Community-Supported Agriculture

History

The CSA movement in the United States began in the mid-1980s with two separate but nearly simultaneous projects. In 1985, Jan Vandertuin approached Robyn Van En of Indian Line Farm in Massachusetts with the idea of recreating a form of agriculture he had seen in Switzerland. Vandertuin and Van En worked with others to create the name and structure of this first CSA project, and shares were sold for that year's apple harvest. Many families who participated in the apple shares also signed up for vegetable shares for the next year. Similarly, in 1986, Trauger Groh drew on his experience at a German farm to start Temple-Wilton Community Farm in New Hampshire. From these two farms the movement grew. In 2005, a U.S. Department of Agriculture database listed 1,150 CSAs; others now place the estimate closer to 2,000 operations.

Literature about CSAs often includes the phrase “food with the farmer's face on it.” The phrase is a philosophical translation of teiki, the name for partnerships that Japanese women householders started with organic farmers in the 1970s in response to concerns about pesticide use, the loss of farmland, and increased food imports. Although this narrative is frequently mentioned in the history of U.S. CSAs, it appears that the U.S. movement was not directly inspired by teiki, but that these simply were parallel paths.

Structure

CSAs begin in two main ways, either as consumer-initiated projects that arise when a group of people with similar concerns hires a farmer, or as farmer-initiated projects. Approximately three-quarters of CSAs are farmer-initiated, in which case CSA is often one of multiple marketing strategies; for example, complementing farmers market or restaurant sales. Some CSAs are run by nonprofits, such as universities, churches, and farms, that train people who are homeless or who have mental or physical disabilities.

Production methods at CSA farms are typically organic or biodynamic; this is not a structural requirement of the projects but tends to be a preference of the consumers and farmers involved. Vegetables tend to be the mainstay of CSA production, sometimes supplemented by fruit (e.g., strawberries, apples) in the week's delivery, but other types of projects have also appeared. Many CSAs add eggs, herbs, honey, or flowers to the share for an extra fee, and others offer grass-fed beef, baked goods, local specialty crops (e.g., Kona coffee or macadamia nuts), or foods made from farm produce in commercial kitchens (e.g., pesto, jam, or goat milk soap and cheese). A few specialized CSAs supply members with whole and processed grains, and CSA members of a farm in Washington State receive organic, pastured broiler hens as well as first priority in reserving Thanksgiving turkeys. Most CSA products are edible, although the Martha's Vineyard Fiber Farm offers a yarn CSA, membership in which includes an invitation to the annual Shearing Day Celebration along with a share of the spring “yarn harvest.”

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