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So what is a CSA share?

 

Community-supported agriculture (CSA) is an alternative economic model of agriculture and food distribution and a delicious one at that.  Apart from selling directly to the consumer (you lovely people, you), this takes it an extra step in the direction of a solidarity economy. CSA members, or subscribers, pay at the beginning of the year (or through monthly installments throughout the year) for a share of the anticipated harvest. This will allow us to concentrate on farming and looking after our family.
 
It is as basic as this: you select a “share” of meat you will take when our membership is open ( by way of purchasing lamb or beef boxes via our shop) and pay for it upfront or in monthly installments. Simple.

 

We then deliver to you throughout the year when our lamb and beef are ready for processing (approximately 3 times a year)

If there is any one way to best support a farming family, it is to purchase a CSA share. By committing yourself to a share, you are freeing us up from having to market our product to make sales and giving us the financial confidence to make regular and better farming decisions. We are all about fostering a deeper connection to our customers and we believe that this does just that. And best of all you have a direct link to us, the farmer, and to where your food is coming from. We are always just an email or call away. 
 
As a way of getting to know us even more, we will host farm days when you can come and visit the farm and have a tour.  You will learn about our style of farming, ask the burning questions but most importantly share a feast of good food and meet other CSA members. 

 

A History of the CSA movement
 
The term "community-supported agriculture" was coined in the Northeastern United States in the 1980s, influenced by European biodynamic agriculture ideas formulated by Rudolf Steiner. Two European farmers, Jan Vander Tuin from Switzerland and Trauger Groh from Germany, brought European biodynamic farming ideas to the United States in the mid-1980s. Vander Tuin had co-founded a community-supported agricultural project named Topinambur located near Zurich, Switzerland. Coinage of the term "community-supported agriculture" stems from Vander Tuin. This influence led to the separate and simultaneous creation of two CSAs in 1986.
 
A parallel model called Teikei existed in Japan as early as the mid-1960s. Similarly, Dr Booker T Whatley, a professor of agriculture in Alabama, advocated for Clientele Membership Clubs as early as the 1960s.
 
Since the 1980s, community-supported farms have been organised throughout North America — mainly in New England, the Northwest, the Pacific coast, the Upper Midwest, and Canada. North America now has at least 13,000 CSA farms of which 12,549 are in the US according to the US Department of Agriculture in 2007. The rise of CSAs seems to be correlated with the increase in awareness of the environmental movement in the United States.
 
In Australia, it is still a relatively unknown method of purchasing produce. Let’s change that!