Environmentalists recommend buying the farm?
...in Plymouth, Wis. A growing number of people around the nation are investing in shares of a local farmer's crop, reducing trips to the supermarket and the cost of shipping food.
A growing number of people around the nation are investing in shares of a local farmer's crop, reducing trips to the supermarket and the cost of shipping food.
"It makes sense that you would save gas on broccoli grown 30 miles away versus California," said Rob Goldman, 53, a doctor from the Milwaukee suburb of Whitefish Bay.
Goldman will participate this summer in a community-supported agriculture program, or CSA. Members buy a share of a farmer's crop, usually for $500 to $600, and receive a box of vegetables and fruits each week during the summer and fall. A box typically feeds three or four people for a week, although many farms offer half-shares for individuals or couples.
The number of CSA farms has grown from about 50 in 1990 to more than 2,000 nationwide, according to a database maintained by localharvest, a California-based group that supports buying locally grown food. The heaviest concentrations are in the Northeast, West Coast and upper Midwest.
More than 700 people showed up at a March fair in Milwaukee that helps match first-time CSA participants with farmers, said Jamie Ferschinger, community program coordinator at the Urban Ecology Center, which hosted the fair. Since then, she has received dozens of calls from people who want to join CSAs but can't find one with shares still available.
"It's good because you are supporting farmers, and you're sharing some of the risk, and they are better able to manage their farms," Goldman said. "And in the future, that may be important in terms of being able to have a local economy."
"Most of the food you get, a meal would travel like 1,600 miles or something," she said. "But the farm we are getting it from is six miles away."
Find a farm near you to by local produce at localharvest.org
