Creating A Market

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Surplus Distribution

At the end of each distribution, you will have leftover vegetables (from people who did not pick up all or part of their share). The bigger your membership, the more surplus you will have, but count on at least 10% leftover every week. Many farms donate this surplus to a food pantry or soup kitchen that is near the distribution site, and some give the extras directly to needy families that they know.

Some growers plan on delivering overage specifically to people with little or no income, who may not be able to afford the fresh, high-quality produce that everyone needs. The Food Bank Farm in Hadley, Massachusetts, grows about half of its produce for the needy.

If you are working with a church group or other community center, you may be able to barter your surplus for use of its site.

A Pricing System

There are as many ways of deriving a share price as there are CSA groups. One method is to determine your overall growing costs, then divide that by the number of shares you're going to grow (or, if your operation has several market outlets, decide on the percentage of your budget the CSA will cover and divide that by the number of shares). Another way is to estimate a dollar amount you are going to deliver each week, based on your farm stand or farmers' market prices.

How do you explain your share price to members? While you need not provide a detailed accounting of your expenses, members stand to learn a good deal about the costs of growing, selling, and distributing food, and the better educated your members are, the more likely they will be to understand and support the farm during times of difficulty or growth. A simple pie chart (or a list of percentages) that gives a rough idea of how much of your budget is spent on each of several broad categories (like labor, land, inputs, capital expenses. trucking and administration), and a note of how much of the farm's budget is covered by the CSA and by other sources. ought to suffice.

What if you have customers who do not have the resources to pay for food months before it is delivered, or even to pay for food at all? Many farms allow a few members to work off some or all of a share, either through farm labor or through administrative and distribution site work. You can also accept payments on a long-term installation plan, and you can offer a sliding-scale share fee. If members or organizations donate a share, you can offer a sort of scholarship. There is always a way to be compensated.

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