Subject: CSA conference a big success

From: [email-masked]
Date: Mon, 17 Jan 94 09:24:13 PST

Our CSA (Community-Supported Agriculture) conference on December 6, 1993 was 
a big success!  Thank you to all of you who wrote with words of encouragement
and interest.  A special thanks to Mary Gold at the National Ag. 
Library for sending us a stack of bibliographies on CSA.  Following is a 
brief summary of our presentations. We are in the process of writing up the 
proceedings from the conference.  These will be available for $10 within a 
couple of months.  I will post a notice on e-mail when they are ready for 
distribution.

                    CSA Conference a Success

One hundred twenty-five enthusiastic people, most of them small
family farmers, packed the UC Davis meeting room where community-
supported agriculture was topic of a one-day workshop, December 6,
1993.  The conference was co-sponsored by the UC Sustainable
Agriculture Research and Education Program, the UC Small Farm
Center, the Community Alliance with Family Farmers, UC Cooperative
Extension and Fiddlers' Green Farm.  

The program got off to a great start with Andrew Lorand, a long-
time Community Supported Agriculture consultant who is currently a
farmer and agricultural teacher at the Sacramento Waldorf School. 
He gave an excellent overview of CSAs in the United States, their
history and some fundamental principles.  

The program continued with descriptive, practical talks from three
farmers who operate CSAs--Sue Temple of Fiddlers' Green Farm in the
Capay Valley; Judith Redmond of Full Belly Farm (Capay Valley) and
executive director of the Community Alliance with Family Farmers;
and Steve and Gloria Decater of Live Power Farm in Covelo.  These
three farmers discussed the different kinds of CSAs they operate,
how they got started and why, their marketing strategies to
different clienteles, how they organize their production with the
CSA, sample boxes, various educational and communication strategies
they have developed with their shareholders, and the different
challenges they face.  

After a panel discussion in which all speakers answered questions
from the audience, 50-60 participants drove to Fiddlers Green Farm
in the Capay Valley for a farm tour and more personal discussions
with Sue, Jim Eldon, co-owner and Liz Milazzo, harvest manager.

Workshop participants were overwhelmingly pleased with the day's
proceedings and wanted more opportunities to share information.  In
March, UC Cooperative Extension and the Small Farm Center will co-
sponsor a second CSA workshop in Southern California.  Interested
parties should contact David Visher (UC Small Farm Center) at
916/757-8912 or Faustino Munoz, UC Cooperative Extension at
619/694-2846.  Proceedings from the UC Davis CSA workshop will be
available for $10 within the next few months.  Watch Sustainable
Agriculture News and Technical Reviews or the Small Farm News for
details or contact David Visher or Gail Feenstra (SAREP) at 752-
8408.

Gail Feenstra
UC SAREP
(916) 752-8408
[email-masked]

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From [email-masked] Sep 18 22:33:17 1995
Date: Mon, 18 Sep 1995 10:49:42 -0400
From: [email-masked]
To: [email-masked]
Cc: [email-masked]
Subject: Re: Information on subscription farming

I would agree with the recent response cautioning against a rigid 
distinction between subscription farming and community supported agriculture 
(CSA).  Having been involved in the CSA movement for the past few years, I 
see a continumm of farms that range from a very utilitarian, market-based 
subsription approach to a very community-oriented, risk-sharing approach.  
In between are all sorts of options and configurations that make sharp 
distinctions difficult.  I am involved in the Madison-Area CSA Coalition 
(MACSAC), a group of CSA farms in southern Wisconsin that exists to promote 
cooperation among farms as well as collective outreach ("marketing" and 
education) to consumers.  There are 17 farms involved in MACSAC and, while 
they all call themselves community supported farms, there is great diversity 
among them in terms of philospohy, goals, and organizational structure, etc.

In regard to numbers, the Bio-Dynamic Farming and Gardening Association 
keeps a database of "CSA" farms accross the country.  At last count there 
were 435 farms in the database but I think this number is substantially 
lower than what actually exists.  Call the Bio-Dynamic Association at 
1-800-516-7797.

