CSA in NYC
CSA: Building a Firm Foundation for New Farms
Facilitator: Severine von Tscharner Fleming, The Greenhorns
www.thegreenhorns.net (website)
www.thegreenhorns.wordpress.com (blog)
www.serveyourcountryfood.net (map)
http://foryoungfarmers.wikispaces.com/ (guidebook)
Mission of The Greenhorns: To promote, recruit, and support young and/or beginner farmers.
Presenters:
Galen Ballantine, Ant Hill Farm
Dan Machin, Lone Acre Farm - Dan just started his one acre farm in Long Island last year and, in addition to selling his produce at markets, he is trying to start a small (15 member) CSA this year. Recently he apprenticed at the Garden of Eve in Long Island and ran their 700-member CSA, so he is knowledgeable about the process.
Annie Novak, Eagle Street Rooftop Farms - Eagle Street Rooftop Farm is a 6,000 square foot organic vegetable farm in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Annie is also starting a CSA this year. http://rooftopfarms.org/
1. Why start a CSA? What does it take to start and run one?
• It takes a lot of work to run a CSA
• Farmers have to talk to a lot of people and market themselves
• There are a lot of logistics to think about (i.e. growing, packing, and shipping members a diverse box of vegetables each week)
• Organization is key; need to be able to manage people and money
• Scary to farmers – they don’t want to disappoint anyone with a bad season
• Positives:
• Farm stability (farmers get money at the beginning of the season)
• Creation of community
• Farmers can educate their community
• Easier to quantify amount of produce when you have a CSA
• “Beautiful and unique” that people are financially trusting you – Annie
• Building community is like building soil
Annie:
• Wants her members to put in 10 – 20 hours of work into the farm over the season
• She likes to teach her members and share her work with them
• “Since people pay at the beginning of the season and therefore don’t pay every week, it feels like you are sharing a gift with people every week”
Dan:
• Wants to be a “traditional” and “intellectual” CSA farmer
• Wants to challenge members to cook and eat new foods by providing variety and untraditional produce
• Doesn’t want to promise certain vegetable to his members
• Wants a one-on-one relationship with members
• CSA vs. no CSA
• Without a CSA, the beginning of the season is very difficult (no start-up money) but by August there is usually a lot of produce and money
coming in
• With a CSA, the beginning of the season is more stable but farmers need to manage their funds because the money comes all at once
• Arguably, CSAs have an impact on the broader agricultural system
• Changes consciousness
• Creates more relationships
2. What questions do new farmers interested in starting a CSA need to ask?
• How many members do you want to have/can you have?
• Do you want to make a contract with your members?
• If selling meat or specialty goods, are there other CSA farmers you can join with?
• Creates a community of farms and people
• “It starts a scaffold for the local economy” – Severine
• Linking up with other farms teaches new CSA farmers and can also possibly give them access to equipment (trucks, refrigeration) and
transportation that new farmers may not have
• Meat and other specialty goods add value to vegetable CSAs
• First steps:
1. Be comfortable/experienced with farming
2. Go to Just Food and read books about how to formulate a good plan
3. Begin to organize – see how much you are producing
• Have a plan! Annie’s plan:
• Cascade of harvest
• She devotes 60% of space to the market (produce that people buy the most)
• The rest of the 40% is for the CSA (more variety)
• She decided the number of members based on the space she had
• She wanted to keep her numbers down so that she would have a “core group” of dedicated members, each with their own roles on the farm
and in the CSA process
3. Resources
• People to contact for meat CSA/marketing advice
• Grazin’ Angus (http://www.grazinangusacres.com/)
• Kinderhook Farm (http://www.kinderhookfarm.com/)
• The Piggery (http://www.thepiggery.net/)
• The Greenhorns
• “Farm Beginnings Framework” – run by the Land Stewardship Project
• Technology help
• Member Assembler
• Program to help farmers with creating a spreadsheet (Severine forgot the name, but contact The Greenhorns for more information)
Equieterre (http://www.equiterre.org/)
• CSA Models
• Essex Farm in Essex, NY has an “eat all you want CSA”
• Other farms have “pick your own” CSAs
4. Challenges for new farmers
• Land!
• Access to land is complicated
• No easy way to acquire land - need to “beg, borrow, and steal”
• Think about rooftop farming
• A lot of organizations in the city are looking to create green roofs on their buildings
• Our current food culture
• People are used to getting whatever they want, whenever they want
• People need to learn how to respect land and the people working on the land – Severine
• There needs to be a “cultural learning curve” – Severine
• Getting the community involved/ getting members
• Have an event – make food, give a talk, etc…
• Grassroots organizing
• Sell to local churches or other community centers
• Contact/join local farm boroughs
• Our environment is not hospitable for the entry of young farmers
• New farmers have to market themselves
• They need to be passionate
• They need to have a “story”
• Remember – farming is a service industry!
• There are too many people interested in joining CSAs (usually) and not enough farmers (there is unmet demand)
