Healthy soil and sustainable growing

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Local farmers stray from regimented CSA concept
Sunday, January 23, 2011 By KELLY HUTH  The Express-Times
http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/entertainment/index.ssf?/base/living-1/129575913784730.xml&coll=3

Naydene Porter-Reeder is quick to utter "all farms are not created equal."

The owner of Reeder Farms LLC in Forks Township says she offers a Buyer's 
Choice program -- a significant departure from the traditional Community 
Supported Agriculture model, or what she calls the black hole of the industry.

"People wanted me to do a CSA, but I disagree with them," she says. "Produce 
is the most perishable product out there. When it's ready, it needs a home. 
It's got to go."

Porter-Reeder's concerns lie in the fact that CSAs are open to interpretation 
and operate without regular units of measure or enforced standards.

The Buyer's Choice program allows users to prepay and fill up a debit card 
with a $350 minimum and then shop from an on-site farm store -- whenever they 
like. Members get pricing discounts, notification when products become 
available and bonuses for early signup.

"Nothing is off limits. You decide what you need," Porter-Reeder says of the 
yearlong set-up. "I created this program for the consumer to keep control 
over feeding their family.

"I don't think it's my responsibility to force you to eat anything. My job as 
the farmer is to produce new products and offer it to you to try."

"The old-style CSA is pay upfront and pick up a box once a week," says Lynn 
Prior, director of the Greater Lehigh Valley Chapter of Buy Fresh, Buy Local. 
"Now they're getting more creative and evolving."

Prior cites Keepsake Farm & Dairy in Northampton. Owner John Place allows 
customers to prepay $500 or $1,000 for six months of organically raised 
dairy, eggs and meat. In exchange for early payment, customers receive a $50 
or $150 credit, respectively.

Porter-Reeder says part of her fear with a traditional CSA is that farmers 
who also operate a retail outlet may think of profits first and shareholders 
second, or provide shareholders with produce from another farm. But 
Porter-Reeder points out not all CSAs are rotten.

"When it's good, it's good. But club CSAs are not for everyone. If you're a 
picky eater, it may not work," she says.

"Then why bother with a CSA at all? That's not a true CSA," says Cathy Reis, 
owner of Heritage Farm CSA. Reis says the traditional CSA weekly pickup 
schedule helps farmers plan how much to plant and pick, reducing risk and 
eliminating waste.

A customer's "commitment to us is not just financial -- it's also a promise 
to pick things up," Reis says. "Through the CSA, we give them things they may 
not buy otherwise, like purple green beans, orange cauliflower and 
funny-looking squash."

Reis grows 75 varieties of vegetables during her CSA season.

Heather Brady, co-owner of Open Acres CSA in Upper Black Eddy, and provider 
of a farm stand at Schneiderwind Farm, questions whether a Buyer's Choice 
program differs from a grocery store or farmers' market.

"Every part of our CSA is about the members. We're growing for them; they're 
not getting leftovers. They're getting the freshest of everything," Brady 
says. Some may like flexibility, she says, but other customers prefer 
regimented CSAs where they know they'll try new things.

All farmers agree on one point: first-timers need to talk with a farmer about 
how food is grown and how a CSA is run before signing up.

"It's not how you support (local farms); it's that you do support," 
Porter-Reeder says. "Choose what works for you."