The Robyn Van En Center for CSA Resources

Meat CSAs and Buying Clubs

2011-09-07T15:02:00.008-04:00

by Nick McCann, NCAT Agriculture Marketing Specialist
Reprinted with permission from PASA

In any farm business, it's important to have multiple marketing outlets in order to minimize risk and maintain a stable income. For an increasing number of livestock producers, a meat community-supported agriculture program (CSA) or buying club has become a viable addition to commodity markets or the sale barn. A meat CSA/buying club sells whole, half or quarter carcasses to a group of individuals in order to:

- Minimize the time it takes to sell meat in volume.

- Sell directly to minimize consumer costs.

- Sell the whole animal, not just the high end cuts.

- How can I start and manage a meat CSA/buying club?
Look to church communities or your own social network where people are already organized and familiar with each other to develop your meat CSA/buying club customer base. Customers are often asked to pay for their CSA/buying club share up front. However, when the upfront cost is too high, it is possible to market smaller portions of the carcass.

When does marketing smaller cuts become too time intensive to both raise and market animals? This cut-off point will be different for every business but needs to be considered carefully.

- How do I get my animals butchered and wrapped?
The local meat locker is often a good place to find out about getting your animals butchered and wrapped. Depending on your area, you may have federally inspected state- inspected or custom-exempt butchering plants nearby. There are three main types of facilities.

- Federally Inspected Plant
You may resell your meat to consumers and enter into interstate commerce.

- State Inspected Plant
You may resell meat to consumers, but not across state lines.

- Custom-Exempt Plant
You may deliver meat to your customers, but for legal reasons your customers must pay the custom plant directly for slaughter and cutting services. So you must sell the animal on the hoof and the buyer must pay the processor for butchering cutting and wrapping.

Where can I find other resources about meat CSAs or buying clubs?
Marketing Meat for Small Producers, by Arion Thiboumery, Iowa State University Extension, and Mike Lorentz, Lorentz Meats.

Alternative Meat Marketing Strategies, by Lauren Gwin OSU/Niche Meat Processing Assistance Network.

Local Harvest is an extensive national website of direct marketing that makes it easy for farmers and consumers to find each other.

CSA Center directory at Wilson College. www.CSAcenter.org

CSA marketing tool

2011-03-17T09:42:00.001-04:00

Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Extension creates marketing tool to help make farms more profitable
by Other News
http://www.farmanddairy.com/news/extension-creates-marketing-tool-to-help-make-farms-more-profitable/22617.html

HECTOR, N. Y. — Matthew Glenn would rather spend his time growing vegetables than selling vegetables. That is why the Finger Lakes region grower was happy to implement the recommendations of a marketing tool developed by staff at Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County.

“We found that if we increased our CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) by 12 shares in the first year, we could essentially make up for dropping one of the farmers markets we were going to,” Glenn said. “We realized we could certainly do that and end up with more time to get our farm work done.”

Glenn owns and operates Muddy Fingers Farm with his wife, Liz Martin. Growing four dozen crops on two and a half acres is hard enough without spending an inordinate amount of time during harvest season trying to sell their produce.

Tool

Glenn and Martin were among the first beneficiaries of CCE’s Marketing Channel Assessment Tool, a process developed with grant money from the New York Farm Viability Institute. CCE Tompkins County agriculture marketing specialist Matthew LeRoux developed the tool as a way to help farmers figure out which marketing methods are most profitable for their individual farm.

“We wanted to encourage more growers in our region to consider wholesale marketing channels,” LeRoux said. “The idea was to really grow the local food system. (Consumers) might go to farmers markets, but then they might go to grocery stores to do their ‘real’ shopping, and there was no local food there. We wanted to encourage farmers to do more wholesaling to grocery stores and restaurants, etc.”

But first, Extension personnel had to prove that those marketing avenues made sense.
“Among the questions were, ‘Should we be telling people to get into these channels? How did they perform, and how do you gauge performance?’” LeRoux said.

