Good food, good friends, and CSAs
It’s almost here—CSA Day! This year it is Friday, February 23, the day designated to sign up for a membership at a community-supported-agriculture farm near you. Why then? In 2014, a technology company founded to serve the needs of farmers, Small Farm Central, surveyed CSA farmers and their members and discovered that the most popular day for discounts, special promos, and membership registrations was the last Friday in February. So, in 2015 CSA Day was born. Support your local farmer! Support CSAs!
If you are new to this idea, then you may wonder why—why support community supported agriculture and what does that mean, anyway? CSA is a business model that was introduced in the US in the 1980s “in which a farm provides a specified amount of produce or farm products to a customer on a weekly, bi-weekly or monthly schedule during the growing season.” (http://msue.anr.msu.edu) The customer pays for his seasonal share of food up front providing the farmer with money to run the farm and accepting some of the risk the farmer experiences getting his produce and food to market. In return, the customer becomes acquainted with the farm and the farmer, how he produces the food, and the different varieties of foods as they are available throughout the growing season. This farm-to-consumer approach is the best way to know the source of your food unlike the large-scale commercial farms. And you get to make a new friend or two in the process.
Supporting locally sourced food producers is good but you need to know that not all food businesses who use the CSA label define it the same way as CSA farmers. CSA farmers sell directly to their members with no middleman. They have a special relationship with their members that you only find in a local community. Some businesses such as on-line hubs, food-in-a-box, and meal kit delivery services advertise as CSA but provide food and ingredients that are not locally sourced. They cater to people who value time over food choices and some CSA farmers are finding this cuts into their business.
Local farms are looking for alternative ways to encourage community support. They may sell their goods at their farm stores or wholesale to schools, restaurants, grocery stores and institutions. Maybe you will find them at the local Farmers Market. Support for these farmers is best kept local. Does that make you a locavore? Maybe, maybe not. Liz McMann gives some “food for thought” on How to Be a Locavore: know why you want to eat locally; define what you consider local; find like-minded friends; choose some occasional simple meals; and don’t worry if you’re not perfect. Change comes in different forms. For another take on CSA projects check out Northfield’s poultry-centered regenerative agriculture system here. Get excited and visit a CSA.
CREDIT: csaday.info
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