Enjoy nature's bounty, week by week: community supported agriculture brings stability to the farm and fresh organic produce to consumers - includes resource list and tips on how to get started

Vegetarian Times, Jan, 1995 by Faith Schantz

ON A BEAUTIFUL SUMMER DAY in upstate New York, I accompanied my sister, Sarah, on her weekly trip for produce. Instead of stopping at the local supermarket, we ducked into someone's basement and picked up two bags of vegetables that had been picked just that morning. As a member of the Cresset-Richview Community Supported Agriculture program, Sarah had paid in advance for a weekly share of the harvest from two participating local farms. The vegetables were fresher than any I had ever seen in a store. Beautiful and fragrant, they couldn't have been more appealing.

Community supported agriculture (CSA) probably originated in Japan in the 1960s, when mothers concerned about the increase in food imports and the loss of farmland approached growers and offered to guarantee a market. The first American CSA was launched about 1 0 years ago, when Jan Vander Tuin, a farmer and activist, told farmer Robyn Van En of South Egremont, Mass., about a CSA project he had discovered in Switzerland.

The CSA arrangement is simple enough: Consumers pay a portion of a farm's budget in exchange for a share of the season's bounty. The group accepts the risks of weather and woodchucks, guaranteeing the farmer's income and getting the freshest produce in return. Van En, a woman with great enthusiasm for grass roots movements, says the CSA concept was a natural fit for her. "We literally talked for five minutes and I said, `That's exactly what we need to do here. '"

She did, and word spread. Today, an idea that took root in the rocky soil of New England is being cultivated across the country. There are now 300 to 400 CSAs nationwide, each serving anywhere from four to 1,000 shareholders. And though they may differ in specifics--types of food grown (some include meat), method of distribution, size of the group and cost per share--most offer an array of vegetables, fruits, fresh herbs and flowers. All CSA farms are either organic or biodynamic (a farming method that uses non-chemical soil enhancement). By linking growers to consumers, providing guaranteed income to farmers and fresh, organic produce to consumers, CSA is about sustainability, both economic and environmental.

After visiting my sister, I wanted my own organic produce to come fresh from a local farm. Home in Pittsburgh, a friend told me about the Kretschmann Farm CSA. Don Kretschmann, a soft-voiced, lanky man, delivers fruits and vegetables to 12 Pittsburgh drop-off sites for his 190 shareholders. Share prices vary depending on household size and whether members are vegetarian. For a vegetarian couple, a share costs $450 dollars based on a 25-week season, which works out to $18 per week, usually paid in advance installments. (Last year, poor weather shortened the season by two weeks, and Kretschmann adjusted his prices accordingly. (Most of Kretschmann's shareholders are young families who appreciate the convenience of neighborhood delivery.

The arrangement also has improved family life for Kretschmann. Before running his CSA, Kretschmann sold his produce at the local farmers markets. Now that he no longer returns home from the market at 10 p.m., he has more time to play with his daughters. He also has less wasted produce; a bad day at the market meant returning home with a truckload of unsold produce.

Unsold produce also concerned Jill Agnew of Sabattus, Maine, the first CSA farmer in her state. She wanted a year-round operation to complement the income from her apple orchard, but growing vegetables seemed to her like a huge time commitment for hardly any money and a lot of waste considering that what isn't sold at the market is often thrown away. When she heard about CSA at a farming conference, the idea "made so much sense it was irresistible," she says.

Six years later, Agnew's Willow Pond Farm offers 35 kinds of vegetables along with fresh herbs and flowers. It has 70 shareholders, some paying $4SO for a full share, others $275 for half the amount of produce. To determine the share price, Agnew calculates all of her costs-labor, seeds, insurance, the tractor, the horse used for cultivating and the cost of renting the CSA's portion of the land--then divides the total by the number of shares.

For the price of a share, Agnew's members receive more than her homegrown goodies. She describes the more unusual vegetables and their uses in a newsletter. On pickup days, Agnew tends to her flower garden, making herself available for questions and conversation. She also holds an October bean-threshing, potluck and jack-o'-lantern "extravaganza" to bring her shareholders together. Given that the hard work of farming doesn't translate into a high income, Agnew says she needs more satisfaction than "squeaking by" financially. Her shareholders supply that with their appreciation and support.

What is it that shareholders appreciate most? Kingston, N.Y., CSA member Patty Livingston, a landscape artist, gives the highest rating to freshness. The staples of her vegan diet are grown at Manor Lake Farm, where shareholders weigh out their own shares and harvest the laborintensive beans, peas, greens and herbs on the spot. Livingston says fresh-picked vegetables such as lettuce, corn and tomatoes taste far superior to anything that has spent days getting to a supermarket.