Research

Utilizing state funds channeled through NYFVI, LeRoux interviewed 14 farmers about their experiences with marketing their product and developed the MCAT, which measures time spent harvesting and preparing food for various market channels and compares the cost to farms with the revenue they receive.

“What we came up with was a simple labor log,” LeRoux said. “Everyone who worked on the farm would record their daily labor on some simple forms where they would check off boxes. We ended up condensing activities to four steps of marketing: harvest, washing and packing, travel and conducting sales.”

Each of those steps can vary depending on the final marketing destination for the produce involved, LeRoux said. If you are bunching beets for sale in a grocery store, it takes more time to select and grade the vegetables. If you are selling at a farmers market, it is more time consuming than doing invoices for a wholesale distributor.

“Labor is the single biggest marketing cost,” LeRoux said. “That gave us a lot of information.”

Results

Researchers collected labor data for one typical week on each of the nine farms where the tool has been tested. They then ran those numbers against the factors such as profit and sales volume at each of the market channels the farms were using. The end result was a recommendation of which channels are performing the best for the farm in question and which are performing the worst.

“Farmers can decide whether they should reduce participation in the weakest channel and increase participation in the strongest channel — even to the point of eliminating the weakest channel,” LeRoux said. “That’s what we saw happen. Of the nine farms, I think seven or eight have made changes based on the results.”

One of those was Muddy Fingers, where they have bolstered their strongest performing sector — Community Supported Agriculture — from 60 shares in 2009 to 75 shares last year and 90 shares for the upcoming harvest, Glenn said.

“Time is probably our most limiting factor because it’s just the two of us on the farm during harvest season, and a lot of things get away from us in terms of weeds and the harvest schedule,” Glenn said. “That was good, knowing we’d have a few more hours on the farm.”

Participants

It was not difficult to find 30 more area residents interested in participating in the CSA program over the last two years, he said. On a CSA farm, community members typically agree in advance to cover the cost of farming in return for a share of the farm’s bounty.

Share-holders participate in the risks and rewards of farming and often get their hands dirty by helping with on-farm activities. LeRoux’s Marketing Channel Assessment Tool can be used by CSA and non-CSA farms alike and with minimal effort from farmers.

“I found it to be pretty simple,” Glenn said. “I think it was for one or two weeks that Matt gave us forms to keep track of on a daily basis what we were harvesting, how long it took us and where it was going. We filled that in as we were harvesting for each of the crops. It wasn’t too big of a deal.”

LeRoux said he has had interest from other county Extension agents and farmers in implementing the MCAT in their areas.

“I end up presenting at different conferences and meetings about this and I’ve been approached by farmers who say, ‘I’ve been asking this question for years with no way of getting an answer,’” LeRoux said. “I think we’re going to have one or two other counties do it this summer. We have farms there that are really interested and agents who are really excited about it.”

Grant Loss

And CCE Tompkins County had a second NYFVI grant that would have expanded and refined the tool by collecting data on 50 more farms, but that grant was lost in a recent round of budget cuts. Cuts proposed in the current budget would slash NYFVI funding even further. That would be bad news for the farmers who benefit from that research.

“As a result of the Marketing Channel Assessment Tool, we scaled back on farmers markets and increased our CSA, which I think has been a good deal for us,” Glenn said. “I don’t know that we would have conceptualized it as well without MCAT. It was nice to have it in hard figures.”

How do I get members involved who don't wish to get dirty?

2011-02-15T12:09:00.001-05:00

Dirt grows on people - that is, it takes time to acclimate people who otherwise have sterile lives to the idea of touching earth and soil!

#1. Call it SOIL! - Dirt is something that most people try to rid themselves of. Soil is something that nourishes and provides growing room for plants and food - vegetable, animal or mineral.

#2. Keep clean areas clean. This may sound counterintuitive, however the general idea of going to a farm becomes more palatable when a person knows there will be clean restrooms, clean CSA area, or a clean porch with rocking chairs!

