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  • From: KAKerby AT aol.com
  • To: market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] interesting read on CSAs
  • Date: Sun, 28 Feb 2010 12:28:38 EST

Very interesting that you would mention a web-based solution to solve some of the administrative issues.  That's almost verbatim what we'd come up with here as a potential solution too.  I haven't written such a web page yet, and haven't even wrapped my brain around what all would need to be done with such a web page, but it's nice to see someone else thinking along the same lines.  John, are you a programmer as well as grower?  That's the background I come from.  I'd be game to collaborate with you on something like this that we could share with other growers.  Not sure if it's quite as complicated as putting a man on the moon but it might be close.  Nevertheless I'd be game to try.
Kathryn Kerby
Frog Chorus Farm
Snohomish, WA
 
In a message dated 2/28/2010 6:30:35 A.M. Pacific Standard Time, john AT seldomseenfarm.com writes:
I think that article raises a number of valid issues with the CSA model.  If you're dealing with a subscription/drop site model, it is likely more expensive to run than a similarly sized farmers market.  But there are many benefits to cash flow and planning, and then the intangibles. 

In our area there is a business running home delivery of organic foods and products.  They have ~1000 members or more, and that is necessary to make home delivery possible.  They buy some from produce growers, but use industrial organic as a primary source.  The boxes are customizable, and you can add any number of different products to the delivery.  The business has grown very quickly, but they are not limited by the scale of production like a farm would be.  Veggies alone would not be enough to justify home delivery over a wide area.  You would need to get your $/delivery up to the 35-50$ range to be worth while. 

According to the study, 36 percent of members cited supermarket withdrawal as their reason for leaving their CSA program, characterized as “the wrong vegetables in the wrong quantities at the wrong time.”  In other words, consumers wanted more control over the food they purchase.  Perhaps this wouldn’t big such a big deal if it weren’t for the fact that these people self-selected into CSA programs in the first place.  Apparently, those reasons couldn’t overcome the inconveniences of the CSA format.

Has anyone played around with customized CSA boxes, especially with a web based front end (farmigo.com)?  Something that would allow members to customize their boxes and automate some of the administrative functions.  There are a couple web suites out there that will do that, but they're asking =>2% of gross sales, and that is more than I'm willing to pay.  A friend of mine with PHP and MySQL experience is trying to rough in a web based store that will do this.  Our plan was to cherry pick code out of OsCommerce and modify it to work within ordering CSA framework.  I would love it if there was an open source solution.     


John

--
Seldom Seen Farm
Danville, IN
317.509.7828


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