Is a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) the most cost effective way of getting organic vegetables and fruit?
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Question by TheGuy: Is a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) the most cost effective way of getting organic vegetables and fruit?
I am thinking about purchasing a CSA share of seasonal vegetables, fruit, etc. The price for 1/2 share is roughly $ 350 for the summer ( and includes enough vegetables for 2 adults. I am wondering if this is the most cost effective way of getting organic vegetables as compared to getting them from the local grocery (Meijers, Krogers, etc)? If you have participated in a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program before, let me know of your experience and if you think it was cost effective.
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5 Responses to Is a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) the most cost effective way of getting organic vegetables and fruit?
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A CSA share or 1/2 share in your can be a very good opportunity to get a seasonal supply of vegetables at well below market prices. When you join a CSA, you join with the farmer to take your share of risks, costs, and rewards. A drought, flood, disease, etc that may destroy the crop or greatly reduce yields, that is your share as well. There are no guarantees, but I have never seen a CSA share holder that was not satisfied. Most are very surprised by the share that they receive and happy with the costs. I would urge you to try it for a season and see for yourself. I think you will be back for more. As far as getting organic vegetables, you should check this out before joining (you probably already have) because all CSAs are not organic. If it is, you will know that you are getting all organic vegetables because you will be making regular trips to the farm and can keep an eye on how they farm. Some CSA programs include a number of hours that each share holder must work each season. This hands on experience will help you see exactly what you are getting. Good luck and enjoy.
john h
November 8, 2011 at 4:13 am
If you are planning to buy “organic” for the bulk of your vegetables and/or fruits, then a CSA is the best way to go. You will easily save 20 – 30% of the price for the same vegetables as compared to buying from a large grocery store. I have been using a CSA in Circleville Ohio that delivers weekly to our house for the past few years. It is unquestionable the way to go if you want quality/cost effective organic produce. Try it out and you will absolutely love it.
Ted T
November 8, 2011 at 4:27 am
I don’t know what you mean by cost effective. If you simply mean the most vegetables for the dollar, well, who knows. That depends mostly on who you are buying that share from and how much of the year you are going to get things.
If by cost effective you mean support your local community, well then it’s a hands down for the CSA.
And if you mean use less energy and actually know who or how the food is produced then again the CSA wins.
Did you see where Peanut Corp in both Georgia and Texas was certified for organic peanut butter? Safety really isn’t a part of being organic, nor does it mean free of pesticides. For instance the organic producer might use pyrethrum as an insecticide. I don’t like that, because pyrethrum isn’t too effective, it’s used at much higher rates than many synthetic pyrethroids and it’s on the probable carcinogen list.
So instead of wanting it organic, I would prefer they use an integrated approach to pest control, not bound by a particular philosophy or religion like organic, but by using the safest way.
I don’t think that just because something is made by man it’s inherently bad and lacks life force.
Now maybe you do, and that’s your choice. But realize that maybe your local guy doesn’t use any pesticides and you are willing to accept insects and such in some veggies. The big producers shipping large quantities of product to chain stores do use pesticides, just not many man made pesticides.
I would prefer locally grown nonorganic to organic from China (where the certifiers aren’t even allowed to see the production) that is shipped here with proper paperwork but no real check on how it was produced.
I realize a lot of local producers tend to go organic because then they have this whole promotional thing going on to give them market advantage, but I would suggest you don’t necessarily, need to limit yourself just to an organic producer. There might be a local nonorganic producer who’s techniques and such are perfectly acceptable to you if you take a look, and you might be able to get that at a more cost effective price.
Marv
BigNorsk
November 8, 2011 at 4:37 am
yes it is more cost effective than buying from a national grocery chain and your veggies will be weeks fresher as well which will make them farm more nutritious.
As other have said you also will be supporting a farm in a profound way. You also have the opportunity to learn how your food is grown (and you can watch this process) something most Americans know almost nothing about.
Draw backs to CSA are the fact most premade shares are based on what is ripe/ready to harvest. This means you will get things that either you are not familiar with or think you don’t like (but try everything as you will probably find that fresh well grown kale, beets, etc., are not at all the same as what you buy from the store). You will likely not have much opportunity to pick and choose what you want like you would if you bought these items at a farmers market, farm stand or grocery store. But you will be introduced to new foods and you will widen your culinary horizons.
My CSA costs $ 30 a week and my members generally get around $ 40+ worth of food each week for that cost (if they were to buy the food from me at retail cost the farmers market or at my farm store).
CSA is about so much more than money.
ohiorganic
November 8, 2011 at 5:17 am
One of my main crops-okra-is contracted out to CSA suppliers each summer. That might sound confusing-and it is-but the reason is simple. It might be quite easy to grow 10 plants in your garden but growing 50,000 is very difficult-it requires specialization. The main problem is the caustic nature of the plants themselves-some people are horribly affected by the secretion of the plant toxins and are not even able to go near the field-much less pick it. Adding to this is the fact that the browner the skin the higher the effect-so normal seasonal workers shy away from it.
If your CSA supplier is honest they will tell you they don’t grow this-most don’t and this angers people when they discover it.
Also, be very wary of the “Organic” tag. This for the most part is a marketing ploy and has little to do with how the food is grown. Some of my crops are organic in nature others are not. Remember organic farming doesn’t mean no chemical fertilizers or chemical pesticides are used-it just means “certain” ones are used. Who and what determines what is acceptable and what is not is for the most part left up to the individual farmer.
A good example of this is in pesticides. Sevin a powered nerve gas is considered organic in some states-in others it is not. Compounds such as rotenone and pyrethrin are used in organic farming but the long term effects have never been studied.
I don’t want to discourage you in anyway but remember that buying fresh produce requires common sense. The university of Berkeley did a study(I was a part of it) on organic farming that gives it some perspective.
http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~lhom/organictext.html
s_e_s
spooky_eerie_spooky
November 8, 2011 at 6:09 am