csa

We run a year-round full food CSA in northern New York, with our own eggs, chicken, beef, pork, flowers, grains, maple syrup and fruits as well as vegetables. The CSA model works. I hate to read posts like the above, about meager shares that turn people off. A handful of green beans is ridiculous. Yes, the member shares risk with the farmer, but it's the farmer's job to grow the right quantities and varieties of crops to ensure everyone who's bought a share gets a good share of the bounty. We plant at least twice what we think we'll need. If it's a bad year for potatoes, it's probably a good year for cabbage, so we better have both planted. Our customers are not limited in the quantities they can pick up every week. If we run out of beets or lettuce mix, we'll go harvest more. If someone wants to put up a few cases of tomato sauce, they can come harvest a bushel and do it. It's a joy to be able to share the abundance of farm food. That's what makes the hard work worthwhile. It wouldn't be any fun at all if I had to count out green beans for my members.

I'd say the best advice is to go work on someone else's CSA first. That way, you don't go into debt and get a bad reputation because you're green. Like any business, there are a million tricks and tactics to CSA that you pick up through experience. My husband apprenticed for *eight years* on various CSAs, then ran one for someone else before we moved to this farm and started our own. I am thankful every day for his experience. It's still not easy, and we worked 90 hours a week this year, but boy it's a good and satisfying life. I wish there were more people who could live like this.

Regarding rental of land to run a CSA, I'd strongly suggest trying to find someone who'll let you farm their land for free. The profit margin is narrow, especially in start up years. So many CSAs go into debt straight off the bat, and spend years trying to dig out. See if someone will let you farm their dirt for the decrease in property taxes an ag exemption can get you. On the same note, it's very difficult to buy land on CSA profits. It's enough to aim to pay taxes and living expenses, especially in the beginning.

Good luck to all of you thinking about undertaking this!

I have absolutely no advice about running a CSA, but perhaps I can offer a consumer's perspective since we belonged to a CSA in 2003.

Here's the website of the CSA I belonged to: http://www.elysianfarm.com/main.shtml

It was well-run and the variety was good. My year wasn't the greatest in terms of production . . . lots of rain and bugs. I probably would have done it again (because I really, really like the idea of supporting local farms), but we found it just too pricey for a full share, and the half share wouldn't even make a dent.

My favorite thing was her newsletter. It was great to hear about what was going on with the farm, how various crops were doing, what was going to show up in our boxes next, and a few recipe ideas for some of the more exotic offerings. (Fennel is quite tasty, by the way.)

I liked how I could pick up my alotment in town. She had a few distribution points throughout the area, and if you volunteered your home as a place where people could stop by and pick up their alotment (sitting in a box on your front porch with their name on the box), then you'd get a reduction in the cost of your share. I'd stop by, drop off my old waxed box and pick up my full box.

I liked the variety of vegetables. It's easy enough to find fresh greenbeans, but harder to find interesting varieties of tomatoes, fennel, various types of greens, unusual radishes, etc.

For the most part, I found the portions generous. There were, of course, months where the pickings were pretty slim, but she always made an effort to beef up the alotments the next go-around. You always felt like you were getting value--in her newsletter, she would detail what a full share got and what a half share got that week, along with the estimated weight and market price. Of course, market price didn't mean that much to us since we paid a set amount, but in the end, it was nice to see that we still got more value (per market prices) than we paid in (or at least that value).

It was never really discussed to what extent she would sell "extras" at the farmer's market, but we all understood it. I emailed her once asking if she could throw in some extra tomatoes and let me know the cost, and I'd drop off the cash and leave it with my old box. She promptly emailed back and said that it was absolutely no problem--she'd love to give me some extras for free. (They were delicious.) I did notice that when she had a bumper crop of something, she was very generous with our alotments.

We got no choice in what we received, which was both good and bad. Good because I tried stuff I probably wouldn't have, but bad because I got some stuff I really, really didn't like.

That year, she had rented a portion of a blueberry field, and we were welcome to go to that field and pick blueberries for free. That was a nice plus.

What I would suggest is not giving the customers a whole lot of choice--it's a lot of extra work for the grower, and most customers will be okay with having the grower select for them. When a special request comes in and if it's easy to accommodate, then you can graciously do so.

I would also suggest a newsletter--that really made folks feel like they were a part of the whole process. For most people who belong to a CSA, we could get what we want at the local farmer's market and not have any risk at all. In fact, we'd probably be able to get what we want cheaper through a farmer's market. For most of us, joining a CSA is a way of supporting an agricultural lifestyle and business, recognizing that we're helping to share in the bounty as well as the risk, taking a burden off of the farmer . . . no matter what, they'll get paid, even if it's not a great year. That being so, I think it's important to make them feel as if they are a big part of what is going on, even if they never put a foot on the farm.

