coming to the table
The Big Apple's population density and cultural diversity contain myriad culinary customs and eating habits. Common to many culinary customs and a widespread popularity of wholesome diets, is the essential ingredient of fresh veggies and fruits.
Lucky us: New York City is located within a state of bountiful harvest. The State of New York ranks among the top agricultural producers of several veggies, including sweet corn, cabbage, squash, and pumpkins (New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets, 2015).
Despite such urban density, state harvest, and shared value for farm-fresh produce, many New Yorkers' access to fresh, flavorful, and nutritious fruits and veggies can be complicated. Access tends to be challenged by a scarcity of time, money, energy, or a dearth of all three resources. 1,428,810 New Yorkers endured food insecurity in 2012 (Feeding America, 2012).
At the same time, many farmers in the state of New York and the tri-state area face new challenges of climate change and energy, in addition to managing the cost of land, working with the uncertainties and complexities of agricultural systems, and maximizing profit margins that are thin compared to some other sectors (U.S. Census, 2012). Those new challenges of climate change include but are not limited to an increased risk of flooding, summer heat stress, and more intense pest and weed pressures. The rising cost of energy and uncertainty about future energy policies also affect agricultural endeavors and livelihoods. (Cornell Institute for Climate Change and Agriculture, Cornell Cooperative Extension, 2013)
CSAs constitute a part of the local food system, and participating in a CSA is one approach to meeting and mitigating the challenges mentioned above. A CSA member who pays the bulk or full amount for a season's share of vegetables at the beginning of the season helps farmers to better weather the risks of small-scale agriculture by taking on some of that risk: whether a crop of tomatoes flourishes in abundance or is devastated by a severe storm, the CSA members commit to experience the benefits and losses of a farm and its network. The network of farms here is especially crucial, for if a farm's crop of sweet potatoes fails to flourish the farmer might trade an abundance of other vegetables for sweet potatoes from a nearby farm.
Participation in a CSA as a consumer might stem from a consumer's interest in strengthening such inter-dependency, or problem-solving from a landscape perspective and concern for community-building and social justice that the urban organizing group might value. Or a New Yorker urbanite's commitment to a CSA might be inspired by a desire to buy fresh fruits and vegetables more directly from a farmer. Or one might like to develop a relationship with the people who grow the fruits and veggies that sustain us, those whose labor's fruits we use to show we care for a friend, flatmate, partner, colleague, parent, strengthening our social-ecological inter-dependencies in an overwhelmingly anonymous urban environment.
Whatever the reason for CSA curiosity, Farm Share NYC welcomes you to survey the landscape and see how our city's strength in diversity and density is a part of the array of CSAs, and to be in touch to share your own CSA story!