permaculture

[Lawrence London <lfljvenaura@gmail.com>]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Elizabeth Henderson <elizabethhenderson13@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, Feb 21, 2017 at 4:13 PM
Subject: [SANET-MG] CSA Charter - please help spread the word!
To: "comfood@elist.tufts.edu" <comfood@elist.tufts.edu>, "
nefood@elist.tufts.edu" <nefood@elist.tufts.edu>, sanet-mg@googlegroups.com,
GFJA List <growing_foodandjustice@lists.riseup.net>




*NEWS -** For immediate release*

*February 24, 2017 Press Release  *

*Launch Date Approaches for Historic CSA Farm Charter in the USA and Canada*

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farms across the United States and
Canada are setting roots more deeply in the land as they unite under a
community-developed *CSA Charter* that provides a clear definition of what
CSA is all about.

With 30 years of history and development, over 7,500 healthy, sustainable
community farms have been established in the US, and many thousands more in
Canada. These sustainable farms are directly networked with hundreds of
thousands of households in the towns and cities where they are based and
provide weekly shares of fresh, healthy, locally-grown food.

Together, regional networks and independent CSAs in the USA and Canada are
banding together to launch an innovative and strengthening *Charter for
CSAs.*  The Charter will be inaugurated on CSA Sign-up Day, February 24,
2017.

CSAs that endorse the Charter are making a public commitment to uphold the
principles and practices delineated in the Charter. It will provide a
window of transparency for member households and for farmers, helping
define and clarify what CSA farms are all about.

In the words of Elizabeth Henderson, CSA farmer and author of *Sharing the
Harvest*, “CSA is a tremendously flexible concept for consumer-farmer
connections. It’s an alternative system of distribution based on community
values. The economics of direct sales make this a win-win solution for
farmers and farm members. The farmer gets a decent price and the member
pays less, since there is no middleman.”

“For the farmer,” she added, “CSA offers the possibility of a broad support
group. Those groups are composed of local people who know about the farm,
who genuinely care about it’s survival, and who are willing to share the
farmer’s risks and rewards.

“In reciprocity, CSA farm members have the opportunity to eat fresh,
healthy food, to connect with the earth, to know and trust in the people
who grow their food, to deepen their understanding of seasonal eating, to
support the local economy, and to take an empowered stance of accepting
responsibility for one of our most basic needs.”

Anthony Graham, a farmer for 30 years at the Temple-Wilton Community Farm
in New Hampshire, said, “When we started the Temple Wilton Community Farm,
we were interested in community and in the 'culture' of agriculture. What
we were attempting to set up was a way for a community of people to support
the existence of a farm through good times and bad by making pledges of
financial support over the course of one year. By agreeing to support the
existence of the farm our members became co-farmers.”

You can find the full *Charter for CSAs in the USA and Canada *along with
background information and a special logo on http://csaday.info/csa-charter/
.



For more information, contact Elizabeth Henderson,
elizabethhenderson13@gmail.com, 585-764-8471 <(585)%20764-8471>.


Below you will find the charter language and attached are the logo and the
introduction to the Charter explaining why there is a need for it, and the
historical situation to which CSA responds. This is language you can use in
explaining the process to CSAs that want to endorse the Charter:

Please consider endorsing the CSA Charter! Together, regional networks and
independent CSAs in the USA and Canada are banding together to launch an
innovative and strengthening *Charter for CSAs.*  The Charter will be
inaugurated on CSA Sign-up Day, February 24, 2017.  CSAs that endorse the
Charter are making a public commitment to uphold the principles and
practices delineated in the Charter. The process for endorsing the Charter
is really simple - read it, and if it fits with your definition of CSA and
your practices, endorse it, then send it out to your members and the press. 
You
can find the full *Charter for CSAs in the USA and Canada *along with
background information and a special logo that CSA Charter endorsers can
use on http://csaday.info/csa-charter/.


Ruth Blackwell and I will be appearing on Thursday Feb 23 on Connections,
 a talk show on WXXI, public radio in Rochester, NY.  The session will be
available as a podcast within a day of the show.  Hopefully, we will do a
good job talking about the Charter, its meaning, its history and purposes.


Here is the Charter language:

*Charter for CSAs in the USA and Canada*

It is up to each CSA farm and its community to build a model that suits
them best and to mutually ensure that the CSA upholds the principles of
this charter.

1.      Farm members buy directly from the farm or group of farms. There is
no middleman.



2.      The farm provides member families with high quality, healthy,
nutrient-dense, fresh and preserved, local and low fossil-fuel food or
fiber, filling the share primarily with products grown on the farm or, if
purchased from other farms, clearly identified as to origin.



3.      Farm members commit to the CSA, sharing the bounty and the risks of
farming by signing an agreement with the CSA and paying some part in
advance, even as little as two weeks for those on Food Stamps.



4.      The farm nurtures biodiversity through healthy production that is
adapted to the rhythm of the seasons and is respectful of the natural
environment, of cultural heritage, and that builds healthy soils, restores
soil carbon, conserves water and minimizes pollution of soil, air and water.



5.      Farmers and members commit to good faith efforts for continuous
development of mutual trust and understanding, and to solidarity and
responsibility for one another as co-producers.



6.      Farm members respect the connection with the land upon which the
CSA grows their food and strive to learn more and to understand the nature
of growing food in their locale.



7.      Farmers practice safe-handling procedures to ensure that the
produce is safe to eat and at its freshest, tastiest, and most nutritious



8.      CSA prices reflect a fair balance between the farmers’ needs to
cover costs of production and pay living wages to themselves and all farm
workers so that they can live in a dignified manner, and members’ needs for
food that is accessible and affordable.



9.      Farmers consult with members, take their preferences into account
when deciding what crops to grow and communicate regularly about the
realities of the farm.



10.   Farm members commit to cooperation with the community of members and
to fulfill their commitments to the CSA.



11.  Farmers commit to using locally adapted seeds and breeds to the
greatest extent possible.



12.  The CSA seeks paths to social inclusiveness to enable the less
well-off to access high quality food and commits to growing the CSA
movement through increasing the number of CSAs and collaboration among them.




-- 
Let's continue to work for the triple bottom line -- ecologically sound,
economically viable, socially just and humane.

-- 
Your use of this list constitutes agreement to abide by the SANET Terms of
Use at https://groups.google.com/d/msg/sanet-mg/OuearvWaHXo/sfD_lIdsCwAJ.

To learn about digest mode or other settings visit
https://support.google.com/groups/answer/1047839?hl=en.
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
"SANET-MG" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an
email to sanet-mg+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to sanet-mg@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/sanet-mg.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.



-- 
Lawrence F. London, Jr.
lfljvenaura@gmail.com
https://sites.google.com/site/avantgeared

Attachment: charter logo b&w (1).png
Description: PNG image

Attachment: Charter for CSAs in the USA and Canada - final language as of Jan 11, 2017.pdf
Description: Adobe PDF document