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OUR COMMON TABLE - thoughts from John Shields
Community Supported Agriculture
It's a Win-Win Deal! In the dead of winter the fields on our local farms look barren, all seems quiet and at rest, but inside those farm houses the hard working people who provide us with our locally grown produce are busy preparing for the next season. The calculators come out, and the business plans come under intense scrutiny since many farmers must assume massive debts just to invest in the spring planting. You see, farming is a business like any other -and it's a risky business! A local farmer confided in me once that his farm goes into hock to the tune of almost $200,000 each spring! You gotta love it -really love it!- to put everything you have on the line just to stay in the business of farming one more year. Addressing these concerns is one of the most innovative ideas to come along in many, many years: Community Supported Agriculture. Now what, exactly, is meant by that simple three-word phrase? The Community Supported Agriculture concept has been gaining momentum since its introduction to the United States in the mid-1980s. It originated back in the 1960s in Japan, where women interested in safe food for their families, and farmers seeking stable markets for their crops, joined together in economic partnerships. This arrangement, called "Teikei" in Japanese, translates to "putting the farmers' face on food." The idea was first adapted to American economic systems and given the name "Community Supported Agriculture" at Indian Line Farm, Massachusetts, in 1985. Community Supported Agriculture farms are known as CSAs, and essentially a CSA consists of a community of individuals who pledge support to a farm operation by purchasing "shares" or "subscriptions" to the coming year's harvest. Typically, members or "share-holders" of the farm pay in advance to cover the anticipated costs of the farm operation and the farmer's salary. In return, they receive shares in the farm's bounty throughout the growing season. Some CSAs also encourage members to work on the farm in exchange for a portion of the membership costs. Although CSA agreements are fluid and take many forms, all have at their center a shared commitment to building a more secure, local and equitable agricultural system, one that allows farmers to focus on good land stewardship and maintain productive, profitable operations producing a healthy diversity of crops. The CSA arrangement is an important tool in the effort to prevent our smaller farms from being lost to suburban sprawl or swallowed up by huge, international, mono-cropping, agri-corporations that have little interest in our local economy or ecology. Members help the farmer pay the up-front costs of seeds, equipment and labor, and in return, the farm provides a healthy supply of seasonal fresh produce throughout the growing season. Members are assured the highest quality produce, often at below retail prices. In return, farmers and growers are guaranteed a reliable market for a diverse selection of crops. Sounds like a Win-Win Deal doesn't it? It is too! Now this doesn't totally eliminate the risks involved, but it sorta' spreads the risks around a bit. It also gives us a sense of greater rootedness in our own growing region, its weather and seasons. Perhaps most importantly, it fosters a greater sense of personal responsibility for the health of our soils and of our waters. It's also fun for people who like to cook. Every farm pick-up or drop-off day brings an exciting new challenge: Here are your latest ingredients - Now what are you going to create with them? The inevitable season's bumper crop (All these zucchinis!) presents the opportunity to brush up on those forgotten skills like canning, pickling, fermenting and freezing -time-tested ways of preserving nature's seasonal bounties for later consumption. What could be more satisfying in bleak February than to crack open the jar of tomatoes that you, yourself, "put up" last August and smell the luscious aroma of last summer's harvest? That's the way it always was done! There are a number of well-established, reputable CSAs in our area and now is the time when all of them are lining up their subscribers for the coming year. I know of a few located within an hour's drive: Calvert Farm, Rising Sun, MD 410.658.3914 Calvert's Gift Farm, Sparks, MD 410.472.6764 Cromwell Valley CSA, Towson, MD - 410.880.2428 One Straw Farm, Whitehall, MD 410.343.1828 Rising Sun Organic Farm, Rising Sun, MD 410.658.6845 Spoutwood Farm, Glen Rock, PA 717.235.6610 For a complete list, check on the web site of the Maryland Cooperative Extension Service: -follow the links to: FARMS - CSAs.
John Shields is the author of Chesapeake Bay Cooking and Coastal Cooking with John Shields. His PBS television program, "Coastal Cooking with John Shields," airs nationwide. John's web site is: www.JohnShields.com.
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