What Is a CSA? Community Supported Agriculture Guide

Community-supported agriculture (CSA for short) is an agricultural model that cuts out the middleman, enabling consumers to purchase food directly from local farmers. Typically, CSAs offer customers the opportunity to buy a share of a farm up-front before the growing season starts, when farmers need the capital to purchase seeds and equipment.

In return, CSA members receive boxes of farm-fresh food throughout the growing season. Although most CSA programs focus on providing fresh produce, some CSAs offer other food products like grains, eggs, or dairy. You can also find fish CSAs, meat CSAs, and flower CSAs.

Around the 1950s, the United States transitioned from a food system built on small farms to one dependent on industrial agriculture. The CSA movement in the US responded to the decline of family farms and the move toward monocultural farming practices by offering an alternative model.

By the late 1970s, farmers dedicated to organic and biodynamic farming techniques began to attract the attention of a growing number of conscientious consumers. Despite the ongoing decline of small farms in the United States of America, there are more than 1,700 CSA farms nationwide.

Depending on the region, the harvest season might be year-round or only during spring, summer, and fall. CSAs typically offer their members a share they pay for at the beginning of the season. Some CSAs give members the option to pay in weekly or monthly installments.

After purchasing a CSA share, members receive a box weekly or biweekly throughout the growing season. Inside your box, you’ll find that week’s fresh harvest. The items will depend on the season, weather, and more.

There are several notable environmental benefits to CSA, including:

1. 1. Small carbon footprint: CSA does not rely on long-distance transportation and produces fewer greenhouse gas emissions than conventional agriculture.
2. 2. Less groundwater waste: Small farms tend to conserve more water than big farming operations out of necessity (water is expensive) and out of careful concern for their moderately sized harvest.
3. 3. Fewer plastics: Without a middleman involved, there’s less need for plastic packaging. Most CSA programs pack produce into reusable boxes or cartons made from recycled materials.
4. 4. Increased biodiversity: Conventional agriculture relies heavily on monocultures—planting as much of a single crop as possible. CSA farms reject this in favor of growing various seasonal crops to provide members with variety. Biodiversity supports soil health, disease resistance, and more.

There are several notable benefits to joining a CSA, beyond the environmental impact of farming:

1. 1. Eat the freshest ingredients available. The produce CSA farmers grow is often of better quality than what’s available at conventional grocery stores. That’s because it comes from organic farms that invest in the stewardship of the land, refrain from using harmful pesticides, and plant heirloom varieties.
2. 2. Discover new foods. CSA offers home cooks the opportunity to discover foods they’ve never cooked before. Author Michael Pollan says that joining CSA has helped his family discover new foods. “You will find things in that box,” he says, “that you probably have never cooked with before. I found when my family’s been a member of CSA, we cook new things. It gets us out of our ruts.”
3. 3. Eat responsibly. CSA establishes a direct connection between farmer and consumer, allowing you to verify that the food you buy comes from farms that align with your values. “If you really care about the meat you’re eating and you want meat raised on farms where they were treated well, where they had their appropriate diet, where they were slaughtered humanely, you can join meat CSAs,” Michael says.
4. 4. Participate in your local food system. Most people in the US live in urban or suburban areas where conventional supermarkets reign supreme. CSAs offer city-dwellers the opportunity to participate in their local food system by delivering farm-fresh produce to a convenient pick-up spot (like a farmers’ market) or directly to their front door.
5. 5. Invest in your local community. You provide financial security for local farm operations when you buy products from a local CSA. Plus, you’re enabling growers to hire more folks from your community.

There are a few hurdles to joining a CSA program:

1. 1. Commitment: When you join a CSA, you must be ready to use the food you’ve paid for or risk wasting it.
2. 2. Farming challenges: Drought, blight, pests, and weather conditions affect every farm differently. When you join a CSA, you support a specific farm and the challenges they face.
3. 3. High up-front cost: Generally speaking, CSA produce costs less than organic produce sold at grocery stores and farmers’ markets. However, you will have to pay a larger amount up front. If finances are a concern, look for CSAs that offer sliding-scale programs and installment payment plans.
4. 4. Limited availability: Although an increasing number of small farms are adopting the CSA model, they can still be tough to come by—especially in remote or inner-city areas.

There are two primary ways to find a CSA program near you:

1. 1. Online: There are several online resources that can help you find a CSA near you. A quick web search is also likely to yield results.
2. 2. Farmers’ market: Many CSA programs advertise at local farmers’ markets. Get to know the growers at your farmers’ market and ask if they participate in a CSA program. Even if they don’t, they’ll most likely be able to point you in the right direction.

See food like you have never seen it before. With the MasterClass Annual Membership, journalist and educator Michael Pollan teaches you how to determine your ingredient sources, shop at the grocery store, and rethink your relationship to food.