http://www.KC-CSAC.org
NOTE: The KC CSA Coalition project is growing, and these pages are being replaced by a new site:
http://www.KC-CSAC.org
2009 Combined listing - KCFC Member Growers and KC-CSAC listings
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Kansas
Higginsville, Missouri
Rantoul, Kansas *
Kearney, Missouri
Louisburg, Kansas
Trenton, Missouri *
Kansas City, KS
Baldwin City, Kansas
Kansas City, Kansas
Kansas City, Kansas
Raytown, Missouri
Platte City, Missouri
Kansas City, Kansas
Lawrence, Kansas
Parker Farms
Richmond, Missouri
Higginsville, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri *
Platte Prairie Farm
Kansas City, Missouri *
Rolling Prairie Farmers' Alliance
Lawrence, Kansas *
Kansas City, Missouri
Marshall, Missouri
Soul & Soil Rainbow
Kansas City, Kansas *
Spring Creek Farm
Baldwin City, Kansas *
Trenton, Missouri
Fort Scott, Kansas
The Little Muddy
Lee's Summit, Missouri *
Milo, Missouri
Muscotah, Kansas
Wells Family Farms
King City, Missouri *
Posted on Tue, Mar. 24, 2009Local food subscription services grow in popularity
By MARY PEPITONE
Special to The Star
Community Supported Agriculture started more than a decade ago as a grassroots movement to eat locally. Today the movement continues to grow to serve consumers across the metro area.Also known by its acronym, a CSA is a subscription service. Consumers invest in local farms by purchasing “shares” before the growing season begins. In return for their investment CSA subscribers receive a weekly delivery of freshly harvested, often organically grown and produced food, including fruits, vegetables, meats, cheese, eggs and/or honey.
“A CSA can really knit a community together. People who participate in a CSA have a relationship with the farmer and their food,” says Season Burnett, director of the Kansas City CSA Coalition. “Not only is it good for the farmer and the consumer, CSAs also benefit the local economy and environment, since money spent on locally grown food stays closer to home.”
CSAs feed the locavore movement — people who strive to eat food grown within 100 miles of their dinner table — but they’re also fostering a common-sense approach to eating. Local produce, harvested at its peak and consumed within 24 hours of being picked, is more nutrient-dense. And most consumers say fresher food just tastes better.
People appear to be hungry for the opportunity to personally know the farmer who grows what they eat, says Craig Volland, a long-time Kansas City Food Circle member and event coordinator for the Eat Local farmers exhibition, which will be the next two weekends. (On the cover.)
When the expo was organized 11 years ago, only a dozen farmers participated. Now that number has grown to 50. Last year 1,600 local consumers attended the expo to learn more about CSAs.
“Participating in a CSA is like hiring your very own farmer or group of farmers,” Volland says. “Accordingly, one needs to ask lots of questions before making a decision about a certain CSA.” (See Know Your Farmer box at right.)
Prices vary from farmer to farmer. Some ask for a membership fee and weekly dues. Others ask for money up front for operating expenses or to buy seeds. Some CSAs even require sweat equity in the form of pulling weeds and helping with harvesting.
No matter what the cost, advocates say one of the greatest benefits is cultivating a unique relationship with fresh food and the people who help grow it.
Many CSAs are run by small farmers who focus on produce. But Diana Endicott, the farm-to-market coordinator for the Good Natured Family Farm Alliance based in Bronson, Kan., is bringing the CSA concept to local grocery stores.
Endicott, who represents more than 150 family farms, has forged a partnership with 12 area Hen House Markets to distribute weekly bags of seasonal produce. As part of the Buy Fresh, Buy Local initiative ( www.foodroutes.org), the CSA fed 1,500 people last year.
“We look at it like agriculture-supported community, in which we provide an added service to local grocery stores,” Endicott says. “This system of distribution works well. As farmers, we continue to do what we do best, which is producing high-quality products. Grocery stores continue to do what they do best, which is serve the customers.”
Although consumers may not get to know their farmer as intimately through a CSA grocery store set-up, easy access for weekly distribution makes this an appealing model to many. It also reminds participants that membership in a CSA is a partnership with farmers — during bumper crops or in times of bust because of unfavorable growing conditions.
