It’s Monday – and time for another Real Food Quote Monday (RFQM). I’m catching up on my reading of the latest Wise Traditions journal from the Weston A. Price Foundation. I got the Spring 2010 issue more than a month ago, and I just finished the “Letters” section. That speaks not only to how behind I am, but to the fact that every word in the journal is worth reading.
Allan Balliett, who runs a biodynamic CSA, from Shephardstown, West Virginia wrote a very enlightening letter, bringing our attention to fake CSAs. He said when he browsed LocalHarvest.org, he noticed an increasing number of “fake CSAs” — farms or organizations that distribute non-organic produce they acquire from off their farm. Don’t mistake this for local farms who’ve partnered together to offer greater abundance to local consumers; the fake CSAs distribute food where the source is unknown or obscured.
“Transparency is lost. And so are the deep benefits of getting your family’s food from a CSA. As the local food marketplace has grown, entrepreneurs [have moved in] who do not operate from the ethical grounds [from which] the movement arose.”
What is a CSA? According to LocalHarvest.org, “Over the last 20 years, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) has become a popular way for consumers to buy local, seasonal food directly from a farmer. Here are the basics: a farmer offers a certain number of “shares” to the public. Typically the share consists of a box of vegetables, but other farm products may be included. Interested consumers purchase a share (aka a “membership” or a “subscription”) and in return receive a box (bag, basket) of seasonal produce each week throughout the farming season.”
As Allan points out, “a fake CSA exploits a consumer’s assumption about the value of a CSA.” I’d say so! When I think CSA, I think:
- I expect to receive high-quality local produce
- I expect my produce to have been picked very recently (ideally the day of distribution)
- I feel good that I’m supporting a local farm or farms who are ecological farmers — doing their best to take care of the land
- I enjoy the convenience of receiving all my produce in one box or at one location
If you are or were a CSA consumer, what are your assumptions?
In a fake CSA, which distributes produce from unknown or obscure sources, three of my four assumptions are violated:
- (violation) My produce may come via a USDA organic food club cooperative — probably not local
- (violation) My produce is probably not fresh if it was shipped in for distribution
- (violation) I am probably not supporting local, ecological farmers, but rather USDA organic farmers
- I still receive the convenience of picking it all up in one place
Oh, wonderful. As a fake CSA recipient, I still get convenience, but none of the most important benefits:
- love for my neighbor (that’s what we do when we choose local)
- health for my body (food grown in healthy soil)
- stewardship of the earth (farmers who improve soil quality)
Here’s a revealing quote from Allan Balliett on the subject of the limitations of USDA organic farming.
“When choosing produce for maximum health, one must always remember that USDA organic is a procedural approach to reducing toxins and has zero nutritional goals. In addition, commercial farms and farmers simply cannot and do not take care of the land as well as the small ecological farmer does.”
We’ve got to go beyond natural and organic. If we’re careful, a CSA can help us do that. Not a fake CSA — a real CSA.
Here’s a similar issue. Answer this question: If you went to a local farm stand, would you expect that the produce sold there came from that very farm? (Or at least one nearby, if a few farmers were working together.) I would. There’s large local farm in my area with an even larger farm stand. Yet, they ship in a great deal of their produce. I call this a fake farm stand.
What can we do to avoid fake CSAs or fake farm stands? Transparency. Know the farmer. Ask questions. Visit the farm. Grow it ourselves. It isn’t hard, but it takes being present and involved with our food’s origin.
What do you think? Have you run into an fake CSAs or fake farm stands? You can read the entirety of Allan Balliett’s letter here.
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This is so important! My CSA in central CA (abundantharvestorganics.com) is very transparent. I’ve met Vernon, the organizer, several times since he tries to come to the drop off sites periodically. Also, he publishes a weekly newsletter that is in each produce box which lists each item in the box and what farmer grew it. On his website, you can “meet” the farmers and read their bio. He has also invited us up to see some of the farms. He is definitely transparent! Oh, and we get an email periodically when it rains or something else comes up that prevents them from harvesting a predicted item, telling us that they couldn’t get it out of the field. That’s what I call fresh! Vernon is doing a great job and I believe sets a good example of how a CSA SHOULD be done!
Thanks for a great post. Honestly, I assumed everyone did it the way Abundant Harvest does. It’s disappointing to hear that it’s not. Just like in any business, some just rise to the top and excel.
.-= Amy @ Homestead Revival´s last blog post… Processing Meat Chickens =-.
Amy, honestly, this surprised me, too. Our only experience with a CSA was T&D Willey Farms in Madera, California. They did things alot like Abundant Harvest – the weekly email, newsletter, farm tours, website, and all. It was great! I don’t miss living in the Central Valley – except for their produce.
Thanks for sharing about your CSA. You are blessed!
Wow… I didn’t realize this was such a widespread problem, but I’m not surprised! Anytime there is a demand from consumers, less than ethical people will do what they can to make money.
Thankfully, our CSA here in Indiana is real. They just became certified organic, but we joined last year before that happened. In addition to a veggie share that is grown at the farm, they offer a fruit share that includes local produce, as well as fruit from a local wholesaler. However, they are upfront and honest about it, so the consumer can make an informed decision.
