Whats happening to your CSA ? Questions on Ed Levine's tweet
Ed Levine's tweet last night:
farmers getting killed in the NE this year: too much rain, now "late blight" is killing the tomatoes and potatoes. they need our support.
Two questions:
1) What is the best way to support the local farmers (besides a Willie Nelson concert). The obvious answer is to purchase more, but in this case, the farmers may be short on crops to sell.
2) What happens to your CSA shares if your farm's tomato and potato crops are wiped out? I would assume it's part of the risk associated with a CSA, but curious what actually happens.
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8 Comments:
I had a CSA in Chicago during previous summers. They made it clear that as CSA buyers, we assumed some of the risk along with the farmers. If a crop failed, we didn't get that crop, although we usually got something else. Most of the produce was better than I could get at my local grocery, but some was not. That was the risk part. I had no problem with that. And even with the strange weather, friends who are still doing that CSA this summer haven't complained about the produce quality or quantity.
Because CSA buyers pay upfront, I think the CSA is a great way to support local farmers. And since I was getting a variety of crops in each box, I was never that disappointed when one crop failed or wasn't as great as expected.
blackolive at 12:05PM on 08/03/09
CSA is indeed, as blackolive said, an investment in the farm (much like a membership at a co-op); you pay up front to help them with the cost of seeds and getting the farm together early in the year, and then if they have a good year you reap the benefits in your box each week. but you are also taking the chance that it will be too hot/dry/wet/cool of a season, and that you'll have less than usual.
so far this year my CSA (with Tempel Farms) has been pretty great. all of the produce has been fantastic, and their eggs are phenomenal. being my first year, I don't know if we're getting as much as in past years, but I definitely can't complain as far as quality. they have also made a good faith effort to keep the box full, though -- we've gotten fruit twice now from fellow farmer Mick Klug.
anysuchname at 12:46PM on 08/03/09
I'm very happy with my CSA as well, I just wish they would grow less lettuce and leafy greens and more veggies, roots and aliums. I haven't heard anything about tomatoes yet, I hope they weren't affected by blight. Peaches, a crop that I would imagine being susceptible to overly damp weather, have been abundant so far, I so I am keeping my fingers crossed...
simon at 12:55PM on 08/03/09
The only CSA I'm familiar with lost the war of northern aggression.
Poultrygeist at 1:22PM on 08/03/09
I agree with Simon...I have Kale and mixed salad greens coming out my ears...
sammie at 1:39PM on 08/03/09
So I went to check out my farm's news, and sadly, they were hit pretty hard:
http://chubbybunnycsa.blogspot.com/2009/08/farm-news-8309.html
But, they are also putting in some new plants, so if by some miracle the weather stabilizes and we have more reasonable amounts of rain from here on out, there is some hope for tomatoes.
simon at 1:53PM on 08/03/09
My CSA has been pretty good this year so far. There were a few delays with the fruit and the tomatoes due to the weather, but no issues otherwise.
meem21 at 2:12PM on 08/03/09
@simon, I'm sure your farmer is growing other things, but the weather has been a little less than summery, postponing or ruining traditional summer crops.
I get weekly emails from my CSA farmer and he has been lamenting the incredibly cold wet weather in the Northeast which as he puts it, completes the Late Blight disease triangle of host, pathogen and environment. For organic farmers, the only options are to postpone the inevitable death of the plant by spraying mildly human-toxic copper spray (which gets washed off with the heavy rains, of course) or to rip out the tomato plants.
In other CSA news, I'm drowning in cucumbers since they just swell up with all the water.
urbanruralist at 11:32AM on 08/07/09