Farms and ranches
Farm deliveries that stay frozen all the way to the porch.
Porch Route plans a farm’s delivery day across the whole fleet, keeps frozen, refrigerated and dry orders on vehicles that can carry them, and sends each driver a link that opens on any phone. Customers get texts under your farm’s name, and every outcome goes back to your store.
Free up to 150 orders a month · No credit card · Last updated
The problem
Why is delivery hard for farms?
- Frozen, chilled and dry orders, and only some of the vehicles can keep things cold
- Long drives between stops, where the order you drive them in decides the day
- Part-time drivers on delivery days who won’t install another app
- Customers calling to ask when the truck will get there
How Porch Route helps
What does Porch Route do for farms?
- Frozen, refrigerated and dry are hard rules on every vehicle, so a frozen box never lands on the dry truck
- Routes planned across the whole fleet at once, with the miles and time saved against the order the orders came in
- Drivers get a link to their route that opens on any phone, with no app and no login
- Customers get a text when the truck sets off and a tracking page under your farm’s name
- Photo proof at the door, and an undo window before the customer is told
What it looks like on the day.
Three vehicles' loads by temperature, and the reason a frozen stop was held back when no vehicle could carry it.
Every number in these screens is the planner’s own answer for a demo day — not a mock-up of one.
CSA and share deliveries
CSA boxes and meat shares: a delivery day for every area
Most CSAs and share programs deliver each area on a fixed day. In Porch Route every zone — a radius around the farm or an area you draw on the map — has its own delivery days, window, daily order limit and cutoff, so a member’s address decides the day and the zone tells you when it’s full.
Each week, import the member list as a CSV (a Shopify export works as-is) or have your farm platform send orders over the API keyed by its own order numbers, so re-sending updates instead of duplicating. Build the day’s routes, dispatch, and members get a text or email when the box is scheduled, on the way, almost there and delivered — with a photo of where it was left.
Frozen shares ride only on vehicles marked frozen-capable. When a box can’t be placed, it waits with the reason — “No vehicle can carry frozen items” — instead of quietly going out in the wrong van.
One delivery day
What does one delivery day look like?
Step 1: Tuesday’s orders come in
Export the week’s orders from your farm store as a CSV and import them, or let your platform send each order over the API. Every order carries its temperature — set from its coldest item — and any instructions, like “cooler on the side porch, gate code 4417”.
Step 2: Build the routes
Choose Tuesday, tick the reefer van and the dry van, and choose Build. Frozen boxes go only to the reefer; time windows and weight limits hold; the plan shows the miles, time and fuel it saved against driving the orders in the order they came in.
Step 3: Load from the run sheet
Print a run sheet per route with every stop and line item, and a load list to check the van before it leaves.
Step 4: Dispatch and send the links
Dispatching sends each customer a “delivery scheduled” text or email with their window and tracking link. Each driver gets a link to their route — no app, no login — that stops working two days after the route date.
Step 5: Deliver from the phone
Drive mode shows one stop at a time: name, address, instructions, what’s in the box, and one big Delivered button. A photo at the cooler is the proof. Customers get “on the way” and “almost there” texts, and the delivered notice waits five minutes so a mis-tap can be undone.
Step 6: The loop closes
Every outcome goes back to your store over a signed webhook with the proof photo, and the message log shows every text and email that went out.
Pricing
What does Porch Route cost farms this size?
Every feature is on every plan. Plans differ only by how many orders and customer texts they include each month, and by support — never by drivers or vehicles.
| Business | Orders a month | Vehicles | Plan | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Small CSA, one van | 120 | 1 | Porch Light | Free |
| Weekly farm delivery | 400 | 2 | Starter | $39/month |
| Farm with wholesale runs | 1,500 | 4 | Route | $189/month |
Monthly billing; annual billing is two months free. Porch and Route include unlimited vehicles and drivers. Fleet is priced for your volume.
Questions
What farms ask us.
Can Porch Route keep frozen and refrigerated orders on the right vehicle?
Yes, and it isn’t optional. Each vehicle is marked frozen, refrigerated or dry capable; each order takes its coldest item’s temperature. The planner never puts a frozen order on a vehicle that can’t carry it — it holds the stop back with the reason instead.
Do our delivery-day drivers need an app?
No. Dispatching texts or emails each driver a link that opens drive mode in their phone’s browser. Staff drivers who sign in find their routes under My routes. Drivers can add drive mode to their home screen if they like.
Does it work with Local Line, Barn2Door or my farm store?
Any store that can export a CSV or send an HTTP request works today: import the export (Shopify’s format is recognised) or send orders to the API with your own order numbers. Native connectors for farm platforms aren’t available yet, so we don’t promise them here.
Does Porch Route handle weekly CSA subscriptions?
Today each week’s deliveries come in as a CSV or over the API, and re-importing updates the orders it matches rather than adding them again. Standing weekly or biweekly schedules are being built; we’ll say so on this page when they ship.
How much does it cost a farm?
Porch Light is free up to 150 orders a month with one vehicle. A farm delivering a few hundred orders a month with two vans is on Starter at $39 a month, with unlimited vehicles and drivers and 750 customer texts included once its carrier registration is approved; Porch, at $79, covers up to 1,000 orders with 1,500 texts. Every feature is on every plan.
Related pages
Plan your next delivery day in a few minutes.
Add your vehicles and a day of orders — by hand, from a CSV or over the API — and build your first routes.
Free up to 150 orders a month · No credit card