Will Work For Food : Community Supported Agriculture
Community Supported Agriculture is a form of farming which encourages the active participation of a farm’s surrounding community in the production of its food.
The scheme works by signing up people to receive locally produced food and veg one year at a time. How much they pay for this food depends upon the amount of time they commit to working on the farm: the more time they commit, they cheaper the food.
This model has a large range of benefits including keeping distribution, labour and marketing costs down. Emissions are also lowered as much of the food is taken home by people working on the farm.
For those who choose not to work on the farm, the cost of fruit and veg is lowered, making high nutrition organic produce more affordable.
The following table compares the cost of organic food from Stroud Community Agriculture and three of the largest supermarkets in the UK:
| Stroud CSA | Tesco | Waitrose | Sainsbury |
|---|---|---|---|
| 500g potatoes | £0.40 | £0.36 | £0.50 |
| 500g carrots | £0.48 | £0.47 | £0.66 |
| 400g onions | £0.32 | £0.51 | £0.73 |
| 400g leeks | £1.73 | £1.85 | £2.00 |
| 400g sprouts | £0.40* | £0.71 | £0.56 |
| 1 turnip | £0.79 | £0.98 | £0.87 |
| 150g mixed salad | £2.40 | £2.99 | £2.82 |
| 1 bunch parsley | £0.99* | £0.79* | £1.69* |
| £7.38 | £7.51 | £8.66 | £9.83 |
Prices correct Feb 2008; (*) non organic food
However, as well as providing nutritious, locally grown food the model provides one factor more important than any other: the facility for communities to reconnect directly with their food and environment.
Picture Credit “Future Tractor Queen” by Glenn Loos-Austin from Flickr under Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike License.
