Community Supported Agriculture Manitoba

As the Just Living group has been talking about ethical food purchasing, there has been some talk of supporting CSAs - Community Supported Agriculture farms.  The CSA Manitoba website offers a directory of participating CSA farms.  A number of us have been partnering with Jonathan's Farm, who sets up at the Robert Steen Community Centre every week.  There are many participating farmers.  If interested, please read on to learn how it works, and how supporting local farmers (who usually operate sustainably) is a positive thing to do.  Signing up is time-sensitive, since partnering with CSA farmers needs to be done before the season begins.

Community Supported Agriculture

The CSA farm directory lists Manitoba Community Supported Agriculture farms (also known as Community Shared Agriculture farms), their locations, contact information and websites. All CSA farmers in Manitoba can post their information on this directory, free of charge.

CSA Box, Photo: CSA Manitoba

What are CSA farms? A CSA farm brings together farmers and people in neighboring communities into a mutually beneficial and direct relationship. CSA farmers receive a pre-determined fee from you, the consumer, before the start of the growing season. In return, you receive shares in the farm’s bounty, usually in the form of a weekly box of produce. Paying up front means you also share the risks due to weather and other factors beyond the control of the farmer.

CSA farms offer fresh, local, high quality produce (usually sustainably grown) with some farmers offering eggs, poultry, meat, herbs and honey.

Membership in a CSA creates relationships between people and the food they eat, the land on which it is grown and those who grow it. This supportive relationship helps to create an economically stable farm operation. The members receive high quality produce, often at below retail prices. In return, farmers are guaranteed a reliable market for a diverse selection of crops. This allows farmers to ensure proper land stewardship practices in order for the soil to be healthy for generations to come.

Click here to go to their website, and click the tab called FARMS to get to the directory.

-submitted by Gareth