Here in the midwest, where CSA/subscription farming has been growing in 
leaps and bounds, the Michael Fields Agricultural Institute recently 
published a Regional Directory of CSA farms.  There are 60 farms listed.  
Contact Michael Fields at (414) 642-3303.  Address: W2493 County Road ES, 
East Troy, Wisconsin, 53120.

And, to add to the conference announcements:  The second annual Upper 
Midwest CSA Conference will be held December 1-3, in Madison, Wisconsin.  
Watch for a more detailed announcement coming soon!

-John
John Hendrickson
Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems
University of Wisconsin-Madison
1450 Linden Drive, Room 146
Madison, WI  53706
[email-masked]
From [email-masked] Oct  3 02:40:32 1995
Date: Sun, 1 Oct 1995 15:16:42 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Lisa E. Mccrory" <[email-masked]>
To: Zbynek Ulcak <[email-masked]>
Cc: [email-masked]
Subject: Re: CSA -literature needed

On Wed, 27 Sep 1995, Zbynek Ulcak wrote:

> Dear friends,
> 
> for our project we need any basic scientific literature (books, 
> articles in refereed journals, etc.) on community supported 
> agriculture and similar systems of local food links.
> 
> Any information would be gretly appreciated.
> 
> Thank you in advance.
> 
> 
> Zbynek Ulcak
> 
> Mendel University of Agriculture and Forestry Brno, Czech Republic
> 
> [email-masked]
> [email-masked]
> 
Zbyneek,

	A  book I would recommend is FARM OF TOMORROW;COMMUNITY SUPPORTED 
FARMS,FARM SUPPORTED COMMUNITIES by TraugerM. Groh and Steven S.H. Mcfadden.

	Lisa McCrory
	UVM EPic pasture Management Outreach Program
	UVM, Hills Bldg
	Burlington, VT 05405
	[email-masked]
From [email-masked] Apr 11 21:06:43 1995
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 1995 11:03:17 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Tom Hodges (moderated newsgroup)" <[email-masked]>
To: Principles of Sustainable Agriculture <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Community Supported Agriculture (fwd)

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 95 10:06:21 -0400
From: Bob Engelman <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]
Subject: Re: Community Supported Agriculture (fwd)

Jeff Lakey writes:

>I've recently become exposed to the idea of Community Supported
>Agriculture.  I'm interested in its potential to help with the problem of
>agriculture around metropolitan areas serving as a temporary land use
>(awaiting retirement of the farmer and endless suburbanization).
>
>I presume it is recent, and don't expect to find much in the library
>literature about it, but will be checking there as well.  Anyone have a
>reference starting point to find out more?

        May I recommend a book called Farms of Tomorrow: Community
Supported Farms, Farm Supported Communities, by Trauger Groh and Steven
S.H. McFadden, published in 1990 by the Bio-Dynamic Farming and Gardening
Association, P.O. Box 550, Kimberton, PA 19442, 610-935-7797,
1-800-516-7797. The cost is $12.00 plus $2.75 for shipping.

        There is also an association called something like the North
American Association of Community Supported Agriculture. They have a few
minimalist publications which might be of service. I may be getting the
name a bit wrong and will try to return with more detailed information.

        The idea of community supported agriculture has its roots largely
in the German-speaking countries of Europe, with considerable influence as
well from Japan. Its philosophical roots lie in the agricultural ideas of
Rudolf Steiner, an Austrian philospher and scientist who lived from 1861 to
1925. Two key convictions guide the CSA movement, which is growing rapidly
in the United States and elsewhere: 1) that urban dwellers and other people
who do not personally grow food can buy shares in the annual output of a
local farmer, thus reducing her/his risk and providing her/him the capital
to 2) restore the soil and other agricultural resources so that the entire
community is enhanced by what the farm becomes and the activity that goes
on there. Good CSAs also involve shareholders in work, fun and community
activities on the farm, helping to teach children, for example, that food
does not come from the grocery store but from soil, water, sweat and love.