#3. Throw Parties!!! Square dances, potlucks, picnics, concerts, potato digs, workshops and local chefs coming to show you how to "do it right" are all great ways to get people excited about being on the farm. After a few of these you might even start to see bare feet!

#4. Get kids involved. If you get the kids involved, the parents often will join in too! Its much easier to mold a young mind than an older one.

#5. Introduce them slowly." Mr. and Mrs. Clean, please meet my good friend soil" This can occur through activities such as washing off produce, or banding carrots that are fresh from the garden.

Whatever you choose to do, there are lots of things to be done around a farm and CSA that don't require kneeling in the soil or digging with one's hands. Slow progression towards "getting dirty" often yield the best results!

Good luck!
-S-
Robyn Van En Center

CSA Movie

2011-02-02T12:03:00.003-05:00

A youtube clip that might help a potential member decided the hows, whats, and wheres of joining a CSA. As a CSA, this film might also be able to decide your audience.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-e7asz-XE0

Vermont Law School: Small Farm Energy Solutions

2011-02-02T09:13:00.001-05:00

If you want a greener, more affordable farm, please take a look at this link... It has great offerings to farmers (in all income brackets).

http://www.agenergysolutions.org/site/

Changes in the Law for Produce Growers and Farm Marketers

2011-02-02T09:01:00.002-05:00

From the Penn State Hort Report:

Changes in the Law for Produce Growers and Farm Marketers:
Things you need to know!

Steve Bogash, Regional Horticulture Educator, Penn State Cooperative Extension, and Luke LaBorde, Associate Pro-fessor, Department of Food Science, Penn State University

1. The safe handling and production of raw produce is being taken seriously at the Federal level. This act gives the FDA relatively broad powers to create standards for the production, handling and packag-ing of raw produce. These standards must use the best science available, so will change over time.

2. An amendment that was included in the act pro-vides for the exclusion of businesses that do less than $500,000 in sales if they:

a. Sell in-state directly to the public or end user. For example, sell directly to grocers and restaurants.

b. Sell out-of-state if the market is within 275 miles of their operation. This in-cludes farm markets and farmers mar-kets.

3. Included under these new powers is the ability of the FDA to regulate all sales through remarketers. Al-though we’ll have to wait for the final rules, this will probably require that produce auctions require their growers to fall under whatever standards the FDA implements.

4. This will all probably mean that GAP and related food safety standards are going to be part of every grower’s production standards.

5. For certified organic growers, there is provision within the act that prevents conflict or duplicate re-quirements. Organic growers are not excluded from this bill, but are protected from excessive regulation as long as basic GAP practices that protect public health adhered to.

6. Specific fruits and vegetables that are considered riskier or have a history of being linked to foodborne illness outbreaks are considered priority items. Read this as green, berries, melons, tomatoes, herbs, and green onions.

7. The Commissioner of the FDA is charged in this bill with keeping the rules and regulations flexible and practical for all sizes of businesses and on-farm food processors.

8. Although specific purchasers such as Wegman’s may require third party inspections, they are not required under this act. Read this to mean that this will be very similar to maintaining a pesticide license. You must keep certain records as well as grow and pack-age your produce under modern, scientifically deter-mined standards, but FDA will be determining what specific types of inspections will be required.

9. Labeling is a hot issue. Individual produce will not be required to be labeled. However, there must be prominent signage on display at the sales point giving purchasers the business name and address of the pro-ducer.

All farmers market stands that sell food to the public are considered individual food retail facilities and must each pay the $82 annual renewal fee unless considered exempt. A farmers market will no longer be considered the license holder. This relates to prepared ready-to-eat foods, not raw ingredients such as produce. Each stand / booth will now be a license holder.
Unless you’ve avoided talking to any other growers recently and / or don’t read any grower news, you’ve heard about the Federal (FDA) Food Modernization Act. There’s been a lot of scare tactics and confusing information sent out over the web on this act. After reading through the law and related amendment, this is not nearly as bad as some of the stories I’ve read make it out to seem. While the specific rules and regulations will need to be written by the FDA within 1 year of the signing date (January 5, 2011) and implementation sometime after that, there are some things that growers will want to consider now.

