CSA
A few people have inquired if our farm has a CSA. 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. This is not to say we would not consider it if there was enough interest. But here are a few thoughts on the subject.
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. It is very difficult for un-established small farms to get operating lines of credit because banks think vegetable farming is too much of a risk (they might be onto something!). 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 as a food security program for the inner city. Almost all 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. Using the term ’shareholder’ is misleading and should be avoided by CSA farms, unless of course they are providing legal shares and the consumer get to have their name on the land title. As far as I know, there are not any CSA farms in Saskatchewan that give the customer title to the land.
We asked our customers a few years ago (actually, about 10 years ago) 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. Most customers want to select the produce themselves, choosing what they want based on their own family’s likes and meal needs.
Our main question was “how are we going to find time to deliver these food baskets?”. As it is we are going both 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. We would need to establish a central drop off location.
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.
But, we are willing to try it if enough subscribers joined.
How it would work:
* customers would pay upfront in May or June. We don’t accept cheques so the initial payment would need to be made at the farm.
* subscribers would receive a box of produce on alternating weeks.
* the produce in the box would vary depending on the harvest season, availability of crops, taking into consideration crop failure, hail, drought, and subscribers would receive the exact amount and variety as all others in the CSA program. No substitutions.
* we would deliver the CSA box to the city on the same day we are at Farmers Market – Wednesdays only – to be picked up at a central location (in the Cathedral Area)
* The CSA subscription would start July and finish October.
If you are interested, let us know. email lincolngardens@accesscomm.ca