The face of family farms is changing, too. Burnett, of Kansas City CSA Coalition, says CSAs have grown to include urban farmers, such as Greeley Gardens near Quindaro Boulevard in Kansas City, Kan., with produce grown on vacant lots.
“Not only are CSAs a method of distributing healthy food that sustain us as humans,” Burnett says, “but it also helps sustain and provides stability for the local family farmer. Everyone can reap the rewards.”
CSA RESOURCES
For more information on local CSAs:Growing Growers Kansas City,www.growinggrowers.org
Kansas City Community Gardens,www.kccg.org
Kansas City CSA Coalition, www.kc-csac.org
Locate CSAs and farmers markets through a national directory, www.LocalHarvest.org
KNOW YOUR FARMER
Aside from the price and method of payment, other questions consumers should ask before joining a CSA include:•How much experience does a farmer have in growing produce in our area? Prior to starting a CSA, a farmer’s experience can include growing for and selling at farmers markets.
•What methods does a farmer use to grow produce and raise farm animals? The Kansas City Food Circle requires producers to sign a pledge concerning their Earth-friendly practices.
•What is the place and time of the produce delivery? Pickup of the weekly bag of goodies needs to be convenient for both the farmer and the consumer.
EAT LOCAL FARMERS EXPO
Meet farmers face-to-face at the Eat Local 11th Annual Exhibition of Farmers.
Attendees can purchase organic produce, free-range meats and garden seedlings.
A free workshop, “How to Buy Local — CSAs and Organic Farmers Markets,” begins at 9:30 a.m.
- In Kansas, the expo is from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday Mrch 28 at
Shawnee Civic Centre, 13817 Johnson Drive
- In Missouri, the expo is from 9:15 a.m. to 2 p.m. April 4 at the
Roger T. Sermon Community Center, 201 North Dodgion St., Independence.Admission and parking are free.
For more information contact Craig Volland, 913-334-0556, or visit www.kcfoodcircle.org.
EAT LOCAL, READ GLOBAL
New books focus on trends within the local food movement:
•Edible Schoolyard: A Universal Idea (Chronicle Books; $24.95).
In 1971 Alice Waters opened Chez Panisse, a Berkeley, Calif., restaurant serving local, organic, in-season fare. She has since become one of the most influential chefs in the world and has inspired a revolution that has forced Americans to think about where their food comes from. Since 1996 more than 3,000 students have graduated from her Edible Schoolyard program, which gives children a hands-on way to learn about food. Using a feast of photos and inspirational text, Waters takes readers down the garden path in an effort to plant the seeds of her visionary model in schools and communities around the globe.
•The Backyard Homestead (Storey; $18.95).
What’s a locavore to do? Farm the backyard! Self-sufficiency is in vogue. Learn how to milk a goat, prune a fruit tree, dry herbs, make dandelion wine, bake whole-grain bread, tap a maple tree, make fresh mozzarella, brew beer, mill grains for flour and save seeds for next season. Author Carleen Madigan is the gardening editor at Storey Publishing and has been the managing editor at Horticulture Magazine. Her 365-page handbook shows you how to produce all the food you need on just a quarter acre.
•The Green Kitchen: Techniques and Recipes for Cutting Energy Use, Saving Money and Reducing Waste (Kyle Books; $18.95).
This book is based on “The Green Kitchen” column written by Richard Erhlich for The Times of London. Erhlich is a fan of eco-conscious cooking and cooking with the lid on to save energy. He also weighs the pros and cons of microwave ovens and pressure cookers, as well as no-cook cooking and cooking for multiple meals (all with recipes). And he includes chapters on greener cleaning and garbage reduction (packaging, food waste, bottled water, grocery bags and composting). So it just seems appropriate that such an eco-conscious book is printed on 100 percent recycled paper.
@To link to a directory of CSAs, go to KansasCity.com.Mary G. Pepitone is a freelance writer who lives in Leawood. She writes the weekly “Come Into My Kitchen” column. | Jill Wendholt Silva, [email protected]
© 2009 Kansas City Star and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved. http://www.kansascity.com