I also am not sure how to set the rules. I want any excess to be used as for sale from the farm to others or at farmers markets and any other excess donated. I just dont know how to make it clear that they will receive a certain amount if production is high and not ALL that is there and yet if things dont produce well that they wont receive very much if any.

Evilbunny--most folks understand that not all that is produced will go to the CSA members. However, it is likewise understood that when there is a bounty, the CSA members share in that . . . maybe not all of it, but certainly a decent portion of it. Otherwise, for the CSA members all the risk is on their part--bad year, they get very little; good year, they get just about what they paid for.

As a consumer, I would find any of these acceptable:

1) Plant a CSA plot and plant your other stuff (farmers market, charity, etc.) separate. All of the CSA plot goes to the CSA membership.

2) Tell people upfront what you expect the harvest to be on an average year, and tell them that if there is excess, CSA members will share in 20% of that excess, with the rest of the excess going to charity, farmers market, etc.

3) Keep it loosey-goosey, but be very careful to share any bounty with the CSA members and to let them know what's going on during the course of the growing season. (For example, "Looks like we're going to have a sad strawberry season--with all the water . . . but it looks like we're going to have a bumper crop of blueberries . . . .")

The bottom line from the consumer's perspective is that while they want to support the idea of a CSA, they also want to get some tangible value out of their investment. To the extent you let people know what's going on at the farm, I think you'll find them pretty understanding. Of course, that presupposes that the farmer will plant a sufficient amount of crops and take care of them properly.

I'd love to hear more about folks plans . . . it's exciting watching from the sidelines.

Thank you so much for the insight! It makes it alot easier to figure out how to orgainze this idea with the help of buyers of shares. There are currently no farms in my area operating their farm this way so it is hard to get a grasp on what prospective customers like/dislike.Thanks again

Thanks for the insight. I've been off dealing with a family crisis the last two weeks and didnt get to watch as all these comments came on.

I love the newsletter idea and had already thought I'd want to do something like that.

I do think next year if I manage to get close enough to ready this fall I will start very small and only have a few subscribers. That way I can grow enough of what is needed, I'd feel horrible if I didnt think they were getting a good value. I still think I want to give them the option to request something specific and then have it be that if I can raise that I will, if I cant I will just have to say I cant.

I will post more later, this crisis has really taken a lot out of me and I can hardly stay awake.

Carla Emery was trying to get one started in our area. I know there are 3 of us who grow for the market area in AZ. She might have good ideas for one. My other friend has experience with it but doesn't have internet access. We had trouble finding our customers this year for all our vegetables so might consider doing one in our area next year.

Diane Green -- I don't think I've had such a great laugh in days -- brown rooster eggs!!!! :haha:

I have had a small CSA for the past two years. Last year I did it like everyone else; that is, I had a bag of food every week for 25 weeks. It just about did me in -- for one thing, we had so much rain that almost everything rotted or caught a virus/disease. It was tough filling bags. And, I made no profit.

I was not going to do it again this year, but one of the member's talked me into it. I reluctantly agreed, but then realized I didn't need to do it like everyone else. I could modify it to fit my own needs/schedule.

This year I offered a bag of food (organic) every other week, with a minimum of ten bags for the season. That took a lot of pressure off me and what I could provide. It also lowers the price for the members. Most of them WANT to come to the farm for pickup, but for those few who preferred it, I tacked $50 for delivery to their door. So far, it seems to be working quite well, and we have a month to go.

The point is: you can run a CSA pretty much any way you want. Just have enough veggies to give the members a variety/season. I try to give them at least a pound each of whatever we're growing and tell them up front that bags will weigh on average about 7-8 lbs (and the cost is comparable to the food bought at the organic food store in town).

I also have the members out for a get-together at the beginning of the season and a pot-luck of foods/recipes at the end of the season, mainly to thank everyone. And yes, members seem to enjoy the newsletter. Many farmers forget the "community" part of the CSA.

Oh, and no, I didn't make any money this year, either. But I really enjoyed doing it. I'd say -- go for it, as long as you have another source of income!

How do you determine a profit or no profit?

You keep a list of your costs, you keep a list of the members' shares and you include your time.

If you omit your time, you'll come out in the black. It is an enormous amount of time invested and work. I do it because I enjoy it, but I have other sources of income.

Someone else mentioned, I think, that farms with CSAs also sell to farmers' markets, restaurants, coops, whatever.....the CSA is just one aspect of the farm operation.