| Vol. 6 | No. 4 | Fall 2004 |
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Close to Home
Support Your Local Farmer |
Leigh and Wenonah Hauter live and work on an eight-acre farm in Virginia's Bull Run Mountains. Every weekday between June and October, Leigh heads to one of five delivery locations in Washington, DC, and northern Virginia with bins of fresh vegetables, fruits, herbs, flowers, and eggs. Customers line up to fill their bags, exchange friendly greetings but no cash, and head home to prepare meals using seasonal produce Leigh picked just hours before.
The Hauter farm is an example of community-supported agriculture (CSA),a movement that has taken hold on more than 1,000 farms across the country. CSA farmers sell yearly shares in their harvests to consumers in neighboring communities (the Hauters' shares start at $295 each). This arrangement helps defray farming costs and provides farmers with financial stability at the start of the growing season, when it is most needed. In exchange, shareholders receive weekly deliveries of produce and other goods as they come into season. In the first week of July, for example, shareholders received garlic, potatoes, basil, lettuce, and kohlrabi.
Back to Basics
Leigh acknowledges that the CSA approach is a radical departure from most consumers' typical food-buying experience. "Most Americans plan their meals [and] then buy their food," he said. "With this type of program, it is the other way around--you get your food when it is ripe and then plan your meals around what is available." In addition to fresh, local produce, CSA farms give people an opportunity to try new foods and learn new recipes.
The differences between CSA and conventional farming methods are striking as well. More than 90 percent of CSA farmers grow organic food that is free from genetic engineering, conventional pesticides, and synthetic fertilizers. Many also strengthen their local communities by providing discounted or free shares to low-income families and donating a portion of their weekly harvest to food shelters.
The Big Picture
Most supermarkets import more than 85 percent of the food from other states or countries. In fact, food in the United States travels an average of 1,300 miles from the farm to the supermarket, a journey that requires large amounts of energy for refrigeration and fuel for transport. Buying locally grown produce from CSA farms saves energy, lessens our reliance on fossil fuels, reduces pollution, and boosts local economies by creating jobs and income for small farms. Studies by the University of Massachusetts, for example, have found that if Massachusetts produced just 35 percent of its own food, the state could add $1 billion annually to its economy.
The cost of a CSA share varies from farm to farm but is, on average, comparable to produce prices in a local supermarket. The cost of the Hauters' CSA share, for example, amounts to less than $20 per week during the growing season and provides enough produce for a two-person household. People who eat few vegetables or cannot afford the up-front cost of a full share could consider splitting the cost with a friend or neighbor, or looking for a farm that sells half shares.
To learn more about community-supported agriculture, or find CSA farms in your area, visit the U.S. Department of Agriculture website at www.nal.usda.gov/afsic/csa.
Also in this issue of Earthwise:
Dialogue
How real is the threat of
abrupt climate change?