        I'm too busy at the moment to do so right now, but I hope to post
soon a document concerning the CSA of which I am a member, the Chesapeake
(Maryland) CSA near Washington, D.C.. The entire concept is one of the most
exciting I have encountered in the field of "sustainably-oriented"
agriculture, and I believe its future could be exceedingly bright.

Best,
Bob Engelman
Takoma Park, MD

From [email-masked] Apr 11 21:06:56 1995
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 1995 11:03:17 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Tom Hodges (moderated newsgroup)" <[email-masked]>
To: Principles of Sustainable Agriculture <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Community Supported Agriculture (fwd)

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 95 10:06:21 -0400
From: Bob Engelman <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]
Subject: Re: Community Supported Agriculture (fwd)

Jeff Lakey writes:

>I've recently become exposed to the idea of Community Supported
>Agriculture.  I'm interested in its potential to help with the problem of
>agriculture around metropolitan areas serving as a temporary land use
>(awaiting retirement of the farmer and endless suburbanization).
>
>I presume it is recent, and don't expect to find much in the library
>literature about it, but will be checking there as well.  Anyone have a
>reference starting point to find out more?

        May I recommend a book called Farms of Tomorrow: Community
Supported Farms, Farm Supported Communities, by Trauger Groh and Steven
S.H. McFadden, published in 1990 by the Bio-Dynamic Farming and Gardening
Association, P.O. Box 550, Kimberton, PA 19442, 610-935-7797,
1-800-516-7797. The cost is $12.00 plus $2.75 for shipping.

        There is also an association called something like the North
American Association of Community Supported Agriculture. They have a few
minimalist publications which might be of service. I may be getting the
name a bit wrong and will try to return with more detailed information.

        The idea of community supported agriculture has its roots largely
in the German-speaking countries of Europe, with considerable influence as
well from Japan. Its philosophical roots lie in the agricultural ideas of
Rudolf Steiner, an Austrian philospher and scientist who lived from 1861 to
1925. Two key convictions guide the CSA movement, which is growing rapidly
in the United States and elsewhere: 1) that urban dwellers and other people
who do not personally grow food can buy shares in the annual output of a
local farmer, thus reducing her/his risk and providing her/him the capital
to 2) restore the soil and other agricultural resources so that the entire
community is enhanced by what the farm becomes and the activity that goes
on there. Good CSAs also involve shareholders in work, fun and community
activities on the farm, helping to teach children, for example, that food
does not come from the grocery store but from soil, water, sweat and love.

        I'm too busy at the moment to do so right now, but I hope to post
soon a document concerning the CSA of which I am a member, the Chesapeake
(Maryland) CSA near Washington, D.C.. The entire concept is one of the most
exciting I have encountered in the field of "sustainably-oriented"
agriculture, and I believe its future could be exceedingly bright.

Best,
Bob Engelman
Takoma Park, MD

Article 7861 of misc.rural:
Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!corpgate!news.utdallas.edu!convex!cs.utexas.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!library.ucla.edu!agate!darkstar.UCSC.EDU!cats.ucsc.edu!gangriel
From: [email-masked] (Stefan Alexei Lasiewski)
Newsgroups: alt.sustainable.agriculture,sci.agriculture,talk.environment,misc.rural
Subject: Indian Line Farm??? (Other CSA's???)
Date: 22 Feb 1994 22:16:10 GMT
Organization: University of California; Santa Cruz
Lines: 16
Message-ID: <[email-masked]>
NNTP-Posting-Host: am.ucsc.edu
Xref: bigblue.oit.unc.edu alt.sustainable.agriculture:2366 sci.agriculture:277 talk.environment:13124 misc.rural:7861

(Notice I crossposted to 4 groups, so to keep the load down on our friends,
could you please email me??? )

Could anyone please email me info about the Indian Line Farm in Great
Barrington, Mass??? I have their address, but was hoping for contact over
the net, a little quicker than snail-mail..ya know...I am hoping to obtain
info on their history and organizational themes...all I've seen is a video
of theirs, and am interested in their input for my term paper...

