CSAs: A Nutrition Revolution?
by Mary Chang

From June through October, I can push my grocery cart past the produce section because as a member of a community supported agriculture (CSA) farm, I receive a weekly share of organic vegetables so fresh that I can taste the wind and a hint of earth in each sun-smacked bite. Each week the assortment changes depending on what is ready to be harvested. The organic produce of a CSA, besides being absolutely delicious, will often be less expensive than what I'll find in the grocery store, and the variety much more diverse. Here's how it works: in early spring you become a member by sending in a check (approximately $250 $500) to Hearty Roots Community Farm, Little Seed Gardens, or another CSA. From late spring to early autumn you receive a weekly share of the farm's produce. Either you collect your own share at the farm (as with Hearty Roots), or you pick up a medium-sized box at designated drop off points in Tivoli or Rhinebeck (as with Little Seed).

Benjamin Shute, co-owner of Hearty Roots along with Miriam Latzer, says "The only way it's been possible for me to do this is because Hearty Roots is a CSA." For farmers, the modest investment from the community means they are able to cover their costs from the beginning of the season. By relieving farmers of the anxiety of marketing and selling their produce, the whole endeavor becomes more efficient both in energy and resource use.

Members meanwhile feel connected to the farm. In a Little Seed Gardens box, packed in along with your vegetables, you get suggested recipes as well as updates, such as how the weather has affected the green bell peppers. As a CSA member, I even listen to the weather report differently . . . now that I've learned from Ben, for example, that the perfect amount of rain is half an inch on Wednesday and half an inch on Friday or Saturday. My weekly share reminds me about how nature works (the seasons within the season, the coming and going of the beets, the carrots); that vegetables and food take time to grow, that growing necessitates intense cultivation.

Since becoming a CSA member I've become more aware of the strangeness of buying food off a grocery store shelf. I can't help but notice how the organic peppers in the grocery store—four one-size-fits-all peppers that sit on a black styrofoam plate wrapped with plastic wrap and stacked neatly one on top of the other—look slightly faded. When foods are seen as commercial products, they exist as something incidental, as a kind of entertainment. "What is the point of caramel popcorn? The bright blue ice slushees kids love?" local nutritionist Mary Cody asks. "They have little to no nutritional value." What is lost when vegetables and fruits are selected for their preservative and appearance values? Nutritional value. I am surprised. Don't all green peppers offer the same nutrients? Not the case, Mary tells me. Some varietals (often heirlooms) are actually better for us than others in terms of the minerals, protein, and vitamins they offer. The nutritional value of the food we eat also changes depending on how it is grown, including in what kind of soil. A green pepper is not simply a green pepper to our bodies.

Quality food matters. By compressing the time food takes to get to our tables, CSA farmers have more flexibility in how they grow (without pesticides and synthetic fertilizers) and what they grow. They can experiment with the most nutritionally useful heirloom varieties. CSAs remind us that food is ultimately about what we need to live.

Some think that the CSA set-up is a way for the community to share the risk of farming with the farmer, given the undeniable trend towards more extreme weather. Ben argues the opposite, "There's actually quite little risk in investing in a CSA, in part because of the diversity of crops and seed varieties planted." One of Ben's worst weather fears is a sudden hailstorm. But even if a certain crop is wiped out, small farms have enough flexibility to make amends, such as extending the growing season to make up for an early crop loss. The true risk for farmers comes from the high cost of land. In this region, open land is worth more as an estate. Hearty Roots currently rents land, but it's not permanently protected from development. In order to build soils, get a better sense of insect levels during different seasons, and plan the rotation of crops, farms need to be established in one place for years. Without more land trusts and 99-year leases available for small farmers, the viability and growth of small farms such as Hearty Roots will be limited.

We place a great deal of trust in our farmers, especially these days when the lines between food, our bodies, and the environment are clearly connected. CSAs honor all three. With CSAs, there are no slick adverts, just word of mouth, a regular delectable influx of nutrient-rich vegetables (the most tasty and crisp green peppers ever!), and a direct line to the people who grow your food and the community in which we live.

Hearty Roots Community Farm: heartyroots.com

Little Seed Gardens: 518-392-0063

Other CSAs: localharvest.org