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What Is Community Supported Agriculture?
This week, on NPR's The Salt, Ted Burnham asked the question, "What is community supported agriculture?" It sounds straightforward, but it turns out the answer isn't so simple. While CSA's are defined as a community who pledges support to a farm, others have reinterpreted it more broadly to include many farms from larger, regional co-ops. Burnham explains:
...spiritual renewal may not be enough when consumers are used to finding year-round variety of imported fruits and veggies at the supermarket. So some farmers have adapted the CSA model to appeal to a wider – and perhaps less idealistic – audience, while still providing fresh produce from small farms.
Not surprisingly, this reinterpretation of CSA's is upsetting traditionalists who believe you should know your farmer.
That's a valid concern. CSA's are meant to foster a relationship between a community of individuals and a farmer, to reconnect those individuals to the land, and to support that farmer at the risk of a poor harvest. CSA's that supplement their shares with produce from other farms take away from the original objective of a CSA. Arguably, they are simply yielding to consumer demand for increased profits. Yet, without supplementing their shares, farmers might not have the support they need to survive. As CSA's evolve, it's important to redefine them, whether that means reinforcing their original purpose, or extending their definition.
How do you define a CSA? And, what is your experience using them?
What Is Community Supported Agriculture? The Answer Keeps Changing - NPR
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Tags: npr, csa, community supported agriculture, farmers
gourmettenyc
I'm Laura Loesch-Quintin, a food writer and photographer, as well as the voice behind the recipe blog gourmette•nyc. Originally from Philadelphia, I was raised in a French-American household where vinaigrette, cornichons, and clafoutis were (and still are) staples. When not cooking, writing, or photographing, I can usually be found exploring the food markets of New York City.
Comments (1)
about 1 year ago thevegedge
I worked for four years at a CSA in massachusetts and am returning again this summer. There are many variations on CSAs, some do drop-offs of boxes of produce. My parents are members of one that is a collection of farms but with clear deliniation - a flower farm, a fruit farm, and a vegetable farm. members can elect shares of any or all farms for one delivery. The farm I worked at didn't do any drop offs at all, requiring all the CSA members to come physically to the farm, and also allowing us to plant nearly two acres of flowers and herbs for unlimited free U-pick as part of the share at very low cost to us.
For the consumer, the best "value added" element to a CSA member is the connection to the farm and the seasonal food. That may be watered down by different CSA setups that drop off boxes far away, or group together different farms. However, the model was actually created in light of a desperate need to support farmers. Small family farmers, and organic farms, are disadvantaged in the markets in many ways. A CSA, more than a romantic "reconnect to the land" product for urban and semi-urban consumers, is an incredibly innovative economic tool for small farmers. The ability to earn a seasons profits BEFORE the need to invest in soil preparation and seeding, and to have a set income for budgeting purposes, is INVALUABLE to a small farmer. It allows us to avoid expensive loans at the beginning of the farming season, and escape the debt cycle that has put family farming into near extinction in the US. So from a farmers point of view - if the payment comes first and you sign up for a season with us, that's our community supporting us, wherever you are and however we are organized. Keep the creativity and different models sprouting, if there's a market for it and new farmers can tap into it and grow, the world will be a better place!