A Very Brief Intro to Farm Shares

Written by: karl

I love farm shares and I think you should too. If you're a farmer you can have a more reliable income, and if you're a consumer you can get great local produce without needing to shop the farmer's market every weekend.

A farm share, also commonly referred to as a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture), is basically a contract or partnership between farmers and consumers. People purchase a "share" of the farm's expected harvest in advance and then receive a portion of the harvest at some interval throughout the growing season - weekly, monthly, etc.

Community supported agriculture "consists of a community of individuals who pledge support to a farm operation so that the farmland becomes, either legally or spiritually, the community's farm, with the growers and consumers providing mutual support and sharing the risks and benefits of food production."

- USDA, source: https://www.nal.usda.gov/farms-and-agricultural-production-systems/community-supported-agriculture

If you're in Minnesota, you can use the Minnesota Department of Agriculture's Minnesota Grown website to look up the nearest farm share program: https://minnesotagrown.com/csa

Also, if you are near the Twin Cities, check out TC Farm - they're basically a large collection of smaller family farms. They have a traditional CSA program, but they also allow consumers to purchase more typical grocery items on demand. Check out their website for more details: https://tc.farm

And here's some links if you'd like to learn more:

• https://www.localharvest.org/csa
• https://farmsharenewsletter.substack.com/p/what-is-a-farm-share-or-csa-and-why