Not Just About Vegetables
Pierre, Jim
Not Just About Vegetables COMMUNITY SUPPORTED AGRICULTURE by Jim Pierro Outside, a cool November breeze buffets sturdy leaves still clinging to gray-trunked maples and oaks. Inside, the modest...
...Another variant of this model used by some farms is a pick-your-own policy...
...Jun Pierro lives in the Berkshires and helps CSA of North America with their outreach efforts...
...The farmer or farmers agree to grow, with nature's sanction, a sufficient quantity of food for the members for the duration of the season...
...Although the actual form and execution of a given CSA may vary according to the resources at hand and the needs of members, the acronym's first initial stands for community, and the undertakings that result fortify local economies and contribute to the agricultural integrity of a region...
...As is evidenced by its name, the farm has allied with a local food bank—one of any number of organizations that stockpile and redistribute government and commercial surpluses to food pantries and community hunger agencies...
...The people at Angelic Organics understand that constant communication is necessary to the success of any organization...
...Her enthusiasm and lectures inspired many, until an untimely death from a severe asthma attack on a cold, snowless January night in 1997 ended her physical stay on earth...
...Topics will include starting a CSA, member recruitment, organic farming techniques, and two dozen other subjects...
...Most CSAs encourage members to visit...
...The idea of setting up a regional forum for CSA farmers to mingle their experiences and ideas took seed in the thoughts of CSANA founder Robyn Van En, but the many presentations and conversations listed on the docket confirm that the CSA movement is rife with visionaries...
...Like the definition of CSA—or anything else that human wiles have touched—gray areas abound...
...Today, an estimated 1,000 CSAs exist in at least 43 states, with the highest concentrations in the Northeast, the Midwest, the Northwest, and California...
...Chuck Matthei, executive director of Equity Trust, explains how their organization has created a revolving loan fund for CSAs to acquire or develop agricultural land with conservation easements or other land-tenure arrangements...
...Credit for that is often given to a group of 25 or so Tokyo housewives who were concerned about an increase in chemical-based food production, imports, and higher prices throughout mid-60's Japan...
...After paying $200, $350, or $500 for the season, each shareholder generally receives the same veggies as the next shareholder...
...some even host special festivals with barn dances and hay rides or other community events...
...Half of the farm's harvest is handed over to the food bank and the remainder is divided among the CSA's 400 members...
...But Robyn s passion for CSA inspired many to join the movement, and her memory lives on in the hearts and minds of those who perpetuate her dreams of a truly regional food system and economic security for small farmers...
...Robyn Van En went on to found and run CSA of North America, an information clearinghouse that distributed needed information for those wanting to start CSAs, including the first CSA handbook, "The Basic Formula to Create Community Supported Agriculture," which she authored...
...On a panel titled "Communicating with Your Membership," John Peterson explains that they include a weekly newsletter in each box of vegetables...
...The calendar, however, still showed a few months left in 1985, so they decided to institute a trial CSA, selling shares of a cider and apple harvest that autumn...
...Many CSAs try to give their members the widest possible variety, but sometimes the weekly basket may contain too much of one thing and not enough of another...
...Interviews with farmhands and interns, news about the weather, and announcements of special events round out the newsletter's content...
...When not canoeing or helping friends with this or that, he works on a novel, which is Hearing completion...
...Their 22-acre site, located two hours northwest of Chicago, caters to the Windy City's suburbs as well as its urban core...
...When Jan Vandertuin left one of the Swiss groups and came to America, he was introduced to Robyn Van En, then in her second season as owner of Indian Line Farm in the Berkshires of western Massachusetts...
...Another major challenge to the CSA enterprise is land tenure...
...While CSAs in the Northeast generally operate for a six-month season, those in warmer climates like California and the South are able to provide members with farmfresh produce year round...
...Thus, a parent cooking for arugula-shy youngsters can bypass it altogether, or gather a small amount for a coaxCSA HISTORY The term "community supported agriculture" was partly the idea of CSA visionary Robyn Van En, but the concept was not...
...Jo Meller and Jim Sluyter of Five Springs Farm in northwest Michigan are listening carefully to these conversations about communication...