For more information contact Steve Bogash (717) 263-9226 or smb13@psu.edu

CSA Business Help is at Hand!!!

2010-12-15T14:23:00.002-05:00

We were just recently introduced to some really neat software from SmallFarmCentral.com. The developers have created easy to use spreadsheets and programs as well as website development so that your CSA book keeping can become a lot easier! Take a look to see how they can help you become more accessible and reduce your stress.

http://www.smallfarmcentral.com/memberassembler

From the minds of Small Farm Central:

Top Ten Ways You'll Love the Member Assembler
Posted October 22nd, 2009 by simon.huntley

1. Your own site: It's your own site and it's your data -- customers will never know about Small Farm Central and the Member Assembler. Your online CSA sign-up page is customizable and at your own address, such as http://yourfarm.csasignup.com.

2. Cost-effective: At $1/per member per season the Member Assembler will pay for itself in saved time within a very short period. You are billed as your membership grows, so you don't have to worry about paying for members than you will need. Read more about pricing.

3. Easy to use: The Member Assembler is designed with the needs of the non-technical farmer in mind -- you don't need to know all the technology, you just want to manage your members.

4. No risk: Free for the first 25 members and no billing until January 2010.

5. Payment processing: Automatically process payments through Google Checkout or PayPal -- once payment is made, the payment is associated with the member in the Member Assembler so you can easily keep track of balances and payments.

6. Or no payment processing: Don't like the idea of sending 2+% of your CSA sales to the credit card man? Use our invoice only payment processing (ie no payment is processed online) and take checks in the mail.

7. Integrated: The Member Assembler is tied right in to the Small Farm Central website development service, so you can run your website with the member service right on top of it or you can run the Member Assembler as a stand-alone service.

8. Export Data: Download excel spreadsheets of all your membership data to import into other applications such as accounting, to print, or process in any way you like!

9. Small Farm Central: We are the leading web services company geared only to the needs of the direct marketing farm -- with over 250 sites and 1 million views per month we are always improving our services and provide personal, understanding customer support.

10. Mailing Lists: Quickly send out blast emails to your membership with our mailing list tools -- even send specific messages to individual pick-up locations

2010-12-10T09:32:00.005-05:00

A one day workshop to explore business decisions Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farmers need to make to be successful, addressed by experienced CSA farmers and agricultural professionals.

When: Monday, January 24, 2011, 9:00 am to 4:00 pm
Where: Berks County Agricultural Center, 1238 County Welfare Rd., Suite 110, Leesport, PA 19533

Cost: $ 30.00

Schedule

8:30 – 8:55am

Registration

8:55 – 9:00am
Welcome & Introductions

9:00 – 10:00am
CSA Planning: Budgets, Equipment & Labor
Mike Ahlert, Red Earth Farm
Peggy Fogarty-Harnish, Penn State Cooperative Extension

10:15 – 11:15am
Management Strategies
Tianna Dupont, Penn State Cooperative Extension
Heidi Secord, Cherry Valley CSA

11:30 am –12:30pm
Promotion, Communication & Planning
Stina Vosburgh, Robyn Van En Center
Lisa Kerschner, North Star Orchard

12:30 – 1:30pm
Lunch

1:30 – 2:30 pm
Exploring CSA Models - Multi-farm CSA’s
Alex Jones, Greens Grow
Lancaster Farm Fresh Cooperative

2:45 – 3:45 pm
Exploring CSA Models
John Good, Quiet Creek Farm
Mike Ahlert, Red Earth Farm
Jill Landis, Living Hope Farm
Eric Benner, Wilson College CSA

Penn State encourages persons with disabilities to participate in its programs and activities. If you anticipate needing any type of accommodation or have questions about the physical access provided, please contact Brian Moyer, Penn State Cooperative Extension (610) 391-9840 in advance of your participation or visit. For more information visit: http://www.agmarketing.extension.psu.edu/ CSA School

How does time fly? It's the season's end already?

