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Re: Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) & food stamps (fwd)



With all the recent discussion about food stamps and CSAs, we might want 
to look to the CSA listserver for more input.  Seems to me that people 
want a general definition of a CSA so that from one region to the next a 
CSA is a CSA.  However, it seems to me that CSAs are all about forming 
unique and intimate relationships between consumer and farmer, and our 
discussions of CSA principles should reflect this.  

I think it would be interesting to open this conversation to those on 
the CSA listserver (csa-l@prairienet.org) for their input.  And I think 
we should keep in mind the different "types" of CSAs that evolved in the 
last decade.  We have non-profits and profits.  We have some formed 
purely to feed lower-income communities, and those that have formed due 
to demand from wealthier communities.

To all those that are going to the NESAWG conference, I look forward to 
continuing this conversation in person.

Kirsten Saylor
Arlington, VA


>Date: Thu, 10 Dec 1998 11:38:40 -0500 (EST)
>From: Marla Rhodes <mrhodes1@emerald.tufts.edu>
>To: NE community food systems <nefood-l@sardonyx.tufts.edu>
>Subject: Re: Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) & food stamps (fwd)
>
>A reminder: if you want to post directly to the network, so that all 
293
>people (as of 12/10/98) receive your message, send to
>nefood-l@sardonyx.tufts.edu.
>Marla
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>Date: Mon, 07 Dec 1998 20:48:13 -0500 (EST)
>From: Daniel J Kaplan <dankap@juno.com>
>To: mrhodes1@emerald.tufts.edu
>Subject: Re: Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) & food stamps
>
>i'm not sure if this is the way to post messages back into the network, 
>but....
>
>at Brookfield Farm in Amherst MA we accept food stamps for CSA shares. 
We
>don't ask for the usual payment up front kind of thing, but we let 
folks
>with food stamps just pay as they go. 
>
>We are also a non-profit which might explain why they gave us the 
ability
>to do this. 
>
>My take on this now is that there is no reason, when applying, for any
>CSA to even say they are selling shares. Just call it a farmstand and
>don't confuse the feds. It seems to me that it will be necessary for
>people on food stamps to be able to pay as they go and for the small
>number of folks who actually can utilize the share, let them have their
>own payment plan. 
>
>And I completely disagree with the person who wrote that getting money 
up
>front was the most important or even defining characteristic of a CSA. 
We
>consider this to be a minor benefit that frequently isn't even a 
benefit
>when all of the administration of a CSA is taken into account. The 
major
>benefit to us is the fact that we have sold all of our product for the
>year, not that we get the money up front. It is cheaper for me to 
borrow
>the money for an operating loan than to do all the admin for 400 shares 
>to get the money early. Slow cash flow is completely tolerable when you
>know that even when the market gets glutted in August and your
>sharelholders go on vacation to the vineyard, or when the flea beetles
>nail your broccoli in May,  you are still going to get paid by the end 
of
>the season.
>
>It doesn't effect our bottom line at all to give food stamp recipients
>the ability to pay for their share each week. The bigger issues we face
>with getting people who have food stamps to buy shares has to do with 
>	1)access to our farm
>	2)eating habits and 
>	3)outreach to underserved areas
>
>
>Dan Kaplan
>Brookfield Farm
>Amherst MA 01002
>413-253-7991
>"Farming For The Future"
>
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>


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