Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (2 votes, average: 5 out of 5)
Loading ... Loading ...

CSA is a socio-economic model of food production, sales, and distribution aimed at both increasing the quality of food and the quality of care given the land, plants and animals – while substantially reducing potential food losses and financial risks for the producers. It is also a method for small-scale commercial farmers and gardeners to have a successful, small-scale closed market. CSA’s focus is usually on a system of weekly delivery or pick-up of vegetables, sometimes also flowers, fruits, herbs and even milk or meat products in some cases. A variety of production and economic sub-systems are in use worldwide.

How The CSA System Works

CSA generally is the practice of focusing on the production of high quality foods using ecological, organic or biodynamic farming methods. This kind of farming operates with a much greater-than-usual degree of involvement of consumers and other stakeholders—resulting in a stronger than usual consumer-producer relationship. The core design includes developing a cohesive consumer group that is willing to fund a whole season’s budget in order to get quality foods. The system has many variations on how the farm budget is supported by the consumers and how the producers then deliver the foods. By CSA theory, the more a farm embraces whole-farm, whole-budget support, the more it can focus on quality and reduce the risk of food waste or financial loss.

In its most formal and structured European and North American form, CSAs focus on having:

  • A transparent, whole season budget for producing a specified wide array of products for a set number of weeks a year;
  • A common-pricing system where producers and consumers discuss and democratically agree to pricing based on the acceptance of the budget; and
  • A ‘shared risk and reward’ agreement, i.e. that the consumers eat what the farmers grow even with the vagaries of seasonal growing.

Individuals, families or groups do not pay for x pounds or kilograms of produce, but rather support the budget of the whole farm and receive weekly what is seasonally ripe. This approach eliminates the marketing risks and costs for the producer and an enormous amount of time, often manpower too, and allows producers to focus on quality care of soils, crops, animals, co-workers—and on serving the customers. There is little to no loss (i.e. waste) in this system, since the producers know in advance who they are growing for and how much to grow, etc.

Some confusion about the CSA system has arisen as some CSAs are less whole-budget, whole-farm oriented and have more the character of subscription farming. This kind of arrangement is also referred to as crop-sharing or box schemes. In such cases, farmers often simply set the weekly prices and retain a high level of risk, marketing costs and so on. Thus there is an important distinction between the producers (farmers, gardeners, etc.) selling shares in the upcoming season’s harvest or selling a weekly subscription that includes x, y, z amounts of produce. In all cases, participants contribute a pre-agreed amount (sometimes an equal amount, sometimes variable) and in return receive a weekly harvest.

Some farms are dedicated entirely to CSA, while others also sell through on-farm stands, farmers’ markets, and other channels. Most CSAs are owned by the farmers, while some offer shares in the farm as well as the harvest. Consumers have organized their own CSA projects, going as far as renting land and hiring farmers.

Typically, CSA farms are small, independent, labor-intensive, family farms. Many CSAs practice ecological, organic or biodynamic agriculture, avoiding pesticides and inorganic fertilizers.

Method of distribution is a distinctive feature in CSA. In the U.S. and Canada, shares are usually provided weekly, with pick-ups on a designated day and time. CSA subscribers often live in towns and cities - local drop-off locations, convenient to a number of members, are organized, often at the homes of members. Shares are also usually available on-farm.

CSA is different from buying clubs and home delivery services, where the consumer buys a specific product at a predetermined price. CSA members are actively involved in the production process, providing a form of direct financing through advance purchase of shares, and assisting with distribution by picking up their shares.

An advantage of the close consumer-producer relationship is increased freshness of the produce, because it does not have to be shipped long distances. The close proximity of the farm to the members also helps the environment by reducing pollution caused by transporting the produce.

A film, The Real Dirt on Farmer John, documents the resurrection of a family farm through its conversion to a CSA model and is slated to release in the 2007 summer.

Support your economy and eat healthy

You can support family farms by joining and supporting CSA. When you support a CSA you support your economy, farmers, and healthy farming while eating healthy and surprisingly delicious food.

Disclaimer: I wrote this article back on 09/06/2007, a lot of the info above was from wikipedia.org - This article is here to increase awareness about CSA’s

Find a CSA closest to you

http://www.augustearth.com

http://www.landstewardshipproject.org/pdf/csa.pdf

ttp://www.nal.usda.gov/afsic/pubs/csa/csa.shtml

Biodynamic Farming and Gardening Association CSA listings
http://www.biodynamics.com/csa.html

Local Harvest
http://www.localharvest.org/csa/

NewFarm Farm Locator
http://newfarm.org/farmlocator/index.php

Wilson College, Robyn Van En Center CSA Farm Database
http://www.wilson.edu/wilson/asp/content.asp?id=804

The Eat Well Guide
http://www.eatwellguide.org/

Local Food Directories. (2006). ATTRA - The National Sustainable Agriculture Informtion Service.
http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/localfood_dir.php

Harmony Valley
http://www.harmonyvalleyfarm.com/

MFA Incorporated
http://www.mfaincorporated.com

Similar Entries

November 19, 2008 · Filed Under Diet & Nutrition, Tips

Grad School Research into Occupational Therapy »
« Toxic Minnesotans

Comments:

Thanks for reading this article. If you enjoyed it, please consider subscribing to this blog, either via RSS or email where it says "Get Notified of New Blog Entries". You could also register in order to have your own picture show next to your comments. I would also appreciate it if you shared this article on your favorite social websites; simply click on any of the icons where it says "Share & Bookmark to". Also leave a comment to share your opinions and experiences.


Leave a Reply