Welcome back to the LocalHarvest newsletter.
In most parts of the country, winter is CSA sign up season. With this month's
issue of the newsletter, we're starting a four-part series on all things CSA,
which will include articles on how to choose a CSA (February), what happens
when CSAs go big (March) and how one farm's members are creating an alternate
economy within the CSA community (April).
Earlier this month we participated in a workshop about the future of CSA at the
EcoFarm Conference in Pacific Grove, CA. Putting together our presentation gave
us the opportunity to dig deep into our CSA database and pull out some numbers
we found quite interesting. Like: the average sized CSA in the U.S. has 96
members, but the median is 47. If it's been a while since statistics class, that
means that half of all CSAs have more than 47 members, and half have fewer.
There are a lot of small CSAs out there! What we notice from talking with a lot
of CSA farmers is that many people start small with their CSA and then increase
the number of shares they offer — sometimes quite rapidly — once
their systems are in place and tested. From our vantage point, both the slow
and careful start and the eventual growth are important elements of the
economic viability of the model.
For those who like numbers, here are a few more. Of the 3,229 CSAs listed with
LocalHarvest, we have 'size' data for 2766. Of those, 2,202 have 100 or fewer
shareholders, another 504 offer 101 - 500 shares, and finally, 60 farms have
more than 500 CSA members. Extrapolating from those numbers, we see that
CSAs of 100 shareholders or less serve 25% of all CSA members in the country.
Those in the 101 - 500 braket serve 52% of CSA members, and large CSAs of 500
or more supply 23% of all subscribers.
To put this in context, the total number of shares offered by our CSAs is about
390,000. That number represents one-half of one percent (0.5%) of all
households in the U.S. That might not sound like a lot, but when we mapped out
the growth curve, it was impressive!
If the number of CSAs keeps growing at the same rate as CSAs have been joining
our site over the last three years, by 2020, there will be over 18,000 CSAs in the U.S.
For even more fun, Guillermo animated the growth of CSAs in a little movie,
which you can see
here. Each green triangle represents one CSA farm, and the dates shown are
drawn from data reported by the farmers themselves. It's a neat
little visual, and takes just 12 seconds of your life.
Many of you are among the country's 390,000+ CSA members. If you've had a good
experience, maybe you'll consider talking to a few friends about joining a CSA
in your area. And if you have never given CSA a try, would like to be part of a
local farm, and enjoy eating veggies, like to cook, you may be a perfect
candidate for CSA membership! You can find one near you with our search engine.
To the start of a wonderful CSA season!
Erin Barnett
Director
LocalHarvest
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