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Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). Carol Goland. What is CSA?. A direct partnership between a farmer/grower & consumers The consumer pays for shares (an annual up-front payment) In exchange for a weekly share of the future harvest

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Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)

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  1. Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Carol Goland

  2. What is CSA? • A direct partnership between a farmer/grower & consumers • The consumer pays for shares (an annual up-front payment) • In exchange for a weekly share of the future harvest • Growers & consumers share the bounty & the risk of production

  3. The First CSA • In the 1960s, Japanese women, concerned with increased food prices, asked local farmers to grow directly for them • “teikei” means partnership, or food with a farmer’s face on it • 1986 in the Northeast in the U.S.

  4. Diversity of CSAs • There are over 1000 CSAs in the U.S. & Canada • 100,000 households are members • Some CSAs offer shareholders an opportunity to work in exchange for a reduction in their cost (some require their members to work) • Some maintain central distribution sites, others require members to pick up their food at the farm (transportation is one of the biggest problems)

  5. Why CSA is a Good Alternative • For every dollar spent on food in the U.S., 47 cents is spent on food eaten away from home • Only ½ of dinners eaten in American homes have one or more homemade dishes • Consumers eat out more, but purchase foods that minimize preparation time when they eat at home

  6. What are the Benefits? • A local food system connects consumers to both the land that produces their food & to the farmers who grow it • A local food system -- Farmers’ markets, direct marketing, food cooperatives, roadside stands, CSAs all support and help to rebuild the local community • Food dollars circulate locally

  7. CSAs reduce the hidden costs associated with our food system • In the conventional food system, food travels 1129-2146 miles • In a CSA system food travels a maximum of 200 miles, consumes less energy • CSAs reduce waste by minimizing packaging • CSAs maintain biodiversity & local ecological knowledge • Rather than externalities of the conventional system, CSAs externalize environmental benefits

  8. CSA Producers: • “[The customers] understand the value of freshness, absolute freshness, lack of chemicals and the fact that they didn’t have to do it them- selves” • “Some of the stuff I’m growing I had never grown before, never eaten before. I’m educating myself as well as my customers”

  9. Values & Empowerment • CSA producers value time spent with children, passing knowledge between generations, building friendships with the extended nonbiological family of CSA members • A local food system is also a political system engaging citizens in debate about purpose, value, and power, raising questions of equity and the reallocation of power • “CSA is one of the places where I translate the vision into action”

  10. In Summary… • CSA has taken root & is thriving on the fringes of the global, industrial food system

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