I'm interested in the Community Supported Agriculture, and how it overcomes
the barriers of the modern market to be succesful.
If anyone can help me, that'd be great... thanks!!!

Thanks a bunch!!!
--Stefan

Article 7279 (184 more) in rec.gardens:
Newsgroups: rec.food.veg,alt.food,rec.gardens,ne.general,misc.rural,ne.food
From: [email-masked] (Tom Yelton)

Subject: Organic Vegies from new Framingham CSA
Message-ID: <[email-masked]>
Summary: Locally grown Organic Vegies available thru CSA in Framingham
Keywords: organic vegetables locally-grown Community-Supported-Agriculture
Sender: [email-masked]
Nntp-Posting-Host: riviera
Organization: Intermetrics Inc.
References: <[email-masked]> <[email-masked]> <1 [email-masked]>
Distribution: ne
Date: Mon, 11 May 1992 13:33:22 GMT
Lines: 45

    STEARNS FARM CULTIVATES ORGANIC FOOD AND COMMUNITY SPIRIT

Fresh, locally grown organic produce is now available through Stearns
Farm's Community Supported Agriculture program.  Community Supported
Agriculture (CSA) is an innovative new concept gaining popularity at
small farms across the country.  It's a cooperative arrangement in
which members of the community purchase shares of the harvest in the
--MORE--(40%)

springtime, and receive fresh vegetables throughout the growing
season.  The result is that consumers get good prices on top quality
organic foods, and the farmer can concentrate on farming rather than
marketing the produce.  Share holders come to the farm each week to
pick up their food, usually about bushel per share, and to enjoy a
connection with the land so often forgotten in these days of
agribusiness and supermarkets.

Stearns Farm is located at 859 Edmands Road in Framingham.  Its has
been farmed organically by Penelope Turton for 37 years and will
continue in this tradition with the support of the community.  This
year Penelope will be joined by Tim Cooke, a native of Abington, MA,
who has been managing an organic farm in Vermont for the past three
years.

Unlike conventional methods of farming, organic agriculture is
ecologically sustainable.  Rather than depleting the soil, organic
farms continually rejuvenate the land through proper crop rotation and
the use of only naturally derived fertilizers and pest controls.  The
crops themselves are of high quality and are free of chemical
residues.

Full shares in Stearns Farm are being offered at $500, and feed two
--MORE--(79%)

adults on average.  This amounts to less than $21 per week from June 1
to November 14.  Half shares are available for $250.  For more
information, call (508) 529-3008.

        -------------------------------------------------

A NOTE FROM THE POSTER:
    My interest in this CSA is in preserving a source of organic
    produce in my community, promoting ecological, sustainable
    agriculture, and helping out a young farmer.  I am a member of the
    "core group" that is helping get this CSA started and I can answer
    some questions by email.      - Tom Yelton

-- 
-- Tom Yelton  Intermetrics, Inc.  [email-masked] 
End of article 7279 (of 7299)--what next? [npq] Article 7279 (184 more) in rec.gardens:
From: Tom Yelton
Subject: Organic Vegies from new Framingham CSA
Summary: Locally grown Organic Vegies available thru CSA in Framingham
Keywords: organic vegetables locally-grown Community-Supported-Agriculture
Date: Mon, 11 May 1992 13:33:22 GMT

    STEARNS FARM CULTIVATES ORGANIC FOOD AND COMMUNITY SPIRIT

Fresh, locally grown organic produce is now available through Stearns
Farm's Community Supported Agriculture program.  Community Supported
Agriculture (CSA) is an innovative new concept gaining popularity at
small farms across the country.  It's a cooperative arrangement in
which members of the community purchase shares of the harvest in the
springtime, and receive fresh vegetables throughout the growing
season.  The result is that consumers get good prices on top quality
organic foods, and the farmer can concentrate on farming rather than
marketing the produce.  Share holders come to the farm each week to
pick up their food, usually about bushel per share, and to enjoy a
connection with the land so often forgotten in these days of
agribusiness and supermarkets.

