Community Supported Agriculture and You

Interested in a bag of fresh vegetables every week from June to November?  Then a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm may be right for you.

In return for paying up front for a share of the farm’s harvest, members receive a bag of fresh vegetables every week during the harvest season.

The benefit for the farmer is obvious.  Participants buy a share in the winter or early spring.  The farmer receives the money at the beginning of the growing season just when expenses are highest, for seeds, equipment and the like.  The farmer has a guaranteed market for the produce he’s growing, although many CSA farmers also sell their produce at farmers markets and at farm stands.  A less visible benefit is the relationship between the CSA farmer and the members that helps build connections between farmers and the wider community.

The benefit to the CSA member is equally obvious.  A share in a CSA farm is one of the best deals in town, about $400 for enough vegetables to feed a hungry family of four from mid-June to early November.  It works out to about $20 a week for more veggies than you’ll know what to do with.  It’s also good for your family’s health.  In our case, I figured that I had paid for that bag, and by golly, I was going to use every vegetable in it!  So we ended up eating a lot more vegetables than we used to eat.

The fun part of participating in a CSA farm is that it’s like getting a present every week.  You never know what you’ll find in the bag.  The downside is that you may not know how to cook some of the exotic vegetables of which CSA farmers seem to be exceptionally fond.  You can always search for a recipe on the internet.

You’ll also find that your creativity will be inspired by the contents of your CSA bag.  It’s a matter of learning to cook meals based on what’s available and in season rather than choosing a recipe and hunting for the ingredients.

Some CSA farms are certified organic, some are not.  There are a lot of regulatory hurdles involved in becoming a certified organic farm.  Many farmers use organic farming practices, but have not gone through the process of becoming certified.  How to tell whether a farm is using organic practices?  Call them up and ask.

How to choose a CSA farm?  The best bet is to pick a CSA farm that has a pickup site near your home or workplace.  Check our CSA listings or go to LocalHarvest.org to find a CSA farm near you.  While some CSA farms have pickup only at the farm or at farmers markets,

many have several pickup sites, generally at the home of fellow CSA members.  If you can gather a group of 8-12 people, a farmer may start a new pickup site for you.  Contact the farmer to see whether this is an option.  CSA farms that have the pickup at the farm or at farmers markets typically offer members some choices on what goes into the share.  For more remote pickup sites, you’re stuck with what’s in the bag.

Start looking for a CSA farm in the fall or winter.  The most popular farms sell all of their shares by early spring.

A note of caution in participating in a CSA farm.  You’re now tied to the vagaries of the weather.  If it’s a poor growing season, whether it’s due to floods, drought, hailstorms and the like, you may not get many vegetables.  There’s no guarantee that there will be a good harvest.  That said, however, this is usually not a problem.  Most CSA farmers do multiple plantings so if a hailstorm shreds the first planting of lettuce, there’ll be another crop later in the season.

Some years you may find only a few potatoes in your bag, but an abundance of zucchini.  Actually, it seems like we get a bumper crop of zucchini every year.  We’ve participated in a CSA farm for four years and we’ve always had an abundance of vegetables.

Fresh vegetables, supporting your local economy and keeping farmers in business- all part of that weekly box of CSA vegetables.

Check out our list of CSA farms in the Capital District.

-Cheryl Nechamen

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