What is a CSA Share?

By Liz Guerrier

December 28, 2024

What is a CSA share? CSA in an acronym for Community Supported Agriculture and is a system of small scale agriculture whereby community members support their local farmers directly by purchasing memberships in the farm’s CSA programme. In return members receive a share of the harvest each week during the growing season. Shares change with seasonal availability connecting members with the rhythms of the growing season in their region. In our region that looks like more greens and cool season crops like kohlrabi, and cool season roots like radishes early in the summer, tomatoes and beans coming mid summer and peppers, potatoes, and ginger coming at the end of the year. Memberships are purchased during the winter months when the farmer is purchasing seeds and upgrading infrastructure providing the farmer with need cash flow during the slow season. This means that members are putting faith in the farmer in the winter to grow a healthy share of produce during the summer. If weather doesn’t cooperate there may be less of some items to go around. However, if there is a bumper crop of beans or peas or tomatoes shares will have an abundance of those successful crops. And, if food prices spike or supply chain issues cause the price of produce in the grocery store to jump dramatically members have already secured their produce shares at the price set in the winter. CSA membership typically attracts community members who want to be more connected to their food supply and more in tune with local seasonal rhythms of food production. The relationship between the farmer and the members is direct without involving large food distributers, and supporting local sustainable food systems. We are in our fourth year of our CSA membership program at Coyote Song Farm & Forest. We are keeping our enrolment limited to a small number of members while we learn the ropes of market garden farming. We wish to ensure that we can provide each member with good value and dependable share sizes throughout the year while also being able to have produce and flowers available for sale at The Stop Farmer’s Market each week. When we have perishable produce remaining after market we are always happy to be able to make a contribution to the Beaton Cupboard food bank and the Erin Community Fridge.