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Re: can CSA provide a living?



Here lies the base of the concept of CSA versus conventional farming.

In a "perfect" CSA, the members support the farm (and farmer) by agreeing to
cover the operational expenses -- including, ideally, repayment of the
farmer's investments in land, equipment, etc.  And, of course, the farmer's
and other employees' time.

This arrangement is not always the case.  I'd love to hear from somebody who's
actually got a group supporting them and their farm in bad years as well as
good ones.

It comes down to each farmer deciding what he or she wants and needs, stating
that decision clearly, and finding a way to market it.

For instance, I make my living doing other things; I like my career and don't
want to change it.  I also like the idea of community farming and happen to
own a nice piece of land, so at my CSA I donate the use of the land and my
time as administrator/supervising farmer.  If people fail to show up as agreed
to haul water, pull weeds, etc., I don't reach into my pocket to pay for help
and I don't go out and work by flashlight by myself.  And they don't get a
crop unless it rains and the weeds die.  More than one wag has suggested that
I should rename the place "Tough Love Farm".  Works for me, might not work for
somebody else.

Part of the beauty of CSA is that it can be as flexible as each practitioner
desires.  I'm trying something new this year myself -- back to basics, either
get a committed core group by January or just put the land back to timothy for
my goats.  Mixed-bag farms where the CSA is only part of the operation also
can work, and very well.  What I'm trying to say is that it might take some
experimentation to find the exact combination that works for each one of us.
I encourage people not to give up until they've checked every possibility.

Dori Green
Ash Grove Community Farm & Center for Sustainable Living
Corning, NY