Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) began at Bayside Park in 1993 when a group of Humboldt State University professors (including Susan Ornelas and DeborahGiraud) approached Arcata City Manager Alice Harris about the potential of partnering with the city to create an Educational Farm.
The Bayside Park Farm became the first CSA in Arcata and is funded to this day by the community; shareholders pledge their support in the spring and receive a share of the harvest every week for the growing season. As well as being a running CSA, the Bayside Park Farm is a permaculture park, demonstrating sustainable farming practices and appropriate means of energy use. Over the years, this farm has been managed by many generations of student farmers. Many notable farmers within the community learned how to farm here.