Stearns Farm is located at 859 Edmands Road in Framingham.  Its has
been farmed organically by Penelope Turton for 37 years and will
continue in this tradition with the support of the community.  This
year Penelope will be joined by Tim Cooke, a native of Abington, MA,
who has been managing an organic farm in Vermont for the past three
years.

Unlike conventional methods of farming, organic agriculture is
ecologically sustainable.  Rather than depleting the soil, organic
farms continually rejuvenate the land through proper crop rotation and
the use of only naturally derived fertilizers and pest controls.  The
crops themselves are of high quality and are free of chemical
residues.

Full shares in Stearns Farm are being offered at $500, and feed two
adults on average.  This amounts to less than $21 per week from June 1
to November 14.  Half shares are available for $250.  For more
information, call (508) 529-3008.

        -------------------------------------------------

A NOTE FROM THE POSTER:
    My interest in this CSA is in preserving a source of organic
    produce in my community, promoting ecological, sustainable
    agriculture, and helping out a young farmer.  I am a member of the
    "core group" that is helping get this CSA started and I can answer
    some questions by email.      - Tom Yelton

-- Tom Yelton

Article 3909 in misc.rural:
From: [email-masked] (Gil Hardwick)
Subject: Community Supported Agricultur
Date: Mon, 12 Oct 92 02:32:10 GMT
Organization: STAFF STRATEGIES - Anthropologists & Training Agents

In article <.....> [email-masked] writes:
>A current hot topic here is community supported agriculture. Do any of you 
>know where I can find published material on this phenomenon? I currently have
>a pamphlet published by the Bio-Dynmanic Farming and Gardening Association
>entitled "Community Related Agriculture."  I found only two references in
>Agricola to this concept.  One of them is an article entitled "Vegetables for
>All" from the September 1987 issue of "Organic Gardening".  I also have a
>photocopy of an aticle entitled "Share the Land" from the May 15, 1991,
>"Washington Post"; another photocopy of an article entitled "Fresh Hope for
>the Small Farmer" (June 1989 from an unknown source).  Steenbock has also
>purchased the book, "Farms of Tomorrow", by Trauger Groh and S. McFadden 
>from the Bio-Dynamic Farming and Gardening Association.

I have a research program currently queued for for the 1993/94 R&D
budget period entitled, "An Ethnographic Survey of the Community Base
of Rural Production in Western Australia".

Yes, it is a "hot topic" at the moment; for many of us who have been
working in this field for so many years finally the window of interest
in our work is opening. Well, better late than never. Any articles or
references you can send me would be very welcome indeed, and further
discussion on the net with others I would actively encourage.

Please, let us try to network on this also. I am very happy to
establish a mailing list as well, since I am (honorary) consulting
anthropologist to the Land Management Society and the Greenhouse
Village Project here in W.A. We have many people here literally
starving for information and support following such massive social
breakdown and rural depopulation during the past 10-15 years.

Enquiries have also come into us here from South Africa, concerned
with the post-apartheid/post-industrial rehabilitation of the rural
populations from fringe townships. They are still cut off from their
neighbours and are looking to Australia as a clearing house for
information . . .

>I am also interested in finding published information on the concept of local
>or indigenous knowledge as applied in "developed" (First and Second World)
>countries.  There is a prodigious amount of information concerning Third 
>World applications of this idea.

Without appearing cynical, please advise when you locate any. So much
of this work needs to be done yet while such significant allocations
of the R&D budget are simply taken over by industrial interests.

Please help, anyone who can.

