What is Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)?

 Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)  is a farm share program  in which individuals buy into the farm by purchasing a share, and in turn receive a share of fresh produce every week throughout the season. Shares are purchased before the start of the growing season, allowing farmers to focus on growing and delivering the highest-quality, best-tasting fruits and vegetables when it matters.

CSAs were first started in Switzerland and Japan during the 1960's in response to growing concerns about food safety and the urbanization of agricultural land. In Europe, many of the CSA-style farms were inspired by the economic ideas of Rudolf Steiner and experiments with community agriculture took place on farms using biodynamic agriculture.

In Japan, the name for CSAs is teikei(提携), meaning, in a sense, to put the farmer's face on the food.

Check out the wikipedia entry on CSAs for a good overview of the general practices and philosophy of a CSA farm, and what it means to be a part of one. Click here to learn more about our CSA