The Real Deal on Community Supported Agriculture

In the recent documentary, The Real Dirt on Farmer John, filmmaker Taggart Siegel has pushed the notion of community supported agriculture into the mainstream. This film about a quirky, creative farmer from the midwest is highly engaging, but more importantly, raises questions about the current agricultural condition in the United States.

The community supported agriculture movement actually began on Farmer John's farm. His idea to rescue his land and the livelihood that his family had historically benefited from created a national movement with global implications. The idea, in general, is the create a self-sustaining system of farming that not only supports and produces for the local community, but also is funded and maintained by the local members. 'Shareholders' buy a vested interest in the farm and are committed to spending a certain amount of time farming, seeding, planting, and organizing with other shareholders. Come harvest time, these shareholders are delivered a weekly supply of vegetables and organic produce that was created at their farm.

Now, this is not a revolutionary idea. In fact, this is how our species began to evolve. Before super-technology, high-speed transportation, and widespread globalization, this is how human beings coexisted. Small communities each had sections responsible for providing a necessary service to the other members of that group. The farmers, of course, were vital contributers to the community. In fact, in early colonial America, these farms were mirror images of these new 'CSA' farms: each member of the community had a shared interest in the farm, and therefore contributed their fair share in seeding, harvesting, and plowing. These new CSA farms are virtually identical to early colonial life in America.

The difference is, however, this type of community-oriented behavior has been missing from contemporary America. The past thirty years have treated us to some of the greatest technological, medical, and environmental breakthroughs; however, each step toward advancing the culture and our knowledge has led us one step away from each other. Instead of bonding locally and solving problems through neighborhood debates, we have moved further into the suburbs, gating ourselves off further in bigger homes, larger spreads of land, and with no communication between neighbors.

CSA farms will not solve our major global problems. However, what they will do is re-foster community involvement. With the line of communication opened back up, more ideas can begin flowing again. Instead of turning to cynicism about Washington, and becoming apathetic in our democratic process, a conversation started at a CSA farm can lead to new ideas about local government, and how local action truly can bring about national change. Instead of holing up in our huge homes, we can become active in these small forums of activity, and contribute to a process to which so many have become uninvolved.