Community supported agriculture, more commonly referred to by its acronym, CSA, is a direct-to-consumer model of agriculture where the consumer purchases a subscription to the farm’s offerings before the season begins. The consumer usually picks up from the farm, a farm stand, or other location each week or every other week throughout the entire growing season. This subscription more often includes a box of mostly vegetables and some fruit, but meat, dairy, and eggs also work their way into CSA boxes. Often the foods from a CSA are chemical- and pesticide-free and come from just one farm, though some supplement CSA offerings from other local farms.
Below are our top 7 reasons to support CSAs. When you become a member in a CSA, you:
1. Invest in your future food.
When you invest in a CSA, you invest in your local food system by helping to ensure that your farmer will have the funds to grow your food. Too many small farms close their doors permanently each year, but a CSA program can be part of a successful and profitable farm and provide needed funds early in the season, in an occupation with a sluggish return on investment.
The typical farmer must put in a lot of sweat, tears, elbow grease, money, and time before getting any monetary return. Farmers usually invest in items like farming equipment, seeds, fencing, row covers, heat, feed, property, and the like before selling anything to consumers. The CSA model, though, helps to offset their initial costs and to increase their cash flow before they have much to offer for sale. Many farmers also diversify their revenue streams by including a CSA model, which makes for a more resilient overall business.
2. Save money.
Costs for CSA shares vary widely, but if you do the math, you can save a good bit of money if you factor in how much you’d pay for the same products at a farmers market, especially if you purchase a full share instead of a half share. If your household doesn’t consume a full share’s worth of food in a week, consider splitting it with a neighbor or friend. If you really want to save, some farmers will even offer a discount on your CSA for volunteering your time, either on the farm or at the CSA pickup, or for hosting a CSA drop point. Some CSAs even accept food stamps.
3. Help shoulder some of the risk.
By participating in a CSA, you and other members also help to absorb some of the risk that the farmer takes on: if the tomato crop is hit early in August with late blight, CSA members and the farmer share the disappointment together. But if there’s a bumper crop of tomatoes, CSA members may receive extra along with a salsa recipe.
Some CSA farmers work with other local producers to supply food for the CSA in case their own crop fails, to diversify offerings, or for countless other reasons. Because of this shared risk, it’s a good idea to do some research before committing to make sure that they’re an established CSA and that they’re offering foods you enjoy; if they’re new, they should be starting small.
4. Keep money within the local community.
Vote with your fork. Support your local economy and small farmers by buying directly from the source and as close to home as possible. By keeping your food dollars in your community, you help create a stronger local economy. This is not news, but when you buy from chain grocery stores, your money disperses to local employees but much goes to other regions and even other countries.
Also, every little bit that goes into the local food community increases the community’s food security and resiliency. The average grocery store only has about three days’ worth of food, so it’s a sound idea to do what you can to strengthen your local food system in case disaster strikes or shipping costs skyrocket.
The CSA model itself also cultivates a sense of community. Some CSAs even donate their seconds or unclaimed shares to local food banks or give away free memberships to lower income families.
5. Practice seasonal eating.
Eat fresh and delight in the bounty that each season has to offer! There’s nothing like a fresh strawberry from the field. Buying local has the added benefit of allowing you to practice more seasonal eating, as our ancestors did out of necessity, and to get the freshest produce available for sale. Produce is often harvested the same day as the CSA pickup, so it’ll last longer in the refrigerator than the equivalent from the grocery store, not to mention retain more nutrients.
A CSA also allows the farmer to practice seasonal marketing and to do the bulk of their CSA marketing during the colder months, when there isn’t as much to do on the farm, and before the 16-hour work days begin.
6. See where your food comes from.
Get to know the lovely people producing your food. Also, most CSAs offer the option to pick up from the farm so that you can see where and how it was grown and talk to the farmer. CSA farmers will often offer seasonal harvesting events and farm-to-table dinners open to CSA members first. Industrial ag can’t offer anything close.
Also, the small-scale farms that host CSAs have a great track record for food safety. If anything does go amiss, however, recalls of product from a small farm are much easier to track than from industrial ag which can easily include buyers from 20 states.
7. Expose yourself to unique varieties and new recipes.
CSA farmers include varieties of vegetables that are not available in your grocery store and may be hard to come by at your local farmers market, like the first spring green sugar snap peas of the season, dark purple heirloom tomatoes dripping with the taste of sunshine, and Chioggia beets that when sliced resemble targets. Farmers often give CSA members first dibs on rare produce because you’re a dedicated customer. Another possible benefit: a weekly influx of vegetables is good motivation to cook more, invite friends over to share in the bounty, and to learn to preserve any excess. Many farmers include weekly recipes that teach members their favorite ways of serving an ingredient provided in the CSA.
It’s not too late.
While a CSA may not be everyone’s taste, it’s worth considering. And you’re probably not too late to join a local CSA this season and help provide a farm with a reliable income source! Inquire at your favorite local farm. Not sure what’s near you? Search for a local CSA at www.localharvest.org
Note: if you’re a farmer member of the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund, our attorneys will review CSA agreements or draft them because our number one objective is to keep our members out of trouble.
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