Community-supported Agriculture shares
- Thread starter Rawkstah
- Start date
Yeah, that is a business model worth looking into once established, bulk deliveries to customers who purchase shares with a known
name and quality, very slick, plus folks get to try new veggies and fruit that they otherwise would not normally do because of the bulk
delivery idea.
Nice idea, thanks...
Rhody...
name and quality, very slick, plus folks get to try new veggies and fruit that they otherwise would not normally do because of the bulk
delivery idea.
Nice idea, thanks...
Rhody...
i'm on the other end of the stick on this one... i am a produce farmer by trade and sell some csa shares to help jumpstart things in the spring. most are individual pick up at the farmer's market but i also have one office i deliver a number of them to.
i don't recommend them if you are not willing/able to take the time to cook at home on a regular basis and if you are not willing to be somewhat experimental in what you eat. other than those 2 things the only "complaint" we tend to get is that there is "too much" produce.
unless you have a family of 4 i recommend finding a csa program which does half shares as well as full.
i don't recommend them if you are not willing/able to take the time to cook at home on a regular basis and if you are not willing to be somewhat experimental in what you eat. other than those 2 things the only "complaint" we tend to get is that there is "too much" produce.
unless you have a family of 4 i recommend finding a csa program which does half shares as well as full.
bis,
Walk me through the csa shares process, the highlights. Customers decide they like the types of fruits and veggies grown by you. You use the word "jumpstart" in your response. They pony up a few hundred bucks up front in the spring, in return, they get periodic bundled groups of fruits/vegetables throughout the harvest season. That up front money helps you with production, costs to produce and package, with a small profit built in for you if you spend wisely and don't break the bank growing and delivering your crops. You delivery bulk items to businesses, etc... They then divy up the booty and everyone is happy. However, as you said, this doesn't make sense for less than 4 people who can use the products quickly.
Rhody...
salsalady
eXtreme Business
Rawkstah, if you are interested in having CSA's delivered to your place, perhaps contact someone locally (they are there, online, through farmers markets) and ask them if they will deliver!
Perhaps there is a grower in your area who just didn't think about or know about delivering to an office building. Maybe one of the established CSA's doesn't want to or isnt capable of adding more customers. But maybe there's another grower who just hasn't got into the csa's yet that you could get to work with you.
That was a good article, and talking about how they are now doing inter-office cooking challenges.....WIN! Anything to keep the interest and grow the interest in food and cooking is a good thing.
We've kind of already been-there-done-that in the many ways that we chileheads take peppers and sauces to our work places. I always enjoy reading the stories of how someone has discovered heat. So expanding that to include fresh veggies delivered to the work place, ...that would be a huge thing for folks in urban environments.
Perhaps there is a grower in your area who just didn't think about or know about delivering to an office building. Maybe one of the established CSA's doesn't want to or isnt capable of adding more customers. But maybe there's another grower who just hasn't got into the csa's yet that you could get to work with you.
That was a good article, and talking about how they are now doing inter-office cooking challenges.....WIN! Anything to keep the interest and grow the interest in food and cooking is a good thing.
We've kind of already been-there-done-that in the many ways that we chileheads take peppers and sauces to our work places. I always enjoy reading the stories of how someone has discovered heat. So expanding that to include fresh veggies delivered to the work place, ...that would be a huge thing for folks in urban environments.
I would contact someone about it, but both companies I work for are extremely small companies. I'm talking like count on your fingers the number of employees there are, and half the time I work from home. I'm also not a family of 4, it'd just be me and sometimes my dogs. It sounds like a wonderful idea though. I'm still jealous of anyone who gets fresh produce delivered to their workplace. Actually to be honest I'm usually jealous of nice fresh produce anyway and anywhere.
I have done CSA shares for 3 years. I have had some people interested in me bringing a bunch of shares to one office building but I am too small and too busy for that. Another farmer at market says it is a bad idea because you get people who sign up that aren't really interested (big problem with CSAs) and he would drop off the shares and find tons of produce there the next week. Some of the shareholders would never pick up. It is nice for the farmer to be able to sell to several people in one drop though. I don't want to deliver if I don't have to.
There are many forms of CSA but one is most common, that of getting the same basket as everyone else that week- brought to a drop spot once a week for around 20 weeks. Some CSAs have people pick up only at their farm and they set up all the produce and have them pick out 10 things with a sign of how many of each they can take. That leads to happy customers but lots of waste IMO. I let them tell me some things they do not like and I fill each basket individually into a cooler and then they can pick up within 24 hours.
I am glad I have customers to sell produce to but honestly if I didn't grow the veggies I do, I would rather buy at market than do a CSA. The advantage of a CSA is to know where all our food is coming from, by paying ahead you get more for the money, you eat fresh and seasonally and you are forced to learn to cook or preserve all you get, which can actually be fun.
Ask lots of questions from the farm you choose! There are bad farmers out there that ruin it for everyone. Make sure your prospective farmer has references.
There are many forms of CSA but one is most common, that of getting the same basket as everyone else that week- brought to a drop spot once a week for around 20 weeks. Some CSAs have people pick up only at their farm and they set up all the produce and have them pick out 10 things with a sign of how many of each they can take. That leads to happy customers but lots of waste IMO. I let them tell me some things they do not like and I fill each basket individually into a cooler and then they can pick up within 24 hours.
I am glad I have customers to sell produce to but honestly if I didn't grow the veggies I do, I would rather buy at market than do a CSA. The advantage of a CSA is to know where all our food is coming from, by paying ahead you get more for the money, you eat fresh and seasonally and you are forced to learn to cook or preserve all you get, which can actually be fun.
Ask lots of questions from the farm you choose! There are bad farmers out there that ruin it for everyone. Make sure your prospective farmer has references.