2010-11-08T10:20:00.005-05:00

It seems that September and October have flown by and all of a sudden we have stumbled into the month of November. In that time, many CSAs have wound down their growing season and are now working on winter preparations. Perhaps you as a CSA farmer are wondering what you can do to make next year better or maybe you are completely thrilled with the way this season went. Either way, it can be very beneficial to ask your CSA members if they agree with you. Emailed, hardcopy, or web based surveys can be very helpful to see what you can do even better in future seasons.

Resources:

Check out other CSA surveys online - Google "CSA Surveys" and you will be able to see sample questions of what you might want to know! Ex: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=P_2brYcqlWrp1oSEfd_2bre2CA_3d_3d

Survey monkey is very beneficial for web based surveys. The downside is that you are only allowed 10 questions.

Another option for email or blog based surveys is that you can ask as many questions as you want... and people can post/email/ or print and mail their responses. See the survey below from Oakhill Organics in Oregon:

"What about the CSA program so far has been especially positive for you and
your family?
What about the CSA program or season was less positive for you?
Do you have a suggestion for changing it that might be applicable?
Overall, how would you rate the quality of the vegetables you received this season?
Overall, how did you feel about the quantity of vegetables provided?
How did the amounts work for you and your family?
At this point, do you plan to participate in the CSA again next year? YES / NO
… if no, why not?
Is there anything you would suggest we change to accommodate your needs differently?
Any other comments?
Finally, we’re collecting CSA member ‘testimonials’
to share in our 2010 season materials. In one to four sentences, what would you
want to tell a potential new member about your Oakhill Organics CSA experience?
May we use your name with your testimonial? NO / YES: "

Survey Style:

One thing you must be wary of is asking members too many questions. If you have ever answered a really long survey you will understand that a survey that is too long may just end up forgotten by the wayside. Try to limit your survey to 1-2 pages typewritten.

Anonymity in survey giving can be very helpful for getting honest answers but also leave a space for members names if they so choose so that you can know who to contact if you decide to make changes that might affect their decision to stay.

At the end of the day, handing out a survey is often rewarding to the Farmer... While there may be one or two grumpy or disgruntled members, most are pleased with the benefits of the CSA. That is part of the beauty of the CSA contract: the members know there are risks and rewards when they sign up, and many are left feeling rewarded for the experience.

Till next time,

-S-

We are Ba-a-a-ack!!!

2010-09-08T10:50:00.003-04:00

After a few changes in the office and some updates to our programs, the Robyn Van En Center is very happy to be back and running full steam! I, Christina, am your host for today's blog experience!

The summer was a quiet one here at the Robyn Van En Center, but we are pleased to have over 85 new CSA's join our ranks this year! While we are excited at the growth, we would love to see even greater numbers so that local foods are more readily available to all areas of the country.

We have some new ideas for outreach and support that we would like to offer to our CSA farmers and hope to make these available in the near future. We also would love to hear feedback on how we can better serve you - whether you are a farmer, a CSA member, or just interested in finding out more about CSAs and farming.

I'll be back to share more with you soon!

