Embarras Valley Farm & CSA

Thank you for sharing. It's useful to know the pros and cons of any business model.

Some possible ways to combat this flaw ...

* Check the contract. Some stipulate that shares must be fulfilled before anything can be sold elsewhere, and there may be a pound range or other parameters specified. It IS possible to estimate what a certain amount of planting should produce -- they have to do that, in order to know how much to plant for how many members. If you feel that your CSA is cheating you, talk with other members and lobby to improve the contract; most CSAs can't afford to lose a bunch of disgruntled customers all at once.

* Clear accounting of produce and its disposition. Some CSAs issue a weekly statement of "We harvested X pounds of vegetables, packed Y pounds into member shares, and took Z pounds of surplus at the farmer's market." They may even break it down by type of vegetable so folks can tell what is in season when (valuable for planning next year's menus). This is helpful because it not only lets you know that shares are being fulfilled honestly, it's also a good gauge of how well the crop estimates matched actual production, so you can tell which varieties produce well enough to be voted back in next year's planting.

* If the farmers want to be pretty sure of having something for the farmer's market, that's fine -- but they should have a separate section of crops especially for that purpose, where they use only their own money and labor, not anything from members.

* Some CSAs donate surplus to a food bank or other charity instead of selling it. Some keep ALL the produce for members, and have a call list of people who stock up, in case there's a glut of something. What do you do with two bushels of basil? Make pesto! Truckload of tomatoes? Canning party!

Shop thoughtfully. A CSA often gives good food and good value, but some of them will still play fast and loose. Trends and practices may vary from one place to another too.

>>However, it does have a Facebook page... so J and I are planning to post the weights of each week's stuff AND post what that would cost from a local grocer.

I also plan to point out the lack of a contract or an accounting, on a semi-regular basis.<<

Go for it! Are you friends with any other CSA members? Encourage them to post their weights/price comparisons also.

Maybe explore some contracts or agreements used by other CSAs so you can look for good and bad clauses. A fair contract should protect both farmers and members, and have a way of discouraging any previously noted problems.

>>It is very clear to me- who has done planting- that the farmers' market stuff is NOT separate from the CSA stuff, which pretty much means we fund and also do a lot of work for the farm (7 hours per share is required... though it does not seem that people who do not do that are penalized...), yet all the advantages go to the for-profit venues like the markets and/or the chefs.<<

You might want to check the legality, because having people work for something they don't get any benefit from is shady at best and disallowed some places.

Also, figure 7 hours x your local minimum wage, add that to the monetary price of the member share, and THEN compare whether the CSA package still out-competes the grocery store.

For comparison, some CSAs do reduced or waived fees for members who volunteer worktrade. Full-paying members don't have to work the farm.

>>I'm really conflict-averse... but it does seem to me that it's about time I should start calling out on this shit.<<

So take an oblique approach, don't pick a fight with it. Do research on other CSAs and try to identify the best procedures and those that are associated with failure. Then you can say, "The most successful CSAs do X, Y, and Z. I bet we could improve ours if we did too." Or you wait for the staff to complain about something, then suggest a way of fixing it. Like if they lose a bunch of members, you might say, "People don't always know what value they are getting for their shares. Maybe if the harvest poundage and share weights were posted, and compared to supermarket prices, people would know they're getting a good deal and would stay. And that would make it easier to see how we're doing at providing good value, improving harvests, lowering prices, etc."

>> Thank you for the encouragement... especially the details about contracts and accounting; it will be nice to have that info handy to post.<<

You're welcome! Now is probably an ideal time to research this stuff. CSAs look for new members in winter, so they're more likely to have their prices, share sizes, requirements, contracts, etc. visible online now. Collect and save as many as you can. Compare them. Look for high and low points. (I did this with writer's guidelines before drafting my first set as an editor. It's amazing how patterns just leap out at you.)

>>I LOVE the idea of CSAs! I just hate that some of them are such rip-off artists, and count on people NOT calling them on that.<<

It's really sad when people take a great idea and wreck it. It sounds like you have a lot of experience with different CSAs. You might consider writing an article about how they succeed or fail, some common flaws that develop and how to avoid those. Then submit it to a magazine like Communities or Mother Earth News. I think people would be interested.

Then that's something new CSAs really need to know. They start selling, member satisfaction drops, members leave, and eventually the program shuts down. If they know about that deathtrap ahead of time, they can avoid it.

Look for other patterns. What things do some CSAs do that attract people? What do some do that drive members away? What are the feedback loops that cascade into failure once they begin? That's all really useful information for anyone wanting to start a CSA or join one!

I think it's cool that some CSAs offer other things such as meat, dairy, eggs, etc. Honey is another very popular one because a lot of farms keep bees to pollinate orchards/gardens.

In this context, "CSA" stands for "Community Supported Agriculture." I spelled it out after the farm's name, which had CSA in it.

Compared to the rest of our food supply, the CSA quality is often better. I've been chatting with a friend about some of the common flaws and what can be done to prevent them. Finding edible food in America is ... not easy, if you can't just grow your own. Some other places have better parameters.