We were very happy with the quality of all the produce we received last year, and can’t wait for this season to begin. I highly recommend them to anyone in Northwest Indiana!
http://www.cremedelacrop.com/
Ugh, I didn’t even realize there WERE “fake” CSAs. Horrifying. People are just out to take advantage of people who want truly good, local food. They just want to make money.
I am a member of a CSA this year. It is a fairly new CSA I think, and a small one (11 members last year, 17 this year) but we’ve been out to the farm several times, we’ve bought meat from him for over 6 months, and we feel good about it. As part of our CSA, we will be spending at least 30 hours actually helping in the garden, and will be required to pick some of our own produce. We wanted it that way. We want our children to KNOW where their food really comes from. If you ask most kids what French fries are made from, or bread…they don’t know. We can go and see potatoes and spelt growing in the fields, bring it home, make it ourselves. Our kids will have a strong connection to the land and to “our farmer.”
That is a REAL CSA.
.-= Kate´s last blog post… Infant Allergies and Treatments =-.
uggghhh.. I just had a long thorough comment typed out and my internet stalled and it was lost.
main point, there are uses for such “fake CSA’s”. They get cheaper produce out there to many people who would otherwise eat no produce. they usually don’t require a subscription, so they don’t require payment for a full year ahead. they kind of let those who are overwhelmed with the thought of a full summers worth of unknown produce that they don’t know how to prepare from scratch “dip their toes in the water” to see what their week of cooking and planning meals will be like without the up front commitment of 3 or more months of their families grocery budgets. they may get more people to cook more of their food from scratch, and they will most likely move on in their next step for higher quality. Also it takes a while to get used to the idea that your grocery/medical budget are probably in direct proportion to each other, one going up as the other goes down. Ultimately when I was unable to find better options in an area I lived at least my produce was cheaper for the same produce you buy at the store from the farm stands.
Now that we are somewhere else we do get raw milk, local pastured eggs, lard, & tallow, and are members of a “real CSA” where I pick up our produce from every week and would find it very hard to go back because the quality is very apparent to me but to people who have their palates already accustomed to junk food it can be just the thing needed to get them started incorporating from scratch meals and more produce.
I love all of your content here, though, so keep it coming
I just think its important to remember that if we don’t want more regulations telling us what we can and cannot purchase (i.e. raw milk) then common sense dictates that we will have to do our own investigation and visit the farms ourselves to ensure that our food is truly local and sustainable, and we need to be open to others making steps in the right direction that are maybe barely discernable to us, eventually it snowballs as one new habit reinforces another and we are moving much more quickly in a direction we thought we would never go in
Evelyn -
You made great points and I appreciate your addition to this discussion.
I would agree with you that there are very good uses for food co-operatives as you’ve described. Do you find that these are called CSAs?
In my opinion, the very words that make up CSA (Community Supported Agriculture, as we all know), do not apply to a cooperative that is gathering food from far and wide and distributing it locally. I would call that a food co-op, rather than a true CSA.
Even if the people who benefit are doing better than they would from the grocery store, it is unfortunate if they’re being misled into thinking that is what a CSA is and that USDA organic food shipped from many miles away is as healthful as the vine-ripe, ecologically grown food from their own community.
Still, I am definitely not calling for more regulation, no! The way to protect ourselves from being misled is to be vigilant, informed consumers — just as you said!
I in no want to demean the excellent point you made about people making small steps in the right direction. That’s so important.
WOW! I am totally gullible. It never would have occurred to me that these things exist! I joined a CSA for the first time this year, and it never crossed my mind that they could be ‘faking me out.’ Thank you for posting this!
I don’t believe that the ones in our area have ever implied that the produce they are selling is organic or even local. In fact this one: http://www.communityhelpingscoop.com/ does specifically use the word coop. They will often come up, however, in searches for community supported agriculture and do offer a general “box” that you can purchase with a mix of whatever produce they have. And the roadside stands are definitely set up to make you think they are connected with local farmers, but then the produce has grocery store stickers on it, lol. I sure am glad we have a lot better access to local food here
You would think South Carolina shouldn’t be that bad, climate would be pretty good for it, but everyone’s growing tobacco, cotton and soy mostly, or paid not to farm at all…so sad
We were part of a CSA last year that I would definitely call one of the “fake” ones.
I think they started out on the up and up, but just allowed themselves to take on way to many new members. When the weather didn’t cooperate last year and multiple crops failed, rather than admitting this and pointing out that part of belonging to a CSA is that you agree to share in the risks of farming as well as the bounty, it looks like they quietly went to the regional produce auction and loaded up on whatever was cheapest by weight there. Half of our share was corn or potato the entire season. I wrote in to let them know that rumors were circulating, offer an opportunity to clear the air, and point out that communication is key for a CSA, but never heard anything back.
So yeah – they do exist.
I have a real CSA and Fake CSA’s really really bother me. So much so that i have created a Face Book page about this subject (and this blog post was just posted there as it was the conversation with Allan about such that caused its’ creation as I was in on it too)
At any rate check out the FB page and “like it” if so inclined. http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/If-You-Dont-Know-Your-Farmer-You-Are-Not-in-a-Csa/112456405475352
I feel they only way to combat this trend is through education. The louder we are the more folks we can educate and the CSA’s of the world will be better for it.