Creating A Market

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The CSA group is not a perfect solution for the Kavakos. "We might be able to make more per acre if we sold at a farmers' market," Debby says. "And there's lots of stress because people have already paid and have expectations of our deliveries. Plus, managing the CSA group is not always easy. It took a while to build trust and respect between the growers and the members. At first, we were worried: Are the members going to tell us how to run our farm? We're still working out some of those communications and a sense of which jobs the members do and which things we do. It's a continual learning process."

Debby and Peter Kavakos tending their Stoneledge Farm in upstate New York. Right is Debby, proudly mugging in front of their new truck. Business must be good!

The idea of CSA developed about 30 years ago in Japan, where it is called teikei, which translates as "food with the farmer's face on it." Teikei moved first to Europe and then, in 1985, it was introduced to the U.S., where the term community supported agriculture was coined.

Today, Stoneledge Farm is one of about 600 CSA groups in North America that together provide produce to nearly 100,000 people.

The CSA MODEL

For growers, the many benefits of CSA include receiving cash up front during the winter months, when it is most needed but least forthcoming. And, with the season long support of a community, you are guaranteed a market for your produce and are thus relieved of some of the risk of small-scale farming.

The community supported agriculture model is very flexible, and every CSA group is unique. In some groups, members pay ahead of time for a full season, with the understanding that they will accept some of the risks of production (if you have a tomato failure, they'll buy their tomatoes elsewhere) and may enjoy some of the bounty (if you have a terrific basil crop they'll freeze pesto by the quirt). In other groups, members subscribe on a monthly basis and receive a predetermined amount of produce each week. Most CSA groups offer vegetables as their basic share. But some groups also offer fruit, herbs, flowers, bread, cheese, eggs, yogurt, beef, honey, maple syrup, and most anything else you can produce on a farm.

WHAT YOUNEED TO START A CSA GROUP

Growing Experience

First of all, you must be an accomplished grower. CSA is not for beginners! It requires experience growing 40 or more crops in a succession that will yield seven or more different items on the same day each week over the course of a 20- to 52-week season. While farming any piece of land is a long term learning process and members who support a farmer assume some risk, you cannot expect them to finance your complete on-the-job training.

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