Evolving meaning of CSA

[Allan Balliett]

Evolving Concept of CSA

ROBYN VAN EN CENTER
CSA is a relationship of mutual support and commitment between local farmers and community members who pay the farmer an annual membership fee to cover the production costs of the farm. In turn, members receive a weekly share of the harvest during the local growing season. The arrangement guarantees the farmer financial support and enables many small- to moderate-scale organic family farms to remain in business. Ultimately, CSA creates "agriculture-supported communities" where members receive a wide variety of foods harvested at their peak of ripeness, flavor and vitamin and mineral content.
As Wendell Berry identifies, "how we eat determines to a considerable extent how the world is used." With this in mind, it is important to remember that the goals of CSA support a sustainable agriculture system which .

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JUST FOOD
CSA helps to support family farms that are struggling to stay in business, while providing city people, particularly in low-income neighborhoods, with access to good, affordable produce.

In a CSA arrangement, a farmer sells "shares" in his or her farm's upcoming harvest to individuals, families, and institutions in the city. The share price goes toward the costs of growing and distributing a season's worth of produce and paying the farmer a living wage.

The cost of a share - for a bounty of organic vegetables - is less than the same amount of vegetables (conventionally-grown) at most grocery stores. During harvest months, the farmer delivers field-ripened vegetables once a week to city neighborhoods where the CSA members pick up their share of farm produce.

Just Food is contributing to the nationwide movement to build CSA by focusing on NYC and experimenting with training and outreach methods in low-income communities.

We do not run CSAs - we train others (urban groups and farmers) to run them. We focus our efforts on promoting alternative financing mechanisms and reaching out to low-income urban communities where fresh, affordable vegetables are in poor supply.

Since 1996, Just Food has provided training and assistance to help start 24 CSAs, serving approximately 6,000 people.
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LOCAL EXTENSION
University people don't see CSA as a relationship. They like to refer to it as 'another tool in the farmers marketing kit.'

Not clear in the paragraph below is that the 'shares' would be assembled from various farms and then most likely transported by a 3rd party to the distribution site. In other words, contact between consumer and farmer is at a minimum.

"I'm envisioning acooperative CSA (basically the only way to get some in-roads where I'm heading), using Metro parking lots for a weekly distribution point. Idea is to catch people as they get off the train and walk to their cars or
houses, and once a week have their goodies right there for them. This
tries to catch a bunch of people all in one place. Lowest cost of
infrastruce if the grower delivers his produce weekly to the mtro stop
where it is packed, and then consumer picks it up right there. Worst case
(meaning most expensive which is difficult) but nicest for the farmer is to
have a truck pick up the product from the farmers and then go park at the
metro stop."