BRANDING AND DIGITALIZATION IN SHARED FARMS: VALUE CREATION, REVENUE CONVERSION, AND FINANCIAL SUSTAINABILITY
Keywords:
Shared farm, Digital agriculture, Brand assets, Revenue diversification, Customer conversion, Financial sustainabilityAbstract
Shared farms connect underused rural resources with urban demand for safe food, agricultural experiences, and long-term participation, yet their financial sustainability is often constrained by weak branding, narrow revenue sources, fragmented customer management, and limited digital capacity. This study examines how branding and digitalization jointly support value creation and revenue conversion in a shared farm in Liaoning Province, China. The evidence consists of 1,332 valid questionnaires, two field investigations, 230 minutes of recorded material, approximately 15,000 Chinese characters of interview records, operating information supplied by the farm, and records from four implemented educational activities. The case shows a revenue structure in which plot adoption contributes approximately 55%, agricultural product sales 25%, and extended services 20%. A standardized parent-child program priced at RMB 298 per adult-child pair provides direct service income and converts approximately 20%-30% of participating families into annual plot-adoption customers. The digital service platform reduces information fragmentation and is reported to improve consultation efficiency by about 40%. Branding, experiential products, and lightweight digital tools therefore form a connected mechanism through which cultural and agricultural resources are converted into differentiated products, customer relationships, and recurring revenue. The findings indicate that revenue diversification, disciplined cost allocation, and modular replication are central to the financial sustainability of small shared farms.References
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