Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)

It's finally staring to feel like summer is right around the corner. The mosquitoes and other nasties have taken to the sky and the average temperatures are starting to rise over 60 degrees. My days primarily consist of cultivating the fields. I feel like "cultivating" is a fancy word for weeding. The dictionary defines it as such:

cultivation [ˌkʌltɪˈveɪʃən]

n

1. (Life Sciences & Allied Applications / Agriculture) Agriculture

a.  the planting, tending, improving, or harvesting of crops or plants

b.  the preparation of ground to promote their growth

On the bright side, I've been able to break up the monotony of weeding with some weekend adventures and catching up with friends. Whenever people ask me what kind of farm I work on, I tell them I work on an organic CSA. It turns out, many people don't know what CSAs are.

Community Supported Agriculture

Community supported agriculture (CSA) originated in Switzerland and Japan in the 1960s and came to the United States during the 1980s. The idea stemmed from consumers who wanted safe foods to eat and farmers who wanted stable markets to sell their produce in. Today, there are over 4,000 CSAs in the United States according to Local Harvest, a grassroots organization that maintains a database of CSAs. 

When CSAs started, it was not uncommon for groups of individuals or communities to directly seek out farmers to grow fresh food for them. Communities would often be heavily involved with the management and practices of the farm through a board or other governing body. Today, the membership of CSAs is less involved and connected to the farm. For many members, their support is a financial one (buying shares instead of trading time and labor). 

The basic idea behind a CSA is that a person purchases a share (aka. membership or subscription) of the farmer's produce for a whole season before the season begins. They members of a CSA acknowledge that farming is a risky venture and agree to share in the risk of farming. If the farm does well, they will probably have more veggies than they can eat. If the farm has a bad season, they will receive less. Some CSAs offer other goods in conjunction with fresh produce including meats, dairy, honey, bread, and other artisan goods.

Example: Ploughshare Farm had 500 shares for sale this year. The cost of one share was roughly $600. If you purchased a share, you'd receive a box of vegetables each week between April and October. 

There are many benefits to this arrangement:

Advantages for farmers:

• Get to spend time marketing the food early in the year, before their 16 hour days in the field begin
• Receive payment early in the season, which helps with the farm's cash flow
• Have an opportunity to get to know the people who eat the food they grow

Advantages for consumers:

• Eat ultra-fresh, seasonal, local, organic/biodynamically grown food, with all the flavor and vitamin benefits
• Get exposed to new vegetables and new ways of cooking
• Usually get to visit the farm at least once a season
• Find that kids typically favor food from "their" farm – even veggies they've never been known to eat
• Develop a relationship with the farmer who grows their food and learn more about how food is grown

All in all, I highly recommend purchasing your veggies through a CSA if you have the opportunity. There are all kinds of CSAs with different products and arrangements. If you live in Minnesota, Ploughshare Farm delivers to Alexandria, Saint Cloud, and the Twin Cities. Check them out here. If you're looking to support a local new and up and coming CSA, check out A Place At The Table CSA.

Hope you're having a lovely spring in June!

Jack