Posts Tagged: CSA

Larger CSAs are typically diversified businesses

A community support agriculture farm (CSA) with a large customer base generally makes a large part of its income selling through more traditional channels, reported Grace Hood on the NPR program The Salt: What's on Your Plate.

The reporter included a comment in the story from Ryan Galt, professor in the Department of Human and Community Development at UC Davis. Galt conducted a study of CSAs in the Central Valley

"Very often the larger farms [with CSAs] actually have a smaller percent of their sales from CSAs," because they have other, bigger points of sales, Galt said. "They're more likely to rely on a huge number of different outlets: farmers markets, CSAs, direct to restaurant, direct to retail and also wholesale."

The story related the tale of Grant Farms in northern Colorado, a CSA with 5,000 clients that went bankrupt in 2012.

"The problem with our farm was not its size," said farmer/owner Andy Grant. "In fact, within the farm, the CSA was probably one of the most dynamically well run, profitable things we did." (The story didn't give the reason for the failure of the enterprise.)

A typical CSA box.

UC's Small Farm Center director comments on CSAs

The director of the UC Small Farm Center, Shermain Hardesty, said there are a number of hurdles California small-scale farmers must overcome to compete in state's highly industrialized food production and distribution system, according to a recent Bakersfield Californian news story. The article, written by Jeff Nactigal, centered on Community Supported Agriculture, or CSA, a system in which consumers pay a monthly subscription and receive a weekly supply of produce, typically organically grown.

Featured farmer Vernon Peterson started his CSA 10 months ago with 50 subscribers and now delivers more than 1,000 boxes of organic produce to 20 cities between Tulare and Simi Valley.

“There’s growing interest in local foods. So he’s taking advantage of the locally produced, and the identity about who’s produced what in the box,” Hardesty was quoted in the article.

She noted that marketing, developing a customer base, offering a steady variety of products and maintaining a customer-service mentality are important elements of a successful CSA.

The article also cited information from "Riding the Organic Wave," by UC Davis Cooperative Extension agricultural economist Karen Klonsky. The publication says organic sales in California are growing at double-digit rates while the number of growers has stayed the same.

Don't miss the video produced by the reporter himself, which is available on the same page as the story, to the left of the text.

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