Subject: Farmer's Market Online Vol. 1 #50 (fwd)

From: "Lawrence F. London, Jr." <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 9 Jun 1996 23:06:18 -0400 (EDT)

NOTICE: Farmer's Market Online (tm) is a news and information service, not a
sales agent or middleman. Booth listings are edited for style and length, but
otherwise all transactions are the sole business of the buyer and seller, or
traders. No warranty is made on the products listed.

__THREADS
Online commentary

Community Supported Farmers' Markets?
(From Direct-Mkt mailing list)

Duncan Hilchey of the Farming Alternatives Program at Cornell University
([email-masked]) wrote:
"Has anyone ever heard of a "farmers' market-based CSA?" I was just
considering the possibility of combining these two marketing strategies in
some way so that vendors and their farmers' markets could generate additional
early season income, and shareholders could get greater variety than at more
conventional CSAs."

Andy Fisher of the CFS Coalition in Venice, California ([email-masked])
responded: 
"Great idea. We are doing it here in LA. The Market basket Program marries an
inner city farmers market with a CSA concept. It works somethng like this: a
consumer purchases a basket for the upcoming week. The price is set at 15%
less than the farmers market price - $10; $13 for folks who want to subsidize
low income people; and $7 for those on food stamps, wic, etc. The project
manager buys from the farmers at the market who bring extra to sell. She
assembles baskets with volunteer help, and the customers either pick them up
at a nearby church, or we are starting a delivery service. This works on a
weekly basis to fit low income budgets.... The basic idea is to provide
access to high quality foods at low prices where such access is lacking...
The project is run by UCLA Dept of Urban Planning in conjunction with
Southland Farmers market Assoc.

Steve Bonney of the Indiana Sustainable Agriculture Association
([email-masked]) added:
"This is a good idea for persons or groups who already use farmers' markets
 as a sales location, but are otherwise not connected. It seems that all it
would require is some organization. However, this is probably not an easy 
task, since the vendors sell as individuals and were not originally motivated
to  organize as a collective. Equity of contribution would certainly be an
 issue."

Michael Hofferber of Farmer's Market Online ([email-masked]) added:
"I've been pondering something similar, albeit through Farmer's Market Online
with a broader defintion of 'community.' The idea is to combine the products
of a couple dozen vendors into a package of produce and specialty goods that
subscribers or
shareholders would receive on a seasonal basis throughout the year.'

Steve Balkin of OPENAIR-MARKET NET responded:
"Consumers would gain if they knew, up front, what the minimum bundle of
goods would be and that the minimum bundle was "worth more" than $500.00...
 Farmers would gain by having good cash flow -- getting paid for part of
their product before it was produced, and thus reducing their financial risk
-- kind of a futures contract but with delivery."

Laurie Hodges ([email-masked]) concluded:
'Another potential difficulty would be in mediating the 'fairness' of  the
product mix among the farmers so someone doesn't feel (s)he is contributing
more, or more often, or higher "value" items than someone else, esp. if a
couple of the farmers drop out for whatever reason (hail, drought, boredom,
cash flow, etc) during the season and others are asked/required to compensate
to ensure the client is getting a fair deal. Rather than the CSA concept of
 "if the farmer loses a crop, then the client loses the crop and experiences
the joys of farming," the shared producer/supplier reduces the risk for the
consumer but not for the grower."

___SUBSCRIPTIONS/BOOTH RESERVATIONS___

FARMER'S MARKET ONLINE (tm)
Our e-mail edition is available free of charge to any e-mail address on
request. Print subscriptions are $15 for 12 issues, or $50 for 50 issues.
Booth spaces and Farm Supply listings are available for $10 for 12 weeks, or
$20 for 24 weeks.

FARMER'S MARKET ONLINE
Box 277, Shoshone, ID 83352-0277 
fax (208) 886-7602            e-mail [email-masked]
http://members.aol.com/marketfarm/farmers-market/