http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/73788

From Farm to Front Door

Mark Hawthorne

September 12, 2008

There's a delicious surprise waiting for me every Tuesday when I come home:

an abundant assortment of organic fruits and vegetables harvested that day

and delivered from a local farm to my doorstep. Since joining a community

supported agriculture program, or CSA, I have been introduced to a world of

produce that I had previously passed up in favor of the veggies that were

familiar to me. Little did I know how many varieties of kale there are or

that fennel could taste great tossed in a salad. Being a CSA member has

revealed just how little I knew about produce, and I confess to beholding

more than a few vegetables and wondering just what it was. A turnip? A beet?

Some sort of giant radish? (Actually, one was a giant radish.) It´s all part

of the fun and discovery of CSA.

Community sponsored agriculture has been benefiting members, farmers, and

the environment in the U.S. for the last two decades. In its simplest form,

the CSA initiative is a system in which a group of consumers pay in advance

for food grown on a nearby farm. When the crop is abundant, so are the

members´ shares of produce; conversely, they receive less produce if the

crop does not do as well. Members can pick up their share at the farm, but

many farmers will also deliver.

Consumers who join a CSA project enjoy the freshest possible seasonal

produce and can even take part in the harvest. Nearly every CSA farm uses

organic farming techniques, virtually eliminating concerns about pesticides

and other toxic substances. Moreover, not only do members receive their

share of the crop at a cost typically less than what they´d pay at a

farmers´ market or grocery store, but the CSA farmer can spend more time

concentrating on growing quality fruits and vegetables and less time

worrying about how to market them.

European Roots

There is some debate about how the CSA movement began in the United States.

Many sources cite Japan´s teikei clubs (partnerships with local farmers) as

the inspiration for the programs that began in the U.S. But Steven McFadden,

co-author of Farms of Tomorrow: Community Supported Farms, Farm Supported

Communities, credits post-World War II Europe with influencing the creation

of two community farms on this side of the Atlantic in 1986: Indian Line

Farm in Massachusetts and Temple-Wilton Community Farm in New Hampshire;

both farms are still active. McFadden estimates there are now as many as

2,500 subscription-based farms in this country. "But the organizations that

actually count how many CSAs there are often say fifteen hundred to two

thousand," he says. "Not all CSAs want to be counted -- many lie low."

One of the buzzwords to come from community supported agriculture is

biodynamics. The biodynamic system, practiced by about 600 CSA farms in the

U.S. (including the two original farms), is agriculture based on the

teachings of Austrian educator and social thinker Rudolf Steiner. In the

1920s, Steiner recognized that pesticides and chemical fertilizers were

degrading the nutritional quality of foods. The U.S.-based Biodynamic

Farming and Gardening Association describes biodynamics as a science of

life-forces that recognizes the basic principles at work in nature and an

approach to agriculture that fosters balance and healing. It is this

emphasis on healing that distinguishes biodynamically grown from other

organically grown food.

Whether it's in Japan, Europe, or the Unites States, at the heart of every

CSA is a commitment to creating small farms that are at once profitable for

participants and respectful to the land. This tenet results in sustainable

agriculture and responsible stewardship; soil is not exhausted and harmful

chemicals do not end up in water systems. And rather than being picked green

and shipped thousands of miles to a grocery store, produce from a CSA ends

up in the homes of members within just a few miles of the farm -- another

win for the environment.

Expanding the Model

In order for CSAs to realize their full potential as a large agricultural

system, new farmers must be able to regard these small farms as a viable

business. Start-up ventures are already expensive, and few people have

enough capital to acquire the land needed for a farm. One answer is a

community land trust. When Indian Line Farm co-founder Robyn Van En died in

1997, the farm was acquired by a partnership between the Community Land

Trust of the Southern Berkshires, Inc., which purchased the land, and two

farmers, who purchased the farm buildings and leased back the land through a

99-year renewable lease. The lease sets minimum crop productions and organic

standards. The farmers build equity in their improvements on the land, but

the land value itself is excluded from future resale.

"This is a way for new farmers to get into farming," explains Susan Witt,

executive director of the E. F. Schumacher Society

(www.smallisbeautiful.org), a nonprofit organization headquartered about a

mile from Indian Line Farm. "That one-time purchase of land value by

citizens secured a permanent land base for growing vegetables for local

consumption." The Schumacher Society was instrumental in assisting with the

land trust purchase of Indian Line Farm and continues to build on this model

to remove land from the speculative market and facilitate multiple uses such

as agriculture, affordable housing, and open space preservation.

It seems only natural that local farming could be just the beginning of an

economy based upon the principles of human-scale sustainable development.

Witt foresees community-based businesses that echo the CSA concept, with

local citizens paying in advance for goods and services. Such a system helps

the small-business owner with capital, and consumers become members who

share in the risks and rewards of their local economy. To encourage an

affinity among citizens and local merchants, the Schumacher Society has

helped create a local currency called BerkShares that began circulating in

the Southern Berkshire region in 2006. Citizens can exchange US$90 for 100

BerkShares at participating banks. Local merchants will accept BerkShares at

full value, giving shoppers a 10% discount for keeping their spending within

the community. With this kind of innovative thinking, who knows how far the

CSA model can grow?

To find a CSA project in your area, just type "community supported

agriculture" into your favorite search engine. You can also visit

www.csacenter.org and www.localharvest.org.

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