Issues > June 1997 (#40) > Community Supported Agriculture: Reconnecting Cities and Farms

Community Supported Agriculture: Reconnecting Cities and Farms

"The small landholders are the most precious part of the state."--Thomas Jefferson

We have gone from Thomas Jefferson's nation of farmers to a nation that mostly dreams of the farm. As our cities and suburbs sprawl, "...we're left with colorless subdivisions with names such as Orchard Hills or Blackhawk Ranch, desperately trying to retain the image of places destroyed," the American Farmland Trust (AFT) comments in Farming on the Edge, a March, 1997 report. We've lost our connection. We're losing farms. Every year, 400,000 acres of prime farmland are lost to development--replaced by subdivisions, shopping malls and roads, according to the AFT report. That's 45.6 acres an hour.

At current rates our population may grow by 50 percent in 50 years, while productive farm and ranchland will have shrunk by 13 percent. Within 60 years, AFT predicts, the U.S. might be reduced to a net importer of food. If we want living farms, not nostalgic dreams, we need to act, fast. As consumer activists, our consistent demand for the products of sustainable agriculture can directly support such farms. One of the most effective ways we can do this is by eliminating the middleman and buying directly from the farmer, either at a farmers' market or through a Community Supported Agriculture partnership, or CSA.

Consumers in CSAs have a strong, direct connection to a particular farm. They buy shares in the farm's harvest and often help out on the farm at harvest time, as well as with bagging of produce, and performing administrative tasks. During the growing season, shareholders receive fresh produce every week. Farmers benefit by having a guaranteed market for what they grow and cash in hand early in the growing season.

Food with the Farmer's Face On It

CSA is basically a direct distribution system for food. The CSA movement in this country began in the 1980s, modelled on the Japanese consumer-farmer agreement called "teikei," or partnership, which also carries the meaning "food with the farmer's face on it." In 1965, a group of Japanese homemakers grew concerned that their food was becoming, essentially, featureless. As farmland was lost to development, their food was increasingly imported. The women sought to buy their produce directly from a local farm. "The farmers agreed to provide produce if multiple families made a [contractual] commitment to support the farm," according to the late Robyn Van En, a farmer, founder of the CSA movement in the U.S., and author of A Basic Formula to Create Community Supported Agriculture. Today, teikei clubs connect thousands of consumers with hundreds of farmers throughout Japan.

Partnerships Promoting Sustainable Growing Methods

By working and investing together, consumers and the farmer can establish a broader support for sustainable agriculture--including organic and integrated pest management farming methods--than if the farmer assumed the risk of change alone. As Van En writes, "CSA is also a vehicle for transition away from using chemical fertilizers. The opportunity for education and dialogue [that] CSA creates between food producers and food eaters creates options toward low/no chemical input."

One of Mothers & Others' first projects was to join a local CSA program. In 1989, in a rural Connecticut community, a group of neighborhood mothers including Roberta Willis and Meryl Streep formed a "kitchen table group" to discuss their concerns over pesticides in children's food. Out of this group, Mothers & Others was formed, and Willis and Streep remain active members of our board to this day. The fledgling Mothers & Others held a public forum on pesticides, convinced local grocery stores to stock organically grown produce, and bought shares in a CSA partnership.

Today there are at least 500 active CSAs in the United States, writes Van En, who owned Indian Line Farm in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. In the fall of 1985, Indian Line Farm began its CSA program by offering shares of some of its apple harvest; members received apples and cider each week, and in the spring most bought shares in the coming vegetable season. "Indian Line Farm was able to feed 300 people 43 weeks of the year from five acres of land," Van En writes.

Bringing CSA to The City

In addition to the how-to's listed by Van En (see below), potential city CSA members need to find a farmer willing to bring produce into town. Kathy Lawrence, of Just Food in New York City, advertised for farmers in the Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA) newsletter, and got a dozen responses. Next on the list: a place for the farmers to bring the food, and consumers willing to make the CSA commitment.

According to Lawrence, "the biggest hurdles were finding an appropriate drop-off/distribution site--generally a church, synagogue or community center--and pulling together a group of people willing to invest the volunteer hours and energy needed to recruit CSA members, develop outreach materials, coordinate with the farmer, work out payments, and figure out how to get the food distributed once the farmer brought it in bulk."

Lawrence and her fellow activists managed all this, and the result, in the spring of 1996, was seven new CSA groups in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx that involved over 360 households. In 1997, about 750 households are participating, and, in 1998, 5-6 new farmers are expected to join.

Other Benefits to Farmers

"The CSA system also gives farmers financial credibility. I know that the CSA guaranteed income helped me get my farm mortgage," Van En writes. In addition, the farmer doesn't bear all the risk on his or her own shoulders; if there's loss, it's lightened by being spread among the members. "After a rainstorm dumped eight inches of rain in three hours, the winter baking squash had to be picked prematurely," Van En remembers. "Everybody froze, dried, and ate as much as they could, but it was basically a $35 loss to each share. That would have been a $3,500 loss to an individual farmer."

Added Benefits to Communities

"CSA also helps bridge socioeconomic gaps," Van En writes. "Members range from people who use food stamps to those who pay extra to have their vegetables delivered." In Wisconsin, the Madison Area CSA Coalition (MACSAC), a network of farms, works to involve low-income consumers in CSA. Kathy Lawrence's neighborhood CSA uses a local church for their weekly distribution site, and the pastor delivers surplus food on her rounds throughout her parish.

CSA strengthens community relationships. "Every week is a new opportunity to learn about the food system, our local seasons and farming potential, and to get to know each other better," Lawrence writes.

How to Start a CSA

(by Robyn Van En)

One's first step should be to try and join an already-established CSA (see "Finding CSAs Near You" in the Resources at the end of this article.) If there is no CSA in your locale, the following list will give you an overview of how to form one. But to actually do it, you'll need more information, including accounting and legal advice. (The CSA books in Resources can walk you through this in more detail.)

1. Find interested people in your community willing to make the commitment.

2. Propose partnership to a local farm family. How to find farmers: Your state department of agriculture or local county extension should have a list of organic growers in your state. Most universities also have agricultural extensions that list farms. Or contact a regional organic farmers' organization, such as California Certified Organic farms or the Northeast Organic Farming Associations.

3. Draw up a contract. The consumer group of sharers agree to pay their share of production and also share the financial risk with the producers.

4. Draw up a budget of yearly production costs that includes:

a. salaries of the farmer/gardener

b. distribution and administration costs

c. costs of seeds, soil amendments, small equipment.

5. Divide the resulting figure by the number of shares that the farm/garden can produce. This will determine the cost each member pays for a "share" of the harvest. A CSA "share" typically is designed to provide 2-4 people with a mixed diet, or 1-2 vegetarians, with their vegetable needs for one week. Larger households or restaurants pay multiple shares.

6. Typically, shareholders receive a bag of local, same-day-fresh vegetables and herbs once a week all summer, and once a month all winter if a root cellar or cold storage unit is available. Projects typically provide at least 40 different crops. Some CSA farms partner with neighboring farms to exchange commodities such as honey, milk, fruit, and meat.

Sustaining a CSA

Once you start or join a CSA, there's the challenge of keeping it running. Many CSA projects continue to struggle with (1) high turn-over rates among members, (2) building active participation and support among members, and (3) financial sustainability.

The following tips are adapted from an online discussion by John Hendrickson, of the University of Wisconsin-Madison:

Be Prepared for Lots of Food

When summer hits and the bags are full of vegetables, many people realize that their lifestyles haven't given them time to cook. One of the biggest challenges facing CSA is America's fast-paced, fast-food culture. In addition to sharing financially in, and working on, the farm, share recipes and plan to spend more time with your food!

Members Must Actively Participate on the Farm

Many new CSA farmers seem reluctant to ask for help in the first few seasons and therefore find themselves working incredibly hard to make everything happen. Those CSAs whose members volunteer on harvest days and serve as bookkeepers, newsletter writers, or membership recruiters can avoid serious "farmer burnout" and be more sustainable in the long term.

Show Commitment to Your Farmers in the Off-Season

Another basic idea of CSA is that farmers are to receive a decent reward for their hard work. However, many CSA farmers report very small earnings, and few can afford health care based solely on their farm income. Accordingly, most CSA farms involve off-farm employment for a spouse and perhaps for the farmer as well during the winter. CSA consumer members should offer what help they can with job leads and service exchanges during the winter months, as well. It takes a while to get a CSA farm on its feet, particularly given the higher initial cost of labor-intensive organic methods without reliance on synthetic chemicals. Make a long-term commitment to your farm, and don't forget about the farmers in the off-season.

Conclusion

Victor Davis Hanson, whose family has been growing raisin grapes in California for three generations, delivers a clear-eyed chronicle of the death of family farms in Fields Without Dreams: Defending the Agrarian Idea (The Free Press, 1996). Despite the hardships, the isolation, the heartbreak and the vagaries of weather, Hanson notes that farmers are fighting desperately against what he sees as their certain extinction. He says that farmers "...know that family farming is over in America, and they do not give up...because they have seen the brave new world of nonfarming urban America, and of it they want no part." If we consumers join with family farmers who won't give up, there's a chance that we will continue to be able to find real food.