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  • From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost@gilanet.com>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] CSA Press Release
  • Date: Mon, 15 Dec 2003 13:24:14 -0700


Wolfgang Stränz <straenz@web.de>
www.buschberghof.de

Community Supported Agriculture

History of CSA
Free market economy can be easily defined as competition between private
companies to provide the consumer with the desired goods and services at the
lowest costs and the highest prices to gain the biggest possible profit. The
idea that the price is a function of offer and demand can only be regarded
today as a euphemism.
In Germany the low-price food distributors Aldi and Lidl have a market share
of more than 30% and a yield of turnover of more than 5% whereas the
conventional distributors only reach less than 2%. The Albrecht brothers,
the owners of Aldi are the third richest people in the world, only being
beaten by Bill Gates and Warren Buffet.

Food being sold so cheaply must be produced at the lowest possible cost and
as a result of these methods of production most of the food being bought
there can only be designated as worthless, to avoid the term crap.

The history of industrial food production is a history of scandals as well,
only to name a few of the most notorious: Minimata, BSE, foot and mouth
disease, hormones, antibiotics and anabolics in meat production, glycol
being added to Austrian wine, all only in order to get a maximum of profit.

To pour one kilo more of salt into the cheese vessel will improve the value
of the added salt enormously and as a second benefit will give the mineral
water industry a boost.

Since industrialisation of agriculture began in the second half of the 19th
century we can observe a steady decline in food quality and a steady
increase in nourishment related diseases and allergies.

In reaction to these observations citizens began to act.
1971 the first teikei group was founded in Japan by a housewife as a
reaction to the minimata catastrophe. Teikei means ,putting the farmer¹s
face on food¹. Teikei is a movement consisting of ca 1,000 groups with 10 to
5,000 families, 650 food coops with 16 millions of members in total (figures
from 1993).
At the end of the seventies the first food coops were established in
Switzerland: (Les Jardins de Cocagne, Geneva, 1978; Birsmattehof, Basel,
1980 Topinambur, Zürich, 1982)
In Germany already existing food coops originating from the anti nuclear
movement at the end of the seventies became even more popular after the
Chernobyl disaster in 1986.

1986 the first two CSA schemes were founded independently from each other in
the USA:
Indian Line Farm, Massachusetts, by Robyn Van En and Jan Vander Tuin, and
the
Temple Wilton Community Farm, New Hampshire by Trauger Groh,

Jan Vander Tuin had been working at Topinambur in Zürich and had visited Les
Jardins de Cocagne before. Robyn Van En is the co-author of ,Sharing the
Harvest¹ and coined the term Community Supported Agriculture ­ CSA.
Trauger Groh, co-author of ,Farms of Tomorrow¹, had been working on
Buschberghof, a farm situated ca 40 km in the East of Hamburg in Northern
Germany where over decades after the World War II modern ideas of farming,
modern ideas of farm property and modern ideas of cooperation between
farmers and citizens had been developed.

Today ca 1,400 farms in USA and Canada are involved in the CSA movement
20 in France (AMAP ­ Association de Maintien de l'Agriculture Paysanne,
start in 2001)
20 in the UK (CSA)
3 in The Netherlands (Pergola)
1 in Denmark (Landbrugslauget)
3 in Germany (Wirtschaftsgemeinschaft, 1988, 1991, 2003)

In 1987 talks, discussions and negotiations about setting up a CSA scheme at
Buschberghof started, inspired by Trauger Groh¹s experience in the US, who
had been living and working on Buschberghof 1968-1985, and encouraged
wholeheartedly by Wilhelm-Ernst Barkhoff, the late founder of the GLS Bank
in Bochum.
In 1988 our CSA scheme ,Wirtschaftsgemeinschaft Buschberghof¹ was founded.
It is on Buschberghof, a 86 ha farm, with five farming and food processing
families plus 12 handicapped living and working on the farm. The farm has a
capacity for ca 300 consumers or 90 households.


What is Community Supported Agriculture?
The future of farming is definitely not large-scale corporate farming as
being promoted by US or EU governments, but lies in re-establishing the link
between consumers and farmers

CSA means sharing the risk and responsibility of farming between
* active Farmers ­ doing the farm work -­ and
* non-active farmers ­ bearing the financial burden by paying the annual
costs of running the farm.

At the beginning of each economical year, the non-active farmers make
pledges to cover the farming budget. This includes all costs, depreciation
of the machinery and buildings, farmers¹ incomes, holidays and pension funds
and a sum for future investments.

After everything has been paid already, there is no need to sell the farm
produce; it can be distributed among all farmers.
There are no fixed membership fees at Buschberghof, everybody pays according
to her/his financial possibilities and gets food from the farm according to
her/his needs.
CSA means as well financing the farm in solidarity among active and
non-active farmers and among non-active farmers themselves.
All farmers look upon themselves as producers, distributors and consumers at
the same time.

CSA gives freedom to farmers ­ freedom from market forces, which exist
even in Organic Farming ­ freedom for farming
CSA is ethical financing ­ fair trade ­ responsible consumption
CSA is brotherhood in economy
CSA allows protection of the environment ­ conservation of rare breeds ­
work with handicapped
CSA is creating new jobs on the farm in order to fulfil the needs of all
people being involved


Aspects of CSA

Agricultural aspects
The farm produce in a CSA scheme is not being sold but distributed among the
participants. When a CSA farm produces more than the amount that can be
eaten, it will not increase the incomes of the farm, in opposition to
conventional marketing, where more produce means more incomes. Consequently
the CSA farmers¹ main goal will be quality, the quality of the soil, the
health of the plants and animals, the quality of the food.
All the disadvantages of industrial large-scale agriculture will be avoided
e.g. mass animal husbandry, monocultures, artificial fertilizing, and the
appliance of pesticides, herbicides and fungicides, let alone genetically
modified organisms.
On a CSA farm the farmer can concentrate on farming, not being distracted by
the needs of marketing or the demands of a so-called agricultural market.


