NFCCA

Stories from the NFCCA Newsletter, the “Northwood News”

Northwood News ♦ April 2009

Eat Local:  Community-Supported Agriculture

By Laura Hussey

The confluence of attention on global climate change, U.S. dependence on foreign oil, a tanking economy, and concerns about food safety (think peanut butter and salmonella) has caused many of us to make lifestyle changes, whether voluntarily or out of necessity.

One way you can address all of these issues at one time is by choosing to eat more locally produced foods.  By eating locally, you reduce the portion of the food price that goes to shipping the food, the amount of fuel consumed to get it from field to table, and you support local jobs and the local economy.  When more of the price of the food goes into the quality of the food rather than into transportation costs, you get better quality food.  Wow, to think that all that good could come just from eating food that probably tastes better too, especially since it wasn’t picked green to withstand shipping!

I imagine many of you already patronize local farmer’s markets, and if you are buying locally produced produce and other products, you are already supporting the concept of eating local.  Here’s an idea that would help kick up your support for the above concepts:  buy a share in a CSA.

Okay, what is a CSA?  CSA stands for “community supported agriculture.”  The idea is that a small farmer’s local community agrees to share some of the risk inherent in farming by paying upfront for a share in the rewards — the delicious bounty of fresh, locally grown produce.  Participants pay a set fee, usually before the growing season starts, providing the farmer cash flow to pay for the necessary supplies.  Then, throughout the growing season, each CSA participant receives regular (typically weekly) portions of the week’s harvest.  When the harvest is good, CSA members make out; when poor weather or other conditions cause the harvest to be low, CSA members share that risk with the farmer.  This risk-sharing approach allows the farmer to plant more diverse crops than otherwise might be practical, providing CSA participants access to greater diversity as well.  Many CSA farmers also practice organic farming or other sustainable techniques that are not only good for the environment, but produce tastier results, too!

I’ve signed up for a CSA this year, and I’ll be reporting in a future issue about my experience.  If you like to cook, are willing to be a little adventurous (you don’t get to choose what goes in your share each week), and want to eat local, a CSA may be for you.  Now is the time of year to sign up.

Several very local options exist and are listed below.  For a more complete listing, see The Washington Post article on CSAs, available at www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/03/AR2009020302559.html.

   © 2009 NFCCA  [Source: https://nfcca.org/news/nn200904n.html]