Community Supported Agriculture is thriving in the Central Valley

Abstract

Community Supported Agriculture operations (CSAs) have grown rapidly in recent years. The original model, in which members support a farming operation by paying for produce in advance and receive a share of the farm's produce in return, has been adapted, with much innovation. Since little research existed on CSAs in the Central Valley, we surveyed and carried out in-depth interviews with 54 CSA farmers and two CSA organizers in the Central Valley and surrounding foothills. Here we focus on four aspects of these CSA operations: type, economic viability, farmer characteristics and farm attributes. We found two main CSA models, box and membership/share. Fifty-four percent of the CSAs reported being profitable, and the average gross sales per acre were $9,084. CSA farmers are diverse in political orientation, yet are generally younger, better educated and more likely to be women than the general farming population. CSA farms are relatively small, with a median size of 20 acres; have a median membership of 60 (585 average); use agroecological methods; cultivate agrobiodiversity; and utilize growing practices that generally meet or exceed National Organic Program standards. C ommunity Supported Agriculture (CSA) connects farmers and the consumers of their products. In the original CSA model, members support a farm by paying in advance, and in return they receive a share of the farm's produce; members also share in production risks, such as a low crop harvest following unfavorable weather.An important social invention in industrialized countries, Community Supported Agriculture addresses problems at the nexus of agriculture, environment and society. These include a decreasing proportion of the "food dollar" going to farmers, financial barriers for new farmers, large-scale scares from foodborne illness, resource depletion and environmental degradation. Together with farmers markets, farm stands, U-picks and agritourism, CSAs constitute a "civic agriculture" that is re-embedding agricultural production in more sustainable social and ecological relationships, maintaining economic viability for small-and medium-scale farmers and fulfilling the non-farm-based population's increasing desire to reconnect with their food (Feenstra 1994 their social, economic and environmental characteristics. Knowing these features of CSAs would allow for more-precise policy interventions to support and extend these kinds of operations, and could inform more in-depth analyses, in addition to giving farmers and the public a better understanding of them. CSA interviews and surveyWe conducted a study of CSAs in 25 counties in California's Central Valley and its surrounding foothills -from Tehama in the north to Kern in the south, and Contra Costa in the west to Tuolomne to the east. The valley's Mediterranean climate, combined with its irrigation infrastructure, fertile soil, early agrarian capitalism and technological innovation have made it world renowned for agricultural production (Walker 2004). In addition to its agricultural focus, we chose...

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