CSA roots & shoots: an intro
What's the meaning of 'CSA' in today's alphabet soup of acronyms and for this entity?
'CSA' stands for Community-Supported Agriculture or Community-Sustaining Agriculture.
'Farm Share NYC' is for our purposes synonymous with 'CSA NYC;' we chose 'Farm Share NYC' for favorable accessibility.
What's a CSA's structure, purpose, and place in contemporary society?
While there's no definitive description of a CSA, in the United States a CSA is basically a partnership between a farm and fruits and veggie lovers. The typical model involves consumers paying the bulk of a season's harvest up-front, at the start of the season, as an investment in the producer farm, in exchange for a weekly distribution of harvested fruits or veggies. The farm and those folks who commit to the farm's CSA share the benefits of abundance and the risks of scarcity throughout a season.
CSAs can take a few forms:
The creation of a CSA can be a strategy for improving civic engagement; the CSA can constitute one way to build or strengthen support around broader social justice activism or contribute to an increased sense of neighborliness in the big city. Such community-coalescing is enabled by the requirement that members commit to working for the CSA, be it volunteering at one distribution to weigh and hand out veggies, compiling the weekly newsletter, or contributing recipes to the group. The work requirement as well helps to keep the cost of a CSA lower than it otherwise might be.
What are the roots of today's CSA?
American CSAs are known to have their young roots in the philosophy of Rudolf Steiner and biodynamic agriculture.
Robyn Van En (1948-1997), a leading CSA advocate who founded the national clearinghouse CSA USA, stated that "...the main goal...of these community supported projects is to develop participating farms to their highest ecologic potential and to develop a network that will encourage and allow other farms to become involved."
One of the first reported CSA-ish endeavors in the U.S. consisted of a biodynamic-leaning group that cultivated an apple orchard in Massachusetts, in collaboration with a Berkshire Farm community of people who were developmentally disabled. Indian Line Farm in Massachusetts and Temple-Wilton Community Farm in New Hampshire, known to be two of the first U.S. CSAs, were founded in 1986. Both farms continue to thrive.
What different forms have CSAs taken since the '80s?
Like veggies growing on a farm, like the dynamic, pluralistic cultures in which a CSA is located, a CSA is no static thing! A diversity of organizations now employ the term "CSA" in describing their history or in labeling themselves.
As an example, one company based in Brooklyn and San Francisco, orders and sells produce from New York and nearby farms to New York City dwellers on an a la carte basis, with no labor requirement. The company began by creating software for CSAs across the country.
Another example might be a small company whose model some characterize as more of a buyer's club than a CSA, primarily because the company does not include at its core the opportunity to develop a relationship with the farmers.
Variations on CSAs and innovative related enterprises will likely continue to spring up and develop, considering the circumstances: trending attention on food supply chains and labor systems, and growing recognition of the severity of climate change, taken together with technology and in-fashion hyper-local artisanal markets.
'CSA' stands for Community-Supported Agriculture or Community-Sustaining Agriculture.
'Farm Share NYC' is for our purposes synonymous with 'CSA NYC;' we chose 'Farm Share NYC' for favorable accessibility.
What's a CSA's structure, purpose, and place in contemporary society?
While there's no definitive description of a CSA, in the United States a CSA is basically a partnership between a farm and fruits and veggie lovers. The typical model involves consumers paying the bulk of a season's harvest up-front, at the start of the season, as an investment in the producer farm, in exchange for a weekly distribution of harvested fruits or veggies. The farm and those folks who commit to the farm's CSA share the benefits of abundance and the risks of scarcity throughout a season.
CSAs can take a few forms:
- farmer-managed: farmer sets up CSA, manages it entirely within the farm crew;
- share-holder/subscriber-managed: a local group of folks organize and find a farm to supply their group;
- farmer-cooperative: multiple farms create and feed into a CSA program;
- farmer-shareholder cooperative: farmers and local folks set up and cooperatively manage a CSA.
The creation of a CSA can be a strategy for improving civic engagement; the CSA can constitute one way to build or strengthen support around broader social justice activism or contribute to an increased sense of neighborliness in the big city. Such community-coalescing is enabled by the requirement that members commit to working for the CSA, be it volunteering at one distribution to weigh and hand out veggies, compiling the weekly newsletter, or contributing recipes to the group. The work requirement as well helps to keep the cost of a CSA lower than it otherwise might be.
What are the roots of today's CSA?
American CSAs are known to have their young roots in the philosophy of Rudolf Steiner and biodynamic agriculture.
Robyn Van En (1948-1997), a leading CSA advocate who founded the national clearinghouse CSA USA, stated that "...the main goal...of these community supported projects is to develop participating farms to their highest ecologic potential and to develop a network that will encourage and allow other farms to become involved."
One of the first reported CSA-ish endeavors in the U.S. consisted of a biodynamic-leaning group that cultivated an apple orchard in Massachusetts, in collaboration with a Berkshire Farm community of people who were developmentally disabled. Indian Line Farm in Massachusetts and Temple-Wilton Community Farm in New Hampshire, known to be two of the first U.S. CSAs, were founded in 1986. Both farms continue to thrive.
What different forms have CSAs taken since the '80s?
Like veggies growing on a farm, like the dynamic, pluralistic cultures in which a CSA is located, a CSA is no static thing! A diversity of organizations now employ the term "CSA" in describing their history or in labeling themselves.
As an example, one company based in Brooklyn and San Francisco, orders and sells produce from New York and nearby farms to New York City dwellers on an a la carte basis, with no labor requirement. The company began by creating software for CSAs across the country.
Another example might be a small company whose model some characterize as more of a buyer's club than a CSA, primarily because the company does not include at its core the opportunity to develop a relationship with the farmers.
Variations on CSAs and innovative related enterprises will likely continue to spring up and develop, considering the circumstances: trending attention on food supply chains and labor systems, and growing recognition of the severity of climate change, taken together with technology and in-fashion hyper-local artisanal markets.