“Local food” is now a common term as
the Local Food Movement is becoming increasingly popular. Right in the grocery store consumers can
search for the green and white Foodland Ontario symbol. Options also include buying directly from the
farmers at the farm gate or by attending bustling farmers markets. Gardens are a do-it-yourself kind of local
that can be done even in the city.
Another way to buy local that is gaining more interest is the Community Shared
Agriculture (CSA).
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If you have never heard of CSAs, you
are probably having a similar reaction as I did a few months ago: staring at
the screen with a look of confusion as you rack your brain for a combination of
words that would make sense with the abbreviation. “What are CSAs exactly?” you may ask
eventually. Typically CSAs are small and group owned farms with labour
intensive processes. At the beginning of
the season consumers pay a set fee, providing the farmer with a budget for
inputs. As the season progresses the consumer is provided with a weekly
seasonal basket of fresh local food that is either delivered or picked up. Depending on the farm, baskets can contain
vegetables, fruit, meats, eggs, baked goods, honey, maple syrup, and flowers.
The farmer and the consumer share the risks (eg. weather) and benefits (eg.
harvest) of farming. There are many
benefits that CSAs can offer such as reduced energy and environmental costs
from international imports (Fieldhouse, 1996), education and training for consumers
and volunteers, high quality food, consumer input and feedback to farmers,
increased rural and community development, increased freshness, and increased
demand for local goods and services. Some downfalls of CSAs may include
organization difficulties, labour intensive processes, and timing challenges.
One of the benefits of CSAs that I
found particularly interesting was food security (Fieldhouse,1996). Over the course of the summer I have been
learning a lot about food security and what it means. It involves not only having access to enough
affordable food, but food that is culturally appropriate and acceptable to the
individual who consumes it (Government of Canada, 1998, p.9). A study performed in Toronto found that immigrants
desire fresh food they recognize from their country of origin (Koc, &
Welsh, 2001). The problem is that ethnic vegetables that are available are often
imported and of low quality (Adekunle, Filson, Sethuratnam, 2012). If a key value of CSAs is food security it appears
that they need to produce increasing amounts of ethnic food. I was surprised to
find CSAs that are doing just that. Ontario
growers may not be able to grow all types of ethnic produce due to the cooler
climate, but already CSAs near Guelph are growing ethnic vegetables alongside
more Western produce. For example:
The Ignatius Farm CSA just
outside of Guelph offers Asian greens and eggplant, and more (http://www.ignatiusguelph.ca/csa/docs/2012%20Farm%20Brochure.pdf).
Whole Circle Farm CSA near Acton,
ON offers ethnic options such as bok choi, napa cabbage, chard, eggplant,
khlrabi, hot peppers, and more (http://www.wholecirclefarm.ca).
Re-Root Farm near Harriston grows
arugula, Asian greens, celeriac, cilantro, daikon, eggplant, kohlrabi, and more
(http://www.reroot.ca).
Drumlin Farm CSA south east of
Guelph grows a variety of herbs commonly used in ethnic dishes, collards,
edamame, eggplant, pak choy, jalapeno peppers, cayenne peppers, chile peppers,
sweet potatoes, tat soi, and more (http://www.drumlinfarm.ca/).
Even though most of the CSA baskets
still contain mostly produce from Western origins, CSAs are making
headway. A unique aspect of CSAs is the
communication that can occur between consumers and the farmer. The people who buy shares are able to have a
say in what is planted and how it will be distributed (Fieldhouse, 1996). The process may be slow, but ethnic buyers
may encourage farmers to continue to experiment with ethnic vegetables in small
quantities that can fit within their budget. The CSAs give farmers the opportunity to
experiment with ethnic vegetables that can grow in Canada and under what
conditions, while sharing the risk with the consumers that are demanding the
ethnic produce.
Not only do CSAs have the potential to encourage food security and
growth of ethnic vegetables in Ontario, CSAs can also increase the public’s
knowledge of ethno-cultural vegetables and ethnic foods in general. Before becoming an Undergraduate Research
Assistant this summer, I was working in a small town grocery store as a
cashier. Every so often my boss would
tell me to take a good look at the newly arrived vegetables so I knew what they
were when the rare customer bought them.
Those new arrivals would include vegetables like chayote squash, okra,
taro root, daikon, and many other vegetables I’d never heard of prior to this
summer. Even vegetables such as cassava,
egg plant and bok choy that the store carried majority of the time (in small
quantities) were seldom purchased. An
overwhelming majority of people skip right by these vegetables if they don’t
know what they are. Most people can’t be
bothered to figure out how to cook such vegetables. In CSAs consumers are often exposed to new
produce. When CSAs grow ethnic
vegetables there is potential to create public awareness of ethnic foods. Often CSAs will provide nutritional
information and recipes to consumers. The CSA consumers are introduced to
produce they wouldn’t necessarily try when shopping in a grocery store, as a
result their knowledge increases. Even
though CSAs are small scale, they have potential to increase food security, to
experiment growing ethnic vegetables in Ontario, and increase public awareness
of ethno-cultural vegetables.
Check
out the following websites to find a CSA near you:
Guelph Region: http://www.guelphwellingtonlocalfood.ca/csa
All of Ontario: http://csafarms.ca/CSA%20farmers.htm
References:
Adekunle, B.,
Filson, F., Sethuratnam, S. (2012).
Culturally appropriate vegetables and economic
development. A contextual analysis. Appetite,
59(1), 148-154.
Retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0195666312001274
Government
of Canada. (1998). Canada’s
action plan for food security.
Ottawa, ON. Retrieved from http://www.agr.gc.ca/misb/fsec-seca/pdf/action_e.pdf
Koc, M.,
& Welsh, J. (2001). Food, foodways and immigrant experience. Department
of Canadian Heritage at the Canadian
Ethnic Studies Association Conference.
Retrieved from http://canada.metropolis.net/EVENTS/
ethnocultural/publications/aliments_e.pdf
Fieldhouse,
P. (1996). Community shared agriculture. Agriculture
and Human Values, 13(3), 43-47. Retrieved from
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF01538226#
Morgan
Sage, Undergraduate Research Assistant (URA)
ECVOntario
SEDRD,
University of Guelph