What's a CSA?

For those of you who are wondering how F.H. King came up with the idea for our produce program, it is actually an idea that started long before any of us working for the program were born. It is the second year that F.H. King has run a produce program (CSA) and we are passionate about carrying the idea forward. Chances are that many of you have heard of CSAs or Community Supported Agriculture. Even if you’ve heard of a CSA before, you might not know exactly what it is.

Community Supported Agriculture is first an economic model which guarantees funds upfront to farmers when they need it most, at the beginning of the season when equipment and supplies are being purchased for the upcoming year. From a social perspective, a CSA can be seen as a source of community development, offering a place for community to gather, share and work together. Community Supported Agriculture farms vary in size and in what they produce for their members. Most CSA farms grow vegetables, fruits, and herbs, but in addition might supply honey, eggs, and meats. The scale of CSA farms run anywhere between a half-acre to 500 acres. With an increase in land comes an increase in the amount of food that can be grown and the number of shares that can be sold to its “shareholders.” A shareholder is anyone who has made an arrangement with the farmer for a season’s worth of vegetables.

The philosophy behind CSA’s are that they bring people into closer contact with those who grows their food, where it is grown and the processes by which it is grown. The CSA idea began in 1960’S Japan, where a group of mothers joined together over concerns with the safety of imported food and how cheap subsidized imports would affect Japanese farmer’s livelihoods. In response to the uncertainties of food safety and the impact of imported American surplus on Japanese markets, the group asked a local farmer if he’d be willing grow vegetables solely for their families. What is being called a movement has grown from there. Community Supported Agriculture as its come to be known in America was first called teikei, which in exact translation means, “Food with the farmer’s face on it.” What started on that one farm soon spread to others in Japan, but did not reach the US until 1986. Two farms started their CSA program that year and CSA’s have continued to spread across the country.