Keep on supporting fresh, local food!
-C-

2010-03-10T09:41:00.002-05:00

http://buylocalscpa.blogspot.com/

HomeGrown

2010-02-24T09:39:00.001-05:00

I am contacting folks who I think might be interested in screening my film HomeGrown. I think it's something you might be interested in.
HomeGrown is an award winning film that tells the story of the Dervaes family who are living "off the grid" in the heart of urban Pasadena, California. They harvest over 6000 pounds of produce on less than a quarter acre, while running a popular website that is known around the world. The film is an intimate portrait of what it's like to live "Little House on the Prairie" in the 21st Century.
HomeGrown screened to sold out audiences at the Vancouver International Film Festival, the Mill Valley Film Festival, Cleveland International Film Festival, and recently won the "PEOPLE'S CHOICE AWARD" at the Wild and Scenic Film Festival in Northern California. It has also shown at a number of other major festivals and community events around the world.
A sample quote about HomeGrown:
"Homegrown is marvelously inspiring, eminently practical, and one of the finest documentaries I’ve ever seen. Watching the film restored my faith that, even with all the devastation, we can still live thriving, beautiful and earth-friendly lives --- wherever we are."John Robbins, author The New Good Life, and Diet For A New AmericaIf this sounds like something you'd like to see, please check out my website and trailer at www.homegrown-film.com. I look forward to hearing from you.

All best regards,
Robert McFalls
Producer/Director: HomeGrown

Allies Farm CSA: Helping Those With Disabilities

2010-02-24T09:19:00.005-05:00

At the Allies Farm in Hamilton NJ. they are doing more than just growing food for our needs. Allies Farm is also helping people with special needs. Allies and Mercer County Parks have partnered to create a unique community integrated program experience for participants with special needs. This is a wonderful opportunity for individuals with disabilities to buid positive relationships through employment, volunteerism, and horticultural therapy. Allies Farm offers opportunities for people who like to work outside the chance to be part of a viable business and earn money. If you would like to learn more about this program you can visit their website at http://www.alliesnj.org or contact Amy Watts at AWatts@alliesnj.org Or give her a call at 609-233-5855.

Ideas from Robyn Van En, 1988

2009-05-04T15:24:00.005-04:00

From Basic Formula To Create Community Supported Agriculture by Robyn Van En

"Between the United States and Canada we could use a million new farmers. Even if only one thousand of them were CSA farmers it would be a vast improvement over the existing situation in agriculture. Several training schools and sophisticated appreticeship programs have been established to start fill-ing this need. CSA is also a 'hand in glove' fit with the Land Trust movement and the logistics of this are being explored and developed across the country everyday.

Agriculture that aims to be socially, economically and ecologically responsible from the get-go has been all but lost. CSA returns farmers and community members to these standards with much opportunity to affect and implement these goals. CSA is an approach to farming and community building that can improve every year. One discovers so much about the land and the nature of things in the course of a year; and the same goes for the dynamics of interacting with the core group or steering committee besides the other sharing members. Maybe the most important thing that is learned is that there is so much more to learn.

The community approach to agriculture is increasing in demand yearly. Every city, town and village should have the option of creating their own food system where they can actually see the vegetables growing, be informed about how the vegetables are grown, and know who is growing them."

Picture Credit- http://www.smartcommunities.ncat.org/success/ctruck.gif

What is the essence of CSA, yesterday and today?: Thoughts from a College of William and Mary student, Zoe Welch, about the CSA movement

