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Community Supported Agriculture

2012 shares are now available. Click here to register!

What is Community Supported Agriculture?

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA, a.k.a. farm shares) embodies a unique relationship between producers and consumers, which benefits consumers, farmers, local communities and the environment. Through CSA’s, small farmers sustainably grow a diversity of food, and sell it directly to consumers in their local community. This model starkly contrasts the industrial food system in which food is grown on large, energy-intensive farms, picked before ripening, shipped thousands of miles, stored in warehouses and sold in corporate supermarkets. In a CSA, consumers, known as "shareholders" purchase a share of the anticipated harvest at the beginning of the season (between January and March). Every week during the season (June to November), shareholders receive a “share” of the produce harvested that week. While the weight and contents of each share will vary over the course of the season, reflecting seasonal variations, CSA is designed to provide a weakly blend of seasonally available fruit, salad and cooking greens, tomatoes, eggplant, carrots, potatoes and other vegetables, with quantities and varieties suitable for a household of two (Small Share) or four (Large Share). To get an idea of what is contained in each weekly share, view the Large and Extended Season Share Projections and Small and Extended Season Share Projections for the 2012 season.

The CSA model shares the joys and risks of agriculture between producers and consumers: consumers get fresher, higher quality produce, and learn about agricultural in New England by eating what is in season and through the weekly newsletter, while at the same time accepting some of the risk of farming, including unpredictable weather, pests and other factors. Farmers are able to plan their production based on a known number of customers, and are able to use the money paid upfront to purchase seeds and other expenses at the start of the season. The CSA model benefits the local community by providing a key market to the financial viability of local farms, and by keeping money circulating with the local community. The CSA model supports an environmentally sound food system by promoting small scale, diversified production, with limited transportation and reduced packaging.

Details about the World PEAS CSA

The World PEAS CSA is a unique program that combines the produce of several small farmers, rather than sourcing from just a single farm. This makes it possible for beginning or small-scale farmers who cannot manage a CSA on their own to participate by growing just a couple of the crops in the CSA. This multi-producer model, also provides greater crop diversity for CSA shareholders.

In addition to the crops grown by farmers in the New Entry program, the World PEAS CSA also features additional crops from other local farms and orchards. This allows us to include crops that program farmers don’t grow like apples, peaches, pears and sweet-corn.

Registration for the World PEAS CSA runs from January to March. Beginning the second week of June, Small and Large Shares are distributed every week, until October (18 weeks in total). A separate Extended Season Share extends the season to Thanksgiving with three shares, distributed every other week. Shares can be picked up in several locations in the greater Lowell and Boston areas including: East Boston, Chinatown, Cambridge (3 locations), Bedford, Burlington (2 locations), Winchester, Medford/Somerville, Charlestown (2 locations), Dracut, Andover, Lowell, Lexington and Concord. For information about when and where you can pick up your share, see details the CSA Pickup Locations. For pricing information or to register, click here.