What is a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture)?

My husband and I recently had another couple over and the topic of a CSA came up. Our friends have belonged to a CSA for some time now and truly love it! As the conversation continued my husband asked, “What is a CSA?” As I provided an explanation, I thought it might be helpful to break it down for you too! So here we go.

What is a CSA?

A CSA, or a Community Supported Agriculture, is a way for you to buy local seasonal food items, typically vegetables, directly from your local farms. Each farm’s CSA will typically offer a specific number of “shares” to purchase per season and identify the season in which they are offered.

What is a share?

A share is your box of seasonal produce you receive in exchange for an upfront cost and or volunteer hours on the farm. Most shares include a variety of in season vegetables freshly picked, but may also include additional farm products like meat, cheese or fruit. There also may be different sizes of shares. The typical sizes of the shares are: Personal (1-2 people), Half Share (3-4 people), Full Share (families/parties of 5+). Full Shares are able to be split with other couples/families if you’d like.

When do you sign up?

Because there is typically a fixed number of shares that the farm offers per season, it is important to act fast before they sell out. Also the earlier you sign up typically results in a cheaper rate. As it gets closer to the start date, the cost may increase.

Why would you join a CSA?

Your food is super fresh!
- Typically, the food for the share is picked the morning of and the shares are picked up in the afternoon/evening of the same day. So your items are super fresh! Yum!
You get to try new food items
- Maybe your share includes a bunch of beets, which is something you wouldn’t typically buy at the food store. This gives you the chance to try something new, learn more about the nutrition value of the item and maybe experiment with a new recipe too!
- Some Farms may even share some links to recipes and/or videos about the food item. Especially about food items some may not be familiar with.
You have the opportunity to meet the farmers that grow your food
- It’s interesting to hear where your food comes from and how the season overall is going for them.
- When I worked at a CSA distribution location in 2014, this was probably my favorite part. Once a week I got to hear about how the season’s crops were doing and stories of their work on the farm. Being a city girl, I learned a lot.
Support your local Farms!
- Farms get to receive their payment early in the season, which is clearly beneficial to them
- Some farms that do CSA have a farm store, which can give you the opportunity to buy additional items that are in season or explore more selections of items. You likely can purchase other items in the farm that are not offered in your share too, like local honey or jams. More ways to support your favorite farm.

I spoke with my friend, Kaitlin Petrone, a little more about her experience with her CSA (VonThun’s Country Farm Market located in NJ). She stated, “Our CSA was about $17 a week, since I signed up early, for 20 weeks and it ends up being lots of produce, which is worth the price for us.” She noted that she only receives vegetables, but they do offer fruit, egg and grass fed beef options, which can be added to their vegetable share.

If you are interested in looking into a share for yourself or family, I suggest a simple Google search, checking your favorite local farms to see if they offer them or searching on www.localharvest.org to get started.

This blog was written by Amanda J, Stahl, RD, LDN, co-founder of Simple Start Nutrition. For more blog posts and nutrition information follow @simplestartnutrition on Instagram and Facebook. Also feel free to contact us, by visiting our website (simplestartnutrition.com) to schedule an appointment to discuss your nutrition related needs. We are here to help.

References:

https://vonthunfarms.com/https://www.localharvest.org/csa/