"Giving food a face, a place and a taste"

The Northeast CSA Conference

"We are the people that we have been waiting for!" Gloria Decater of Live Power Farm in Covelo, California set the tone for the Northeast Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Conference in Claryville, New York with this declaration. The success stories shared at the December 8 and 9, 2001 conference are proof that individuals can affect change.

We are living in a time when energy is focused on economic crisis and national security. But what steps are we taking? What questions are we asking to understand and create true security? At the conference, farmers and the people who eat their food expressed their commitment and demonstrated innovative ways in which individuals can gather collectively to create security for themselves, their children, and their communities by taking responsibility for the well being of a local food shed through CSA.

On its most basic level, Community Supported Agriculture is a system of mutual support in which consumers pay a grower for a weekly share of the harvest. Diversified, sustainability-minded local farms help conserve energy, reduce groundwater pollution, protect the soil and improve biological diversity. In addition to sustaining a landscape ecologically and local farms economically, a CSA connects farmers with communities to educate and nourish each other by bringing neighbors together and keeping farms alive.

The roots of the movement are education and involvement. Often CSA members enjoy opportunities to visit the farm they support and share the workload, if they choose, giving them and their children a hands-on farm experience. The benefits of this interaction go beyond the basic knowledge of farming to an understanding of the human scale of food production. Peter Mann, director of the nonprofit organization World Hunger Year, and a CSA shareholder from New York City, describes it as, "Giving food a face, a place and a taste."

There are as many different ways to participate in CSA as there are farms. The spectrum ranges from total shareholder responsibility to total convenience. A farmer in Burlington, Vermont takes weekly orders on the Internet and delivers his shares door to door, while another in Boston, Massachuetts requires 12 hours of work per share, and a community organizing effort for the food delivery process. There is a CSA cooperative in Iowa where five farmers pooled their resources to deal with the workload. In each case, the farmers and members are satisfied with the arrangement. It is the commitment to supporting a farmer, and that farmer's commitment to serving the community that makes the CSA.

In New York City, Montreal, Hartford, Connecticut and several other cities, organizations are facilitating this relationship for struggling families. Culturally appropriate foods are frequently combined with cooking classes and nutrition education to improve access to fresh food and better health for urban residents. Community Supported Agriculture is not a new concept, but the conference reflected a deep belief that the interactions occurring because of the CSA relationship are the fundamental building blocks of a true homeland security plan. An individual can use the simple act of eating to influence the creation of long-term security. Becoming an integral part of a sustainable food supply with people you know and trust could be the most important step a person takes to insure our collective future.

For more information on CSA in your area, visit CAFF's Web site www.caff.org or call your local CAFF regional coordinator.