On a damp fall morning, Margaret Putnam and Cynthia Hizer hurry
to gather greens from the
garden before the rain comes.
They own Hazelbrand Farms, an organic farm in Newton County.
They, like organic farmers
across the country, are moving to a new system of doing business
called Community
Supported Agriculture.
“People have had CSAs for years, but they’re really growing
now,” Putnam said.
Community Supported Agriculture allows farmers to share the
business risk with their
community. Individuals contract with the farmer to grow
vegetables for them, which the
customers pay for in advance. They become “shareholders” in the
business.
Each week during the growing and harvesting season, shareholders
get their share of fresh
vegetables from the farmer.
“Farmers benefit because they receive an immediate source of
capital and are able to share the
risk with a community of supporters,” said Luanne Lohr, an
economist with the University of
Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
“The consumers benefit because they know where their food comes
from,” she said.
CSAs are as much about building community as about farming,
Putnam said. “They help small
farmers like us find people in the community who believe in what
we’re doing and are willing
to support us,” she said.
The produce offered, and the opportunities for on-farm
activities, may differ from farm to
farm. But all CSAs depend on a committed group of shareholders,
Lohr said.
The shareholders at Hazelbrand Farms are called “the buyers’
club.”
“The buyers’ club is made up of about 30 people from around the
area who want fresh,
high-quality, organic produce,” Putnam said.
CSAs allow farmers to devote most of their time to producing
food, rather than marketing
their products.
“CSA shareholders in the Southeast are a fairly high-income
group,” Lohr said. “The CSA
structure works best in large urban areas. However, they can be
structured for other
purposes.”
Atlanta is a prime market for CSAs because of its
demographics.
Hugh Lovel, who operates the Union Agricultural Institute in
Blairsville, Ga., has had a CSA
for 10 years. It gives him the cash flow for his farm. He
charges a membership fee and a
deposit, which members get back in produce.
“We get money in the spring and pay it back in produce
throughout the summer,” Lovel said.
“One of the chief obstacles for farmers is the original cash
outlay.”
The original cash outlay is also an obstacle for some potential
customers. CSAs usually charge
$500 to $1,000 for memberships.
“It sounds like a lot, but it’s $22 per week for the season,”
Putnam said. “Most people spend
more than that for produce at the grocery store if they have a
family.”
Recent research by Lohr and research partner Deborah Kane showed
that CSAs’ biggest
problem is keeping shareholders.
“Turnover rates from 30 percent to 50 percent aren’t uncommon
for CSAs in the United
States,” Lohr said. “When turnover is high, demands on farmers’
time can be overwhelming.”
UGA researchers joined seven Southeastern CSAs to find out what
influenced that turnover.
They found that while many shareholders thought they wanted to
try new varieties of
vegetables, the exotic vegetables didn’t appeal to their
families, and many went unused.
Shareholders expected the produce to be their main supply for
the season, but ended up
supplementing the new foods with their old favorites from the
grocery store.
“I have more turnover than I’d like on the CSA,” Lovel
said. “One in eight really turns out to
be a customer that orders regularly. The others fizzle out.”
Lovel said his best customers are those who like to cook and eat
most meals at home.
