As we shift our attention from agricultural biodiversity to community supported agriculture (CSA), we speak with Elizabeth Keen of Indian Line Farm, one of the first CSAs in the country and former farm of the late CSA visionary Robyn Van En.
Elizabeth tells us about Robyn’s life and her vision, and she explains the history and current status of Indian Line Farm. CSA is one of the most promising innovations in agriculture in the past 50 years, so please have a listen to learn more.
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4 responses to “Episode #6: The Birth of CSA, Elizabeth Keen and Indian Line Farm”
I’m super enthusiast about this CSA and I’m looking for a way to start something like this in Bulgaria. I’m originally from Italy where we have something called GAS (Solidarity group of buyers) that wants to be the italian CSA but is way out to be something amazing like you have over there.
I think for Europeans is difficult to open their minds that much and pay in advance an harvest without having written down and granted a certain ammount of food per season or per week. Sharing the risk is really forward for europeans and I love the idea! What do you think is the key point for americans to accept such risk and sharing the harvest?
cheers
Roby
I think the key is to get a small group of people together committed to the idea. This is the critical starting phase. It ensures that the farmer can work the glitches out, and the level of commitment from the consumers will provide the patience required to make sure the production and distribution gets in order. No need getting a skeptical bunch together, only to watch the whole thing crash and burn if the farmer isn’t quite ready to service the group with the type of efficiency they expect from the industrial system.
After a season or two, the system will start to work smoothly, and the CSA can grow. Word of mouth is a powerful thing. If the consumers are committed, they can invite others over for meals and explain to friends and family the concept. Once that happens, it should go fairly smoothly, provided the farmer is ready to handle the growth. Planning is the key. And solidarity between farmers and consumers.
Frank you’r just great! Fantastic answer and I’m really happy and full of hope to see that this reality taking place and this network of trust be real.
Is this happening in South America, in your beloved Bolivia for instance, and do you think could be possible to implement this with a exchange of seed data bases and therefore support biodiversity from one hand and the bolivian farmers from another? Would be nice to have some kind of remote CSAA… wha do you think? I really liked the interview with the bolivian farmer abotu biodiversity and I really would like to see more of this knowledge about old crops and their properties, spread around the globe.
cheers
Roby
Please check out http://www.urgenci.net, the website of Urgenci, the International CSA network. There are CSAs in many countries around the world – the numbers of projects keeps growing, and in each country, people adapt the basic concept to their own culture and its needs.