...Inside, the modest office of Community Supported Agriculture of North America (CSANA) is witness to a blurred scurry as the organization's acting director, Elizabeth Keen, gathers papers, books, pamphlets, and lists for the first Northeast Regional Community Supported Agriculture Conference...
...The resulting newsletter...
...It's Not Just About Vegetables," states a video distributed by CSANA that discusses these diverse implications...
...Farm manager Bob Bower describes two ambitious delivery routes—on Wednesdays to drop-off sites in the suburban boroughs, and on Saturdays to several locations on Chicago's North Side...
...Angelic Organics is a midwestern CSA that has cultivated a dedicated member base, which partakes of their produce from late June to early November...
...By and large, CSAs open the possibility for those with a few idle moments to get down on their hands and knees and pull weeds from in between young carrot plants...
...ing recipe or two...
...Inside three chalet-style ski lodges just weeks before the year's first snow, talk of seeds and soil, sun and rain prevail as the conference shifts into high gear...
...CSAs are not at the mercy of a Wall Street oligarchy...
...The Community Farm: A Voice for Community Supported Agriculture, debuts in May of 1998, containing articles about farm management and member retention, profiles of farms and growers, as well as news items of concern to CSAs and those interested in the sustainable agriculture movement...
...But one thing remains clear: through the fierce dedication of growers, members, and those concerned about the fate of small farms, CSAs will continue to be an increasingly popular way for people to reconnect with the earthly and community influences that affect the food that they eat...
...The wiry, dynamic Docter, a self-proclaimed efficiency zealot, explains how the survey results led to the institution of a mix-and-match policy...
...The Peconic Land Trust set up the 150-member, pick-your-own CSA that he runs on the eastern part of Long Island...
...With its emphasis on gargantuan volume made possible chiefly from the use of chemical fertilizers and a penchant for fostering farmer-consumer isolation, agribusinesses are the sharpest antithesis to what CSA stands for...
...The majority of CSAs do not exist solely as subscription enterprises...
...They approached growers 60m the nearby village of Miyoshi and drew up plans for a partnership that called for an up-front fee paid to the growers with the harvested produce to be accepted and divided equally by the consumers...
...From the panels listed on the ten-page conference program it is clear that attracting and maintaining a loyal membership is one of the key challenges faced by CSA farms...
...In addition to the stock fare of organic veggies, some CSAs sell shares for eggs, poultry, dairy products, various meats, and fresh flowers...
...In simplest terms, community supported agriculture is a direct relationship between growers and consumers, with the consumers paying a fee to the farmers at the beginning of the growing season...
...The basic shared-risk, shared-reward idea, with personalized variations that are a hallmark of any maverick movement, was next seen in Switzerland and Germany...
...Months of planning are about to bear fruit...
...Since many of these farmers are about to close up shop until next spring, they'll have the whole winter season to reflect on the stories and strategies of their CSA cohorts...
...Many operate as what Trauger Groh and Steve McFadden, co-authors of the newly revised and expanded Farms of Tomorrow Revisited (Biodynamic Farming and Gardening Association, 1997), refer to as hybrids—part CSA and part traditional market farm...
...In less than 24 hours, 350 farmers, CSA practitioners, USDA field personnel, and several university extension and nonprofit organization staffers from across the country will gather at a small New England ski area for two days of panels and discussions...
...In the years since those early days, members and growers have come and gone, spreading the idea outward from New England...
...While most "subscribers" view CSA farms as a healthy, viable alternative to the familiar commercial food dispensary, there's more to participation than putting food in the pantry...
...Other shareholders may be overwhelmed by the 25 or so vegetable varieties they sometimes receive—not being accustomed to preparing some of the more exotic products...
...They also maintain an informative and succinct web page for the digital agrophile: www.angelic-organics.com...
...Working nationally, they connect farms with local land trusts, sometimes serving as a surrogate lender when local stewardship is not available...
...A large CSA may sell 300 to 400 shares...
...The Biodynamic Farming and Gardening Association maintains a national database of CSAs, organized by region (see page 17 for contact information...
...Food Bank Farm also represents another way that CSAs can maintain operations in a sometimes fickle market...
...Other reasons CSA members give for joining include: supporting small farmers, knowing where their food comes from, environmental concerns, and opportunities for community involvement...
