CSA's & Farm Viability

PAULA MARTIN, MS, RDN, LDN, Taste the Local Difference Community Health Coordinator & Food and Farming policy specialist at the Groundwork Center for Resilient Communities

Subscription boxes are all the rage right now, from prepared meal services to monthly shipments of natural beauty products. With Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) boxes, you can get the same thrill. Farms fill boxes full of fresh fruits and vegetables that subscribers pick up on a weekly basis. CSA models accomplish many goals for the community food system: increasing access to fresh produce, improving the local economy, and reducing health care costs to the CSA subscribers. The farms also benefit from the income of subscription fees early in the season when costs are high.

Michigan CSA Farms Facts:

- Michigan CSA family farms have been around from 1 to 187 years, the average working farm’s lifespan is 15.3 years

- 67% of Michigan CSA Farms are new farmers (operating 10 years or less)

- The average CSA farm size is 59 acres with 56% of farms producing on 20 acres (or less) each year. These are considered small farms.

To better understand the impact on farm businesses, the Michigan Statewide CSA Working Group conducted a survey with the support of the Michigan Food and Farming Systems (MIFFS), and Michigan State Extension. Garrett Ziegler, Community Food Systems and Sustainable Tourism Educator at MSU Extension shared some of the results with Taste the Local Difference.

So what did we learn? Ziegler states, “CSA Farms are as unique as ever in Michigan. CSA farmers are young, predominantly women, and well educated with most having 4 years or more college education with only 30% having degrees related to agriculture.”

Ziegler shares, “Farmers understand they are working in a very competitive marketplace and are aware that ‘early CSA adopters’ in their regions are engaged and will continue to obtain their food directly from them.” This means that the current market may be close to saturation. So how do we move the needle and open up more opportunities for all community members to explore produce direct from local farms?

Lauren Marquardt, Director of Development and Services at MIFFS, shares insights into these novel approaches. She states, “A challenge that MIFFS continues to think about is how to increase access to affordable, fresh fruits and vegetables without harming the business of limited resource producers who are farming and living within those same at risk communities.”

MIFFS produced the report, “How Can Community Supported Agriculture Improve Wellness? An Exploration of Physical, Social, and Economic Health,” with support from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services and members of the Michigan CSA Working Group.

Highlights from MIFFS Report:

FARM TO FOOD PANTRY

Access of West Michigan has been operating a Farm to Food Pantry Program for four years available at five sites in low-income neighborhoods in Kent County. The vision for the Farm to Panty program is simple; it aims to address food insecurity, the state of being without reliable access to sufficient and high quality affordable, nutritious food, by increasing access to locally grown fruits and vegetables by investing in local farmers and partnering with food pantry resource centers.

FARM TO WORKSITE

Taste the Local Difference (TLD) cultivates the relationship between CSA farms and workplaces introducing a new employee wellness program. The CSA farm shares are delivered directly to the worksite and all participating employers offer payroll deduction for employees reducing the financial burden. Tricia Phelps, TLD CEO states, “We have the potential to use the CSA model as a tangible way for employers to enhance employee health, while opening new markets for our farmers.”

SUBSIDIZED CSA MODEL WITH AN URBAN FARM IN DETROIT

Oakland Ave Urban Farm (OAUF) operates a CSA model that offers families who also receive food assistance a weekly box of produce for 20 weeks. This fully subsidized CSA is a partnership with the Michigan Environmental Council (MEC) with funding provided through MEC as a grant from the Healthy Kids, Healthy Michigan coalition. Changing the way families who receive food assistance get their food is a big challenge, moving them from a standard delivery of processed and canned foods to a box of produce directly from the urban farm takes time to manage but has been both valuable and effective.

Here’s a link to the MIFFS CSA Report: bit.ly/miffscsareport