Tags Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)

Community-supported agriculture, commonly referred to as a CSA model, is a system that connects the producer and consumers within the food system more closely by allowing the consumer to subscribe to the harvest of a certain farm or group of farms. It is an alternative, socioeconomic model of agriculture and food distribution that allows the producer and consumer to share the risks of farming. In return for subscribing to a harvest, subscribers receive either a weekly or bi-weekly box of produce or other farm goods. This includes in-season fruits and vegetables and can expand to dried goods, eggs, milk, meat, etc. Typically, farmers try to caress a relationship with it’s subscribers by sending weekly letters of what is happening on the farm, inviting them for harvest, or holding an open-farm event. Some CSAs provide for contributions of labor in lieu of a portion of subscription costs.

Measure What Matters In Your Context

10 minute Free read by Edible-Alpha®

Quantitative measurement of key business drivers brings focus and clarity to what can be a chaotic process of entrepreneurship and provides direction that proves to be a north star during times of trial.

Article about Operations for businesses that are Pre-Venture | Startups

Hospital-Based Farming – A Bridge To Community Health And Wellness

55 minutes of Free audio content by Edible-Alpha®

The farm isn’t just a physical location that grows produce - it is part of a commitment by the hospital system to extend healthcare and wellness beyond the hospital campus and empower the community to lead healthier lives. They operate a CSA, a farmers market, community events and a Product To Patients program.

Podcast about Operations for businesses that are Startups

Median On Farm Household Income

Shifting Farm Business Models

10 minute Free read by Edible-Alpha®

Median on-farm household income has been negative for the past 20 years, with many farms keeping their cash flow positive by increasing their debt load. Finding new business models that allow farmers to be profitable while meeting changing consumer demand will require high-quality technical assistance and coordinated effort from multiple actors.

Article about Business Models for businesses that are Growing and Scaling

Ephrata National Bank

How A Bank Can Strengthen Farming Communities Through Innovative Lending

1 hour & 10 minutes of Free audio by Edible-Alpha®

Ephrata National Bank in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania is a $1 billion community bank with 25% of their portfolio funding agricultural entrepreneurs. Lending to support new business models or premium offerings (like value-added processing) can help farmers deal with high land prices and avoid commodity agriculture's low return on assets.

Podcast about Raising Capital for businesses that are Growing and Scaling

Old Fort Market Gardens

The Farmer Education Continuum In The Colorado Mountains

55 minutes of Free audio by Edible-Alpha®

The Old Fort at Hesperus' team sees farming education as a continuum where different people are best served by discreet programs, depending on their interests and stage of development. Their sustainable agriculture program includes an educational garden internship, a farmer-in-training program, and market garden incubator.

Podcast about Business Models for businesses that are Growing and Scaling

Farm Credit

Farm Credit and Value-Added Agriculture

1 hour & 5 minutes of Free audio by Edible-Alpha®

The farm credit system includes many lending organizations around the country and is a great source of financing, including for non-traditional farmers like CSAs and value-added on-farm processors. These institutions also sometimes provide educational opportunities around financial literacy, financial statements and what it takes to successfully repay a loan

Podcast about Raising Capital for businesses that are Growing and Scaling

Keewaydin Farms

Rightsizing The Ship: A Farmer’s Tale of Scaling Down

1 hour & 40 minutes of Free audio by Edible-Alpha®

This hub discovered that the bigger the business got, the more money it lost and that moving aggregation functions off of the owner's farm caused the operation to be less efficient at that level of sales. The owner chose to contract the business to focus on getting profitable and repaying existing suppliers.

Podcast about Business Models for businesses that are Growing and Scaling

Adding Value to Farm Products: The Legal Issues

26 pages of Free report content by Farm Commons

The decision to add a value-added line is a serious one. There is no single set of laws that apply to value-added products and no single definition of a value added product. Instead, each law may have its own specific definition. This guide helps you to navigate what to look for in terms of legal implications when you are adding value to your products.

Books or Guide about Operations for businesses that are Growing and Scaling

Calculating Your Cash Flow

Cash Flow Basics (For Farmers)

11 minute Free read by Compeer Financial

Tight cash flow can be challenging, even for the most experienced grower. For a beginning farmer, however, a cash flow crunch can quickly become a disaster. An annual cash flow projection is a very useful tool for a farm. You plot out on a month-by-month basis when cash income will be received and when cash expenses will need to be paid.

Article about Operations for businesses that are Pre-Venture | Startups

Midwestern BioAg

Midwestern BioAg and the Business of Biological Farming

45 minutes of Free audio by Edible-Alpha®

Midwestern BioAg is a company that provides farmers with consulting and products (mostly inputs) that help improve yields, resiliency and profitability by using biological farming methods i.e. treating the farm like an ecosystem and preserving the long-term health of the soil.

Podcast about Operations for businesses that are Growing and Scaling