February 16, 2007
Find Your Way Back To The Farm With Community Supported Agriculture
As a member of Plowshares CSA, Bryan Nackashi receives a cloth bag full of fresh, organic produce each week during north-central Florida’s long growing season. The vegetables, fruits, and herbs are grown on a small certified-organic farm near her home in Gainesville. Opening the bag is like opening a present because the food is so beautiful and each week brings a new selection—a surprise. In early spring, there might be tender greens, sweet onions, and heirloom strawberries. Now, in fall, Nackashi looks forward to interesting squashes, pumpkins, broccoli, cantaloupes, and a variety of lettuces.
“Each week I get about eight different items, and everything is delicious,” Nackashi says. “That’s because it comes from right here, not from 3,000 miles away. It’s picked ripe, so it’s bursting with flavor. And it hasn’t been sprayed with any harmful chemicals.”
Nackashi has faith in her food because she’s made an investment in its production. At the beginning of the growing season, she and the other Plowshares members pledged to cover the costs of farm operations and the farmer’s salary. In return, each member receives a share of the farm’s bounty, distributed weekly—generally enough to feed a family of four. If it’s a good year, there might be extra at harvest time. But if there’s a drought or a late freeze, there could be a little less than expected. Members aren’t paying for a set amount of produce, but for a share of whatever the harvest may bring.
This concept of shared risk and shared reward is not unique to Plowshares. Across the country, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is gaining momentum, fueled by a growing demand for local food and a desire to reconnect with nature and the farmers who feed us. CSA members pay up front to cover the farm’s entire budget for a season, providing the farmer with working capital in advance to buy seeds, supplies, and equipment. With a set group of consumers in place and the shares prepaid, the farmer is freed from the burden of marketing. She can focus instead on growing high-quality food and carefully nurturing the land.
“With CSA, farmers and consumers support one another,” said Florida Agriculture Commissioner Charles H. Bronson. “It’s a concept based on cooperation and direct communication between growers and eaters.”
For farmers, CSA offers a fair, steady source of income—and a way to revitalize the small family farm. Consumers, on the other hand, get fresh, great-tasting produce grown in a sustainable manner by someone they know and trust.
“People want to know where their food comes from and how it was produced,” says Rose Koenig, owner of Rosie’s Organic Farm in Gainesville and the grower for Plowshares CSA. “And short of growing it yourself, joining a CSA is probably the best way to get full knowledge of a farming system—because you have this intimate relationship with the farmer.”
In an era of multinational corporations, people are looking for something small, local, and more personalized.
“When I met Rose, I knew immediately that I liked her and that I liked her philosophy of growing things,” Nackashi says. “I visited her farm and was very impressed with the way she managed the land and cared for the soil—so I signed up. I’ve been a member of Plowshares for almost eleven years now.”
Nackashi supports the farm financially—and she also volunteers her time. She helps with the CSA’s paperwork, processing applications for new members, and heads up distribution of the weekly produce shares, handing out bags of vegetables at Plowshares’ pickup point. CSA members are encouraged to become personally involved in the farm they are supporting. Some farms allow members to help with planting, weeding, harvesting, and other tasks in exchange for a discount on their share. Others ask members to contribute kitchen scraps to the farm’s compost pile or bring their own containers for produce pickups. Rose Koenig invites Plowshares members to the farm for potluck suppers, tours, and workdays. Some CSAs host recipe swaps, and workshops on such diverse topics as cooking with herbs and composting.
“I like the sense of community,” Nackashi says. “I know all the Plowshares members and enjoy talking to them each week when they come to pick up their vegetables.”
CSA members come from all walks of life, but they share a love of good food.“Many of our members are vegetarians,” Nackashi says. “And all of us make cooking and eating healthfully a priority.”
CSA membership is probably not right for busy people with little time to cook. It is probably best suited to ardent, adventurous cooks and eaters, people who enjoy eating with the seasons and experimenting with new kinds of produce. A bag of fresh produce every week can be a lot to contend with, and many new CSA members find they must learn new techniques for cooking, storing, and preserving food in order to avoid spoilage and waste. To prevent waste, some CSA farms offer half shares, and many members split their shares with neighbors and friends.
If CSA membership fits with your lifestyle, the benefits can be many. When you eat locally through a CSA, you are reducing the number of miles your food travels and the fossil fuels it consumes. You are avoiding food that comes in heavy packaging—packaging that inevitably ends up in landfills—and helping to preserve small family farms, which provide wildlife habitat and green space. By producing a wide array of crops, including unusual heirloom varieties, CSA farms protect genetic diversity in agriculture, helping to ensure our long-term food security. In addition, CSA arrangements strengthen the local economy by keeping food dollars close to home, in the community.
“Today, there are more than 1,500 CSA farms across the United States, and the number is growing,” Bronson says. “More and more, folks are realizing that joining a CSA is a healthy, positive thing to do for yourself, our environment, and the city or town where you live.”
For a list of CSA farms in Florida, visit:
www.florida-agriculture.com/consumers/community_supported_agriculture.htm
For more information:
Carl Penn
(850) 921-1993
pennc@doacs.state.fl.us