...With opportunities like this to convene, counsel, and celebrate, CSA farmers will be well-prepared to advance the CSA blueprint as a viable alternative to industrial agriculture...
...Most farm organically, employing an environmental ethic that puts factory farms to shame...
...But Moore sells vegetables to a growing CSA membership as well, and he also sells lemons and avocados to other CSAs that don't grow those items themselves...
...Wishing Stone Farm in Rhode Island and Goranson Farm in Maine both sell shares that are redeemable at local farmer's markets or farm stands...
...They have come to the conference to gather information for a CSA newsletter that they would like to start, serving both producers and consumers active or interested in the CSA movement...
...Michael Docter and Linda Hildebrand from Hadley, Massachusetts, report how Food Bank Farm, after losing more than 55 percent of its members during its initial two years of operation, discovered through a member survey that its shareholders felt constrained by the inherent lack of choice in the CSA system...
...who had been associated with one of the German CSA-type farms, started Temple-Wilton Farm in New Hampshire...
...About the same time.Trauger Groh...
...In this instance, Food Bank Farm is the guest, farming land in the rich Connecticut River valley owned by the Western Massachusetts Food Bank...
...Many CSAs, especially those starting up, are not in a position to secure access to farmable land...
...Avoiding the hassle of mapping out delivery routes or scheduling pick-up days...
...The diversity of approaches shared over the past few days offers tremendous hope for those who dream of a decentralized, safe, more inclusive food system...
...The members thereby sign on to a share of the farm's products and also assume some of the risk—if weather or blight should affect the bounty of harvest...
...One example offered is Steve Moore's large farm north of Los Angeles, where he primarily grows lemons and avocados...
...Food activist Sarah Milstein of Just Food, a nonprofit New York City organization, reports that their "CSA in NYC" program connected six different upstate CSA farmers with households throughout the metropolitan area during the 1997 season...
...Various recipes acquaint members with some of the more exotic veggies...
...This arrangement prevents land speculation and provides equity for farmers in the form of buildings and soil improvements, as grower Scott Chaskey of Quail Hill Farm affirms...
...In this way, CSAs are good for strengthening people's bodies, minds, and spirits...
...In order to make ends meet, many CSAs rely on members' labor, with some requesting that members donate one, two, or more days a month during the growing season...
...Bob Swann and Susan Witt of the E. F. Schumacher Society explain that, because CSAs are community based, they are well suited to draw up a relationship with a nonprofit community or conservation land trust...
...Connecting City-based Communities with Your Farm" is a panel that reveals ways for rural and semirural CSAs to garner urbanite patrons...
...They also grow some portion of vegetables for, and donate weekly surpluses to, food pantries, soup kitchens, and meal programs in the greater New York City region...
...Amid decorations of dried flowers and antique farm implements, groups of farmers are gathering, sharing experiences, and preparing for a weekend of fertile exchange...
...On a panel about this unique arrangement, sometimes called "Farm Stand CSA," Goranson growers Jan Goranson and Rob Johansen explain that they still get money up-front, but their members enjoy a little more flexibility in what, when, and how much they buy...
...He set up a separate table in the farm's pickup area with the more exotic produce, allowing members more freedom of choice in selecting what to add to their standard-sized bags...
...As the weekend draws to a close, I ask Liz what she hopes might grow out of the months of effort put into the conference...
...Slight of stature but tall with serene resolve, she thinks for a minute then replies: the conference is only a starting point...
...Rather, they operate with capital from, and around the needs of, their members...
...It has to be, for there aren't any agribusiness-sized bank accounts backing it...
...There, in the kitchen of Robyn's farmhouse, they drew up a basic plan to sell vegetable shares in the spring of 1986...
...They are coming from as far away as Japan and Alaska to learn from each other and to explore the challenges and potential for CSA to maintain profitable, environmentally sound farms, while reinvigorating communities with a stronger connection to their food sources...
...The CSAs that work with Just Food have implemented ways for individuals with limited or no financial resources to participate, such as accepting payments on a long-term installment plan, offering a sliding-scale share fee, accepting food stamps, or offering scholarship shares, which are paid for by participating organizations or other members...
...The conference has been a catalyst for us," says Sluyter, "we can sense the need for a way to keep the community knitted together after we all disperse...
Vol. 2 • June 1998 • No. 3
