FOOD—Community Supported Agriculture

by Erin Innes

In an isolated community like Powell River, providing our own food seems almost a no-brainer, but the question of how looms large in peoples’ minds. Farmers in small communities everywhere have created a model called Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) that offers one way to make it happen.  Here’s how it works.

Shared Risk; Shared Reward In the Community Supported Agriculture model, members buy a share of the whole years’ harvest at the beginning of the season. Thus the farmer doesn’t have to go into debt to buy seeds and supplies, and can grow a greater variety of produce instead of gambling on a few high-value items.  The shared risk lowers the farmers’ financial risk; members allow the farm to choose what to grow and how, based on best practices for healthy farms and good produce, rather than on cutting costs and fetching highest prices. Members’ food dollars go straight to the farmer, instead of distributors, processors, and retailers who all take their cut.

Each member receives an equal share of the harvest every week once crops start coming in; so, when the farm does well thanks to community’s support, everybody benefits. Members can try a little of everything, getting a feel for what it means to eat by the seasons instead of by what gets shipped to the grocery store.  The shared reward comes by helping the farm attain a solid financial footing, allowing the farmer to focus on farming—meaning more and better produce for everyone. 

Food is Not a Commodity The industrial model of agriculture treats food as any other commodity, creating a rush to the lowest price by making the social and environmental costs of its production invisible to the consumer. But food is not a commodity; we can’t live without it. The market-based approach to food offers people only the result of the whole farming process, instead of making the whole food system accountable to the community from the beginning. A wall of distributors, processors, regulators and retailers separates people from their food, taking control of the social and ecological aspects of food production away from those affected by them.

Community Supported Agriculture offers a way out.  The emphasis is on changing the focus from a commodity model (I value carrots) to an overall-value model (I value carrots that are grown in a way that makes my community better).  By supporting the farm directly instead of buying food items one by one at market price, members can get a lot more for their food dollars in two ways. First, farmers have the resources at the beginning of the growing season to guarantee success, so since each member gets an equal share; there’s more harvest for everyone. Second, the community’s guarantee of sufficient financial support to fund the season enables small independent farmers to survive, supporting all the ecological and social benefits that local farms confer on a community.

I’m proud to offer the CSA model to eaters in Powell River. I believe it can create a better relationship between our community and its food. If we can fix our relationship with food, won’t fixing all the other things we have to fix in our world be easier? 

Erin Innes is a farmer and activist in Powell River.  Email everybodyeatscsa@gmail.com to find out more.