Gil

--
Gil Hardwick                                      [email-masked]
Independent Consulting Ethnologist                            3:690/660.6
PERTH, Western Australia                                 (+61 9) 399 2401
   * * Sustainable Community Development & Environmental Education * *

Article 3918 (2 more) in misc.rural:
From: [email-masked] (Richard Siggs)
Subject: Re: Community Supported Agriculture
Date: 13 Oct 92 04:21:26 GMT
Organization: Australian National University
Lines: 88
NNTP-Posting-Host: 150.203.4.31

[email-masked] (Gil Hardwick) writes:
>In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked] writes:
>>A current hot topic here is community supported agriculture.  Do any of you
>>know where I can find published material on this phenomenon?

        The Permaculture International Journal, May 1989 has an article about
community gardens, however, the details of the article have long left my mind
so I'll post again tomorrow about it. However, this is a topic close to my
heart, as you'll gather from this post..

>I have a research program currently queued for for the 1993/94 R&D
>budget period entitled, "An Ethnographic Survey of the Community Base
>of Rural Production in Western Australia".

        I'm currently involved in establishing a small (2 acre) community
garden through Friends of the Earth, Snowy Mountains (in south-east New South
Wales, Australia.. for those not 'down under') in the town of Cooma, NSW 
(approx. 110kms south of the national capital, Canberra).

        The land for the gardens has been donated for 4 years (so far) by a
local family and so far 4 local small businesses have given seeds &/or viable
plants to the gardens. We've got the cooperation of the local high school
through interested individual teachers bringing classes out to the gardens for
activities ranging from RiverWatch (a state-wide program being run by schools
to monitor the water quality of local rivers) through to "hands on" digging &
planting to begin the long task of establishing the gardens.

        The project has only been running for 6 months & still relies of the
continuing energies of a core of people to keep it going, but we're finding
more and more favourable & eager people interested in growing food & gardens
in a community context.

>Yes, it is a "hot topic" at the moment; for many of us who have been
>working in this field for so many years finally the window of interest
>in our work is opening. Well, better late than never. Any articles or
>references you can send me would be very welcome indeed, and further
>discussion on the net with others I would actively encourage.

        I agree. I'm particularly interested in how individual wishes are met
by the community garden as a whole. In regard to people who wish to have "their
own plot" in the garden as opposed to general garden beds. In our situation, 
we have set aside a small area for individual beds, with much of the 2 acre
block being general use within an overall flexible plan for the block which
already has an established orchard area of 30 fruit trees forming a canopy and
cultivation of various species under these trees.

>Please, let us try to network on this also. I am very happy to
>establish a mailing list as well, since I am (honorary) consulting
>anthropologist to the Land Management Society and the Greenhouse
>Village Project here in W.A. We have many people here literally
>starving for information and support following such massive social
>breakdown and rural depopulation during the past 10-15 years.

        A mailing list would be great! Put me on it for sure..

        We've found (when I say 'we' I do mean FOE Snow & our involvement in 
this community garden concept) that there is a great deal of concern in the
small rural town community as to what is happening to social structure of these
towns.. The gradual suburban trend and dying neighbour relations has decimated
what I can only call "community spirit" - Dog Eat Dog simply doesn't work in
such small towns.

>Enquiries have also come into us here from South Africa, concerned
>with the post-apartheid/post-industrial rehabilitation of the rural
>populations from fringe townships. They are still cut off from their
>neighbours and are looking to Australia as a clearing house for
>information . . .

        This also interests me, through my 'real' work as a Permaculture
designer and teacher I know of many other highly qualified people who travel
overseas & teach communities sustainable attitudes.. I would if I could, but
I'm young, my mortgage for my co-owned farm has 2 years to go & I must continue
to earn a salary until then. sigh.. chained to the grindstone yet :-)
>Please help, anyone who can.
>Gil
>Gil Hardwick                                      [email-masked]
>Independent Consulting Ethnologist                            3:690/660.6
>PERTH, Western Australia                                 (+61 9) 399 2401
>   * * Sustainable Community Development & Environmental Education * *
-- 
[email-masked]
Australian National University, Computer Services Centre
"Hey, I'm just glad you guys pay me to do this!"