers spend their time and where they could get some of it back.
“Originally, we just couldn’t sell all our produce at the market, so we decided to put some at the end of the driveway, and it was a success,” Heimark says. “When you realize a roadstand can bring in revenue while you are actively farming, it completely changes how you look at your labor.”
Back in 2023, Paige heard Heimark present at a conference on the hidden costs of traditional markets, explaining how staff time, labor and mileage diminish profits. When compared to other direct sales methods, University research confirms that farmstands have exceptionally low operating expenses. Growers with farmstands retain an incredible 84% of sales as net income compared to 32% at a farmers market.
Heimark’s presentation made a lot of sense to Paige, who constantly looks for ways to make farmers’ lives easier.
“I just turned around right there in my seat and asked the whole room, ‘Who here would want to put up a farmstand if they knew how?’” Paige recalls. “Fourteen people raised their hands.”
Inspired by this response, Paige secured a Minnesota Specialty Crop Block Grant to study successful farmstands and translate those strategies into digestible, ready-to-use resources.
Customers want an experience, not just food
Running a farmstand on autopilot saves time, but attracting and retaining shoppers takes some intentional effort.
Paige collaborated with the University of Minnesota Tourism Center to survey customers on their farmstand habits and wants. In 2025, 50 Minnesota farmstands, including Heimark’s, participated. While farmers used their individual results to immediately improve their stand operations, the aggregate data was analyzed to help growers and industry experts better understand consumer preferences.
“People choose to shop at farmstands for the experience,” Paige says the survey showed. “They want to know where their food is coming from, and they enjoy the outing as a social activity.”
The survey also revealed an incredible sense of customer loyalty, showing shoppers continually return to stands where they feel a personal connection to the grower.
To help growers apply these results, Paige worked with Minnesota Grown, a partnership between the Minnesota Department of Agriculture and Minnesota producers of specialty crops and livestock. They created a marketing toolkit promoting best practices. It features simple, low-cost strategies to keep customers coming back, such as adding handwritten notes on how to cook unfamiliar vegetables or a calendar previewing upcoming crops for sale.
Getting started with a farmstand design
Committed to the farmstand model, Heimark now hosts products from 20 local farmers and makers and has enjoyed seeing new farmstands pop up around the area.
To help growers get started or scale up, Paige is partnering with the University of Minnesota Center for Sustainable Building Research to develop open-source plans for a mobile farmstand with solar-powered refrigeration. This prototype will debut at the University of Minnesota Arboretum this fall of 2026.
Whether it’s a refurbished shed or a solar-powered prototype, farmstands offer unique growth opportunities and can be customized to fit many farm operations.
Explore the full suite of online resources and check back for additional tools as Extension continues to investigate how this model can be adapted to fit Minnesota’s growers.
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