CSA/see-ess-ay/

A CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program is a direct-marketing model where a farm sells a season's worth of its own harvest in advance to a defined group of members. Members pay at the start of the season — usually 4-8 weeks before the first delivery — and in return receive a weekly share for the length of the growing season (16-24 weeks for vegetables in most US climates, sometimes longer with greenhouse extensions or in mild zones). The share is not a fixed grocery list; it is a box of whatever the farm is harvesting that week, allocated proportionally across all members.

The defining feature of a CSA is shared risk. A bad tomato year because of late blight or a hailstorm means fewer tomatoes in everyone's box. A great tomato year means more. The farm gets capital up front to plant, fix equipment, and pay labor before any income from retail or wholesale sales arrives — which is the hardest part of small-farm cash flow. The members get access to the freshest produce in their region at wholesale-plus pricing, plus a direct line to the people who grew it. Both sides give up something market commerce normally provides: the farm gives up the chance to chase higher prices on a great year; the member gives up the supermarket's "pick exactly what you want" optionality.

Modern CSAs have evolved well past the original vegetable-share model. Egg shares, meat shares (whole/half/quarter or weekly portion boxes), dairy shares (raw milk, yogurt, cheese), flower shares, mushroom shares, fruit shares, and grain or beans-and-pulses shares are all common. Multi-farm CSAs — sometimes called "food hubs" or aggregated CSAs — bundle products from a network of nearby farms under one subscription so members get vegetables from one farm, eggs from another, bread from a baker, and meat from a third farm in a single weekly box.

Pickup logistics are the make-or-break operational detail. Traditional CSAs use farm-pickup days or central drop sites at coffee shops, gyms, churches, or community centers. Newer CSAs offer home delivery on a fixed weekly route (often via subscription-software platforms like Local Line, Harvie, or Barn2Door). Pickup-day flexibility — being able to pick up Tuesday or Thursday, or skip a week and bank a credit — is a meaningful differentiator and the most common reason members do or do not renew.

For a buyer evaluating CSA options, the practical questions are: how many people in your household actually cook from raw vegetables most nights, what is the season length and start date, what is the typical box size and variety in early-season vs peak-season weeks, what add-on shares are available, and what is the farm's policy when you go on vacation. A full share that feeds 2-4 adults is roughly $25-$35/week of vegetables; a half share or "small household" share is half that. Adding eggs, meat, and bread can push the weekly value to $50-$80, which compares favorably to the equivalent retail at a quality-focused grocery store.

The CSA model has two parallel origins. In Japan, the teikei (提携) movement began in 1965 when a group of mothers concerned about pesticide residue in the food supply organized direct purchasing relationships with local organic farmers — translated literally as "putting the farmer's face on food." In Switzerland and southern Germany around the same time, biodynamic farmers and supporters set up direct-subscription arrangements as part of the post-war organic and Steiner-influenced agriculture movement.

The model arrived in the US in 1985 at Indian Line Farm in South Egremont, Massachusetts, and almost simultaneously at Temple-Wilton Community Farm in New Hampshire. Through the late 1980s and 1990s, the organic movement adopted the CSA structure as a way for small farms to access urban customers without competing on commodity wholesale prices. By 2007 the USDA Census of Agriculture counted ~13,000 farms reporting CSA programs, growing to ~17,000 by 2017.

The 2010s saw CSA membership plateau as meal-kit services (Blue Apron, Hello Fresh) and farm-to-doorstep e-commerce (Misfits Market, Imperfect Foods) absorbed the convenience-focused segment of the early-CSA audience. CSAs that survived doubled down on relationship and seasonal authenticity, and many shifted to multi-farm food-hub models, online customization (members pick from a list each week instead of receiving a fixed box), and add-on share categories.