Economical aspects
On a CSA farm the farmers have a guaranteed income. They do not need any
bank loans, because the non-active farmers pay in advance. Even if the
harvest fails, it will be not a catastrophe, because the non-active farmers
promised to cover the cost of farming. The economical risk of farming is
being shared among active farmers and non-active farmers.
The non-active farmers get most of their food from the farm, all that is
possible to be made there. From Buschberghof they get potatoes and
vegetables, grain, flour and bread (11 different sorts), milk and produce
from the dairy, like butter, yoghurt, quark, fresh cheese, soft cheese and
three sorts of hard cheese, as well as meat, sausages, eggs and poultry.
The active farmers know the demands of their customers and can adjust the
production according to it, which is better than producing for an anonymous
market with unknown results. It is therefore not necessary to feed the pigs
with an eventual surplus production or produce which had not been sold.

Ecological aspects
On a CSA farm it is possible to keep rare breeds that are suitable for this
special farm but otherwise unfit for industrial large-scale farming (E.g. on
Buschberghof there is the very last complete herd of Angler Rotvieh, a
variety of cattle which had been Germany¹s export hit up to the thirties of
the last century, now being under the threat of extinction).
Because of the various needs of the community, it is necessary to have a
wide variety of animals, grains and vegetables, which is ecologically
sounder than only a small variety on a larger scale.
All packaging material like milk bottles, yoghurt jars or vegetable crates
is being re-used.
The distribution system is divided up into local depots, where people take
turns in driving to the farm to get the food for their co-members.

Social aspects
By setting up a CSA scheme a long-term solid producer-customer-relation
between active and non-active farmers will develop. By experience of
Buschberghof there is a fluctuation of customers at a rate of 10% p. a. but
ca 1/3 of the members participates for more than 10 years, a quarter from
the very beginning 15 years ago.
As there is no fixed basic rate for a so-called ,share¹ a social
reconciliation among the members is possible and achieved. Nevertheless a
recommended basic rate exists for members without fantasy.
At a local level the members of a depot develop social contacts and support
each other in their common aim.

Educational aspects
Being a member of a CSA scheme a participant gets to know a lot more about
farming and food production, planting and harvesting, about weather
conditions, ecology, husbandry, the seasons of the year, a knowledge that
had been common in the past centuries among all people but which is going to
get lost in our times. 70 years of kolkhoz agriculture in the former USSR
has brought traditional farmers¹ knowledge and skills there close to
extinction ­ the same will happen in the West when continuing farming in the
same industrial scale.

Aspects of simplicity
Mostly the participants organize the distribution of the food. No record of
ordered food is being kept, no pork chop put upon a scales, no bill has to
be written, it is only half of the bookkeeping on the farm.


Questionnaire

How do we perceive the development of our activities?

Internally We are developing next to perfection
* Buschberghof into a sustainable system of farming
* our CSA scheme into a group being aware of the problems of the farm, of
farming in general, of the care for the soil, plants and animals
* the mutual benefit of the people being involved

Externally We
* have been helpful in developing CSA schemes on other farms in Germany and
Europe.
* try to set up a European network of CSA farms


What are the potentials and the limits of CSA?

Potentials A CSA scheme
* is possible on any farm
* gives an opportunity to let small family farms survive
* allows a better understanding between consumers and farming
* allows a better understanding of the farmers about the needs of the
consumers and vice versa
* makes it possible to reveal the mutual benefit between farmers and
consumers and the consumers themselves


Limits A CSA scheme is limited by
* the size/capacity of a farm
* the will to cooperate
* the loss of mutual trust among the members


What support is needed to ensure the promotion and development of CSA?

Spreading the word is inevitable to promote and develop CSAs. We offer a
test box and a test month to get new members addicted to the farm produce.
Bigger promotional events in the past had not been successful to get missing
members.

Nationwide and European networks have to be built up. A major obstacle is
the language barrier, e.g. the Buschberghof Website
(http://www.buschberghof.de) is still only in German.
Meetings and conferences are helpful for showing the different perceptions
of CSA in different places and countries.
Possibly the media can give access of the ideas of CSA to a wider audience.
But the activities to set up a CSA scheme have always to come from the
people being involved


In the light of these questions what are our observations on the reference
document?

A. The necessity to introduce ethics (social and environmental) into economy
Many of the CSAs are inspired by the ideas of the Social Threefold Order
developed by the Austrian Philosopher Rudolf Steiner. This implies
brotherhood in economy.

B. There are citizens who are committed to this idea. How many are there?
Where are they?
(See above ­ history)

C. In which of our actions do we play a key-role in regard to social
cohesion and sustainable development?
By pioneering the ideas of CSA we show and prove that other economical
systems than free market economy are possible and requested.

D. What are our needs to be better affirmed?
It is only up to the actors, their mutual trust and their will to cooperate.

E. Which are the needs for support by the States and contracts that can be
set up between States and actors?
CSA is a grass root movement. Support by the States or even worse contracts
might be contra productive.

But promoting the ideas of CSA and the CSA movement should be supportive.

------ Ende der weitergeleiteten Nachricht







  • [Livingontheland] CSA Press Release, Tradingpost, 12/15/2003

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