2009-04-27T09:37:00.013-04:00

Since its beginnings in New England in the early 1980’s, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) has grown and developed in myriad, and sometimes surprising, ways. With influences from both European and Japanese alternative agriculture movements, CSA developed in the United States as a movement aimed at fostering a sustainable symbiosis between local food production and local economic and community systems. With direct influence from the European Biodynamic Movement, the original ideology of CSA emphasized holism in both philosophy and practice. Biodynamic agriculture espouses the view that the farm is to be treated as “a self-contained entity or organism.” [1]
Accordingly, one of the first identifiable leaders in the CSA Movement, Robyn Van En, created her Indian Line Farm CSA model with emphasis upon the benefits gained from the strengthening of spiritual relationships within the CSA schema. Van En’s ideology promoted the concept of the “core group,” a tightly-knit community of subscribers bound together by their commitment to their CSA farm, as an essential element to health in CSA operations. Broadly, it would seem that the initial CSA operations placed greater emphasis upon the idea of strong commitment and self-identification, both subscriber-to subscriber and subscriber-to-farm, as definitional of proper CSA ideology.
As importance was placed upon the necessity of both “spiritual commitment” and “operational practice” in constituting CSA, the original CSA models can be seen to have a great emphasis upon holism as a defining tenant. However, as CSA has developed over time, the emphasis upon holism and the necessary pairing of spirituality and growing methods within CSA ideology can be examined as a changing paradigm. Increasingly, it would seem that as more people become involved in the CSA Movement, and as more CSA models are tested and developed at more farms, that standards of acceptable constitutive CSA ideology are changing as well. What began as a one-model system for CSA practice now comprises numerous permutations and sub-permutations from that “original” standard CSA model. Among the CSA models now seen across the nation include: the free-choice model, multifarm CSA, cooperative CSA, pledge model, and the standard model. Additional definitional complications arise from the frequent hybridization between models, as well as the lack of a standard, third-party, classification system or source.
With these developments, a general trend can be noticed within the national CSA community—the increasing occurrence and acceptance of CSA programs undertaken as economic strategies. Of the growing numbers of CSA programs that have emerged in recent years, many more have been undertaken with a mindset that the economic element of CSA can be separated from the spiritual element of early CSA ideology. This is evidenced by the implementation of CSA programs alongside other such diversifying economic strategies as participation in farmer’s markets and selling to restaurants in a single farm’s operations.
Noting this development, many questions present themselves. How can we, as members of the CSA community understand these issues of “secularization” in the context of CSA ideology? Is there such a thing as “true” or “proper” CSA philosophy and practice? Is the assumption that original CSA ideology included elements of spirituality even a correct one to make? In a movement that has been characterized by its grass-roots empowerment and fluidity of standards, communication within this community is obviously the only way to elucidate the answers.
[1] Biodynamic Farming & Compost Preparation: Community Supported Agriculture. http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/biodynamic.html#com

(Picture Credit- New Farm, Rodale Institute http://newfarm.rodaleinstitute.org/features/0104/csa-history/images/indian-line-farm.jpg)

2007 Census of Agriculture Results

2009-04-16T10:14:00.007-04:00

This is the first year that the USDA generated a statistic relating to Community Supported Agriculture. They found that there were a total of 12,549 farms that 'marketed products through Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)'. This number is based on the total number of farms in the US (for 2007)- 2,204,792. This means that less than 1 % of farms in the US are participating in a CSA arrangement. Also, it should be noted that the wording in the Census can be confusing. As far as we can tell, 12,549 is not representative of the actual number of CSA operations. The number represents how many farms, participated, in some way, in a CSA 'arrangement'. For instance, there could be a farm that runs and operates a CSA, but several other farms occasionally bring their product and market them through this CSA. The states above 1 % were: Maine (1.95 %), New Hampshire (2.09 %), Vermont (2.35 %), Connecticut (2.87 %), Rhode Island (2.71 %), Massachusetts (2.07 %), New York (1.00 %), Washington (1.11 %), California (1.18 %), Hawai'i (1.80 %), and Alaska (2.92 %). Let us know your opinion about this.

Survey- Your Comments Are Welcome and Important!

2009-02-20T14:07:00.010-05:00

Currently we are in the process of going through our entire CSA farm directory, about 1350 farms, state-by-state, in order to provide an up-to-date listing of CSA farms. Another project that we are starting is an attempt to update the center in general and to be able to provide services that the CSA community would like to see. We have designed a survey with questions that address these issues. Please feel free to fill out the survey. Your comments are very helpful and we will be taking them into much consideration. Thank you for your time in helping us.
Click Here to take survey

Robyn Van En Center New Blog

2009-02-20T12:24:00.009-05:00

We're very happy to be launching the first Robyn Van En Center blog. We feel that the blog will be in an improvement to the services of the RVEC and make communication within the CSA community more interactive. We look forward to communicating with you! Contact us with questions, concerns, or suggestions (csacenter@wilson.edu or (717) 264-4141 Ext. 3352). Thank you.