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Community Supported Agriculture by Andi Diehn
People live in the Upper Valley for different
reasons: some appreciate the lengthy ski season,
others want to raise families without the fear of
daily crime, and still others like the blend of
cultural opportunity and rural living. And, of
course, there’s the beautiful landscape: acres of
active farmland blended with rich tracts of forest
perfect for recreation.
Because it’s such a desirable place to live, the
Upper Valley is in danger of losing the very things
that make it special. Development and progress,
while not necessarily bad things, can alter the
geography in a few short decades. We risk losing our
forests to shopping complexes; our farmland to
housing projects.
“The idea behind CSA farms is
to grow a direct connection between farmers and
eaters.”
One way to preserve the landscape we love is to use
it in sustainable ways that combine ideals held by
the community with monetary practicality. Community
Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs offer just such
an opportunity. Community members can buy a share
from a local farm and eat organic, locally grown
produce all season long, while knowing they are
helping ensure that farm’s prosperity and the
survival of the green landscape.
“The idea behind CSA farms is to grow a direct
connection between farmers and eaters,” says Chuck
Wooster, owner of Sunrise Farm in White River
Junction, Vermont. At Sunrise Farm, people purchase
shares in the spring and receive a weekly bundle of
fresh produce all season long. Different farms offer
different structures: Killdeer Farm in Norwich,
Vermont, for example, works off a punch card system
that allows customers to choose their own vegetables
from the farm stand, while Luna Bleu Farm in South
Royalton, Vermont, also offers winter shares through
which people can receive root veggies like carrots,
potatoes, onions, and garlic. People eat local,
usually organic food, and everybody benefits—the
farmer, the shareholder, and the landscape.
Good for
the Farmer
“I love
the community element,” says Wooster. “I get to know
all my customers—who loves eggplant, who hates
eggplant, who wants the extra melon.”
Like many CSA farmers, Wooster welcomes members to
the farm to help weed, harvest, or just chat over
the tomato plants. In addition to garnering good
conversation, Wooster also knows his farm is more
financially secure, thanks to his CSA members.
“There’s a definite price incentive,” he says.
“There’s no middle man, so I can sell vegetables
more cheaply and also make more of a profit. Plus,
many CSA members join the farm in the spring, and
that’s when farmers need money the most to buy seeds
and supplies.”
Suzanne Long, who owns Luna Bleu Farm in South
Royalton along with Tim Sanford, heartily agrees.
“We haven’t had to take out a loan in eons,” she
laughs. “It’s traditional for farmers to get a
spring loan that they pay back in October.” As a CSA
farmer, Long relies on her shareholders instead of
fluctuating interest rates. “Some people pay for the
whole share, but even a $50 deposit helps. It means
we have money when our income is the lowest and
expenses are the highest. We’re hiring people and
buying seeds during March but we don’t start selling
until May.”
Another benefit to being a CSA farm is the dilution
of risk. A rough growing season can spell disaster
for a small farm, but shareholders spread the risk
among themselves. Wooster explains. “If a farm grows
all onions and something happens to the onion crop,
you’d be sunk. As a CSA, you spread the risk among a
variety of vegetables. It might be a great year for
melon but not such a good year for tomatoes; you
share both the risk and rewards with the members.”
Long points out that even a rainy market day can
blow a hole in a farmer’s earnings. “If it rains on
a farmer’s market day, people don’t come. If it
rains on a CSA pickup day, they still come. They
have to get their veggies!”
Good for the Shareholder
“The
biggest benefit is knowing where your food comes
from and how it’s grown,” says Roberta Silveira of
Lebanon, New Hampshire, a dedicated CSA participant.
“You can talk to whomever grew it and decide if you
like their
methods.”
Silveira has found this area to be very conducive to
eating local food and has even joined a group called
the Upper Valley Localvores. The group is dedicated
to educating and supporting those who are interested
in learning to eat locally, usually considered to be
food within a hundred-mile radius. “There are a ton
of resources here compared to other parts of the
country,” she says.
Lisa Johnson, director of the Valley Food and Farm
Program at Vital Communities, agrees. “We publish a
yearly guide with 40–50 pages of information and
inspiration,” she says. “We kick off distribution
with our Flavors of the Upper Valley Night in the
spring. Last year we had 1,500 attendees come talk
to farmers and taste the food.”
“There are lots of reasons people eat locally,”
continues Johnson. “There often comes a point in
life when you decide to change—it can be a health
incident, or when you have children and want them to
know what a farm is.”
Roberta Silveira has seen the effect of local eating
on her own three children. “They won’t touch the
school lunches,” she says. “They think it’s gross!”
Luckily, many school districts in the Upper Valley
are moving toward providing students with fresh,
locally grown food. Luna Bleu Farm serves a few
schools in South Royalton and Sharon. Other towns
may soon follow suit.
What about families watching their budget?
“As the
price of fuel goes up, CSA’s will seem progressively
cheaper,” Chuck Wooster points out.
Lisa Johnson says that no local studies have been
done comparing CSA prices to those you’d find at a
grocery store, but that people who are committed to
their food may save money. “You can buy blueberries
any time of the year, but look what you pay for them
in the winter. My family picked our own blueberries
last fall and now we have gallons in the freezer. It
cost nothing extra to have blueberries all year
long.”
“If you take into account the health benefits of
eating organic and local, then yes, it’s cheaper,”
says Silveira. “If you buy prepackaged food, look at
the ingredients. They aren’t good for you. No wonder
we have all these chronic illnesses.”
In addition to the possibility of improved health
and money saved, CSA families gain something else
missing from the weekly march through the grocery
store aisles. They get to feel the weather on their
faces, smell the fresh earth, and shake the hand of
the farmer. They connect with all the elements that
produced their food.
“There often comes a point in
life when you decide to change—it can be a health
incident, or when you have children and want them to
know what a farm is.”
One of the reasons people flock to the Upper Valley
is the landscape: rolling hills, deep woodlands,
miles of hiking country. And acres of open farmlands
where a family can spend an afternoon picking pint
after pint of strawberries. Like everywhere else in
the country, rural land here is in danger of being
eaten by both development and pollution. Supporting
local farms that practice sustainable agriculture is
one way of preserving the land.
“About seven years ago we started the Food and Farms
program, right after we started talking about
housing,” says Lisa Johnson. “The cheapest place to
build is agriland. We had to try and find a balance
between the need for housing and the need for farms.
People recognize there’s something of value here;
they want to protect the viewshed, or the watershed,
or preserve the wisdom of farmers in the community.”
Wooster agrees with Johnson. “If people are tied to
the local landscape, they learn that the way they
buy food affects the way the land looks. Supporting
local farms keeps the land open and in agriculture.”
He points out that the meeting of suburban and rural
landscapes here helps foster opportunity for small
farms to flourish. If the area were more rural, more
people might grow their own vegetables, and if it
were more urban they’d have to drive much farther to
buy fresh food from a CSA farm. The Upper Valley
offers the best of both worlds.
“A CSA farm is usually right around the corner,”
says Wooster. Indeed, the Vital Communities Valley
Food and Farm Guide listed 35 CSA farms in 2007.
Whether it’s by building quality homes that
complement the environment, contributing to local
conservation efforts, allowing children to connect
with the natural world, or buying food from a CSA
farm, the people of the Upper Valley express their
values with their actions. This land is important,
and we are a part of it.
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