Renew America Success Stories

Community Supported Agriculture of North America (CSANA)

Description

Community Supported Agriculture of North America (CSANA) helps develop community supported agricultural enterprises (CSA's) across the United States, Canada and Mexico. Participants, or sharers, in a CSA enterprise purchase "shares" of the farm's harvest. Over the course of the growing season (and into the winter if appropriate storage facilities are available) once a week sharers receive local, fresh, ripe, organic produce grown in a socially and ecologically responsible manner.

Robyn Van En, CSANA's founder and executive director, began growing food for local consumption on a small, organic farm as an alternative to the typical agribusiness approach that has come to dominate U.S. agriculture and to deprive local communities of income.

Massachusetts alone imports approximately 85%-90% of its food, which sends about $4 billion out of the local economy every year. Studies suggest that Massachusetts has the capacity to grow 35% of its own food, which would add about $1 billion to the local economy. Massachusetts is typical in this regard -- on average, each piece of food on your plate tonight will have traveled 1,200 miles from "farm" to market.

CSA enterprises break this unsustainable pattern of consumption by returning control of agriculture to the local community, thereby reducing dependency on petroleum and pesticides, and reducing costly transportation practices that now exist to bring produce to market.

In addition to the local economic benefits derived from CSA projects, such projects help build a stronger sense of community and an environmental ethic. Sharers can see and taste the difference in their produce, and this helps them build a connection with the land. In fact, says Van En, this result is essential to the continued success of a CSA program. "You need to make people feel connected to your farm," Van En says. "Give them a sense of ownership and participation so they can say, 'Of course, I know who grows my food.'"

CSA programs also have advantages over agribusinesses because they diversify risk by sharing costs, they result in a cleaner, healthier environment and more fertile soil, and they produce superior produce at a cost that is comparable -- and sometimes cheaper -- than in a grocery store.

To date, there are about 500 CSA enterprises located throughout the country with an average of 50 shares per farm, for a total of 25,000 people involved in community supported agriculture.

Program Highlights

How CSA Works

• A CSA production crew estimates the total cost of producing a mixed variety of vegetables over the course of one season (including salaries, distribution and maintenance, seeds, equipment, etc.) and this becomes the CSA budget. This figure is then divided by the number of participants in the project to determine the "share" price. One share is designed to provide 2-5 adults with vegetables for one week. Sharers buy their shares in a lump sum or in installments, ensuring an income for the CSA farmer(s) who receives a weekly paycheck.

• Typically membership costs about $1 per day to enjoy local, same-day-fresh, nutritious foods throughout the year.
• Sharers anticipate a wide variety of vegetables and herbs (often 30 - 35 varieties), which initiates integrated cropping and companion planting by the crop producers. By avoiding the mono-culture agriculture that is typical on many cash crop farms, the risk factor is diversified and soil fertility and structure are better preserved.
• Crops are planted in succession to provide a continual weekly supply of mixed vegetables.
• Organic farming methods are used: integrated cropping, crop rotation, the application of green manure and compost, companion planting, integrated pest management and seed saving.
• CSA farms are encouraged to expand and produce at their highest potential, producing honey, eggs, fruit, and/or meat, or entering into partnerships with neighboring farms.

• Once a week vegetables are harvested and distributed equally among members. Perfectly good produce that would be rejected by grocery stores due to cosmetic deficiencies (e.g., crooked carrots, misshapen potatoes) is also distributed, enabling CSA farms to deliver a minimum of 25% more produce to their sharers than does commercial agriculture.
• All sharers receive their produce the same day it is picked.

• All participants share risk equally. If drought or flood cause crops to fail, each participant loses an equivalent amount. Conversely, if a crop surplus results, each participant shares in the surplus equally.
• By distributing risk, the failure of one or two vegetable varieties does not jeopardize the entire venture, as it might in commercial agriculture.

Vital Statistics

Program Management/Partnerships: Community supported agricultural initiatives are managed by their respective sharers, with guidance from the CSANA. To date, CSANA has helped approximately 500 CSA enterprises take shape across North America. CSANA works cooperatively with the United States Department of Agriculture and the University of Massachusetts Cooperative Extension System, as well as numerous agriculture agencies in several states and Canada. Generous support has been received from the Massachusetts Department of Food and Agriculture's Federal-State Marketing Improvement Program.

Budget: The budget for each CSA enterprise varies depending upon the scale of the project. A CSA production crew estimates their annual budget and then divides the budget by the number of participants, or sharers, to determine the cost of each "share" in the project. One share is designed to provide 2-5 adults with vegetables for one week.

Community Served: More than 25,000 people on more than 500 CSA projects across the country.

Measures of Success: