Some people have recently asked why our farm does not go the “CSA” way. The term keeps popping up in local food discussions, on blogs and news reports about local food. It is not a new concept, as some people seem to think. Our farm discussed starting a CSA system many years ago, but after discussions with customers it was decided not to pursue this route.
CSA, or “Community Supported Agriculture” or “Community Shared Agriculture” is a term used to describe the concept of purchasing a subscription to a farm for a certain number of products over a defined length of time. Essentially it is a way for a farm to get cash flow before they have product to sell. It is a method that has been used for decades by small farmers that do not have adequate access to capital (from banks, loans, etc) to get money to invest in seeds or other inputs early in he season. The consumer provides ’seed’ money with the hope of benefiting from the harvest at a latter date.
One of the misconceptions about the CSA system is that the farm is ‘owned’ by the community. It may be, if the farm is a registered non-profit or is run by a community organization such a s a food security program for the inner city. Most CSA farms are private enterprises. The money ‘invested’ by the CSA subscribers entitles them to an amount of the product, if it is available, but nothing else. The subscription does not mean that the customer owns the farm or that the farm is communal property any more than a subscription to a magazine indicates that the consumer owns the publishing company.
We asked our customers if they were interested in this system. Largely, they said no. The most frequent question was “what would happen if there was a crop failure?”. Well, the customer would be out their money. That is the thing about CSA; the customer is taking the risk of loosing their ‘investment’. If there is a crop failure the farm may not be able to re-pay those ‘pre-paid’ subscriptions.
The other common question asked was “how do we get to choose what goes into our basket?”. The customer would get what the farm was harvesting that week, in the same quantity as every other subscriber. Most of our customers didn’t like that idea.
Our main question was “how are we going to find time to deliver these food baskets?”. As it is we are going to the Farmer’s Market and selling direct from the farm; there just wasn’t enough time in the week to start delivering our produce to individuals also.
So, we didn’t go with the CSA model. It is not that it can’t work. It can be very beneficial for inner city dwellers who do not have adequate access to healthy foods. It is also great for individuals who do not want to actually go to a farm or who do not have a vehicle to drive themselves to a farm market. It is also very good for those on a limited budget who want to receive the same amount of product on a monthly or weekly basis.
Our customers tell us that they like to visit the farm; they enjoy the time out of the city. They bring their children to pick their own berries and for pictures in the pumpkins. Tourists take photos of the vegetable displays and the farm market. Schools come for tours to show small children how vegetables grow. Grandparents talk to us about the antique machinery we use, and their memories about their own farms. Neighbours meet each other at the cash counter and share recipe ideas. The staff know our customers by name and remember what they like to purchase. Customers know our pets by name. We share our lives, our land and our home with those people who take the time to come to our farm.
In our minds, this is the true “community supported agriculture”.
