CSA is, in most of the US, a small farm business strategy. Subscribers prepay for (usually) produce, eggs, and sometimes, meats, which the farmer delivers during the growing season. Small farms traditionally have not been major players in Southern California. Agriculture was dominated by the citrus industry. Despite the division of citrus into five-acre producers, the management of farms and marketing of produce was in the hands of large cooperatives, such as Sunkist. There were small vegetable and egg producers, scattered throughout the region before World War II often Asian, but they did not dominate farming. And big consumers of free produce and meats, such as large restaurants, often had their own farms. As a result, community supported agriculture has not been widely adopted in the region.
Riverside County, the heart of the historic citrus industry, which long ago moved to the Central Valley, has recently seen a few CSA farms become successful. The Press-Enterprise today profiles a CSA foundation located in Riverside City, which distributes food produced in northern San Diego County, which borders Riverside County to the south (Naomi Kresge, "Fresh and Local: Food with Thought: Community-Supported Agriculture; Taste, environmentalism nurture interest in practice", The Press-Enterprise, Riverside, Tuesday, July 3, 2007, A1; on-line, titled, "Community-suported agriculture delivers fresh, local food").
The article does not explain why the CSA cooperative is organized as a "foundation"; perhaps, it is a registered as a non-profit organization. It is also not clear whether the farmer who produces the food distributed by the foundation is also a member of the foundation.
The Tierra Miguel Foundation farm has 85 acres, planted to "squash, cucumbers, melons, beans, summer carrots, eggplant, peppers and tomatoes next to lettuce being allow to go to seed for next year. Members pay $133 a month for 15 to 20 poinds of produce delivered weekly or $66.50 a month for biweekly delivery." According to the on-line version of the story, the Foundation apparently owns its farm and has 48 subscribers in the inland counties.
The Inland Orange Conservancy, another CSA organization, is the "largest inland community-supported agriculture organization." It has 1,200 members, who "paid dues of $65 for a 14-week season of oranges, grapefruit an cother citrus, eating 167 tons and donating 84 tons to charity."
The Temecula area in south Riverside County has several CSA farms. One farmer, Jill Mann, whose farm is named Rancho Papagilo, sells eggs. (She is pictured with goats, but what she does with the goats is not mentioned.) Although the print article mentions her operation only briefly, the on-line video of her is several minutes long and includes her discussion about vegetarianism, humane raising of farm animals (her chickens and goats), and whether farm animals should be treated with antibiotics when sick.
Another Temecula farmer, Lynne van Dyke has a list of 25 subscribers, who pay $20 a week for produce. A third CSA farm near Temecula has traditionally supplied coastal communities, but now as 48 subscribers in the inland counties.
Much of the appeal of CSA products, according to the farmers, is that it is fresh and clean.
A second article on a Temcula farm discusses a farmer, David Barnes, who sells to restaurants, but not on a subscriber or CSA basis (Sean Nealon,"Home-Grown Collaboration: Wine Country farmer and others cultivate an effort to sell produce directly to eateries", The Press-Enterprise, Riverside, Tuesday, July 3, 2007, on-line under title,"Wine country farmer enjoys fruits of collaborating with others"). He has a partnership with another farmer.
Barnes has been farming for 16 years. "He can make up to $5,000 during one 14-hour day delivering to 20 San Diego-restaurants." Barnes delivers twice a week. In addition to other cropos, Barnes grows "three types of potatoes and three types of onions [and] four varieties of apples."
Barnes is partner with another Temecula area farmer, Phil Noble, sells exclusively to restaurants. He raises 30 kinds of fruits and vegetables, including 15 varieties of tomatoes.
The Press-Enterprise articles on-line are accompanied by podcasts and videos. The videos are well worth viewing.
Video: Harvesting at Crows Pass Farm
Video: Visit Tierra Miguel and Rancho Papagallo
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