The A2P Foodist: Investing Wisely in a Community Farm

On February 11, 2011 the World Bank issued a warning concerning a predicted sharp rise in global food prices. As a result, food sellers have been making concerted efforts to pass along the rising cost of ingredients to consumers. In the Wall Street Journal, it was reported that:

Prices of staples including milk, beef, coffee, cocoa and sugar have risen sharply in recent months. And food makers and retailers including McDonald’s Corp., Kellogg Co. and Kroger Co. have begun to signal that they’ll try to make consumers shoulder more of the higher costs for ingredients….Grocery chains Safeway Inc. and Kroger have said they’ll pass supplier increases along to consumers.

Domino’s Pizza Inc. is letting consumers decide whether they’re willing to pay more. The company is offering two medium, two-topping pizzas for $5.99 each but has recently offered the option of converting one of them to a premium pizza, with more toppings, for an extra $2—a price increase, in effect.

There are economists who fret that rising food prices could further erode the political stability in the Middle East, and in the January 20, 2011 issue of Time Magazine CuriosCapitalist blogger Stephen Gandel explores whether rising food prices could kill the sparks of economic recovery here in the United States. Gandel writes:

If food costs more, will you buy any less? Surprisingly enough, that simple question may be the key to whether 2011 sees a strong rebound in economic growth, or is, instead, a bust. The issue is that raw food prices are indeed way up. Corn is at a two and a half year high. And some think it could rise by another 30% this year. Sugar was up 77% in the last six months of 2010. Beef prices are up as well. On the face of it, climbing food prices seem like a bad thing. It can cause inflation and cause people to buy less of everything else. Rising food prices have already lead to violent riots in Tunisia and Algeria. But a number of economists, including Goldman Sachs’ Andrew Tilton and IHS Global Insight’s Nariman Behravesh, say this time around, food prices won’t necessarily be a recovery killer.

You can breathe a sigh of relief on your way to Kroger’s, where you will pay between $5 and $6 for a 5-pound of King Arthur flour. At the People’s Food Co-op, flour is priced between $1.00 and $1.50 per pound. According to Gandel, “The average citizen in China and India spends half their budget on food. In really poor countries, like Bangladesh, food can make up as much as 75% of a household’s expenditures.” In the United States, on average, food makes up about 10 percent of a household’s expenditures. Thus, in order for Americans to really feel the pinch of rising food prices, costs would have to rise dramatically. In addition, there is a lag time between when, say, corn is harvested and Ann Arbor Tortilla Factory makes that corn into corn chips—which are referred to at our house as “crack.” According to Gandel, in 2010 supermarket food prices rose just 1.5 percent overall.

This means you might still have a bit of money left over to spend on investing in a local community farm, but should you? Depending on various factors, an investment in a local community farm can be just as risky as putting a pile of $100 dollar bills on 10 red and watching the roulette wheel spin. Of course, farming is a risky business, particularly smaller scale farming, where nursing crops through a drought can be very difficult. A community farm membership comes with no guarantees. You take a risk, along with the farmer(s), that there will be a the same plentiful harvest described in the farm’s brochure, or on a CSAs web site. However, that’s not always the case.

CSAs growing organic or bio-dynamic produce were cutting edge in the mid-80s and early 90s. Today, CSAs exist mainly to support small scale farming, and the people who choose to do it. Don’t join a CSA to save money, or because you think you’ll be getting organic/naturally grown food products that unavailable elsewhere. You can buy organic beets at Kroger’s, Whole Foods, the People’s Food Co-op and even Arbor Farms. You can buy locally grown organic beets at local grocery stores, as well. CSAs accept members because a share provides the farmer with the highest possible profit margin and improves cash flow.

This is exactly why it’s important to take a close look at local CSAs with more than just the doe eyes and rose-colored glasses of foodies with good intentions, not a clue about what a farm share should look like, and a little too much money to donate to “Buy Local” religious hucksters.

ArborWiki is a good place to start in your search for a CSA. There you’ll find a list of more than 20 CSAs that ring Ann Arbor and sell shares to members.

Produce CSAs (Prices reflect full shares and most are 16-20 week distributions.)
Beautiful Earth Family Farm (2011 share: $500)
Brines Farm
Capella Farm
Carpenter’s Greenhouse and Organic Produce
Community Farm of Ann Arbor ($700-$1800)
Down on the Farm
Frog Holler Organic Farm ($475-$525)
Needle-Lane Farm
Our Family Farm (share: $575)
Portage River Farm
Pregitzer Farm Market ($395)
Prochaska Cooperative Sharing Program
Sunseed Farm ($560)
Tantré Farm ($575-$600)
Two Creeks Organics ($600)
Valley Family Farm ($560-$760)
Zilke Vegetable Farm ($330-525)

Produce & More CSAs
The Brinery
Harvest Kitchen (prepared dishes) ($2500-$2800—June-November)
Locavorious (frozen fruits and vegetables) ($50)
Old Pine Farm (humanely raised meat) ($325)

Damn Arbor, a blog focusing on, yes, Damn Arbor, has a November 2010 post titled, “Guide to Ann Arbor: How to Find Your Perfect CSA.” I was slightly disconcerted to read that the Chair of the Slow Food Huron Valley group will, for a $25 fee, consult with CSA newbies for one hour to help them find the CSA of their dreams. When I asked a former CSA farmer about charging $25 to help people find the perfect CSA, I got a smirk and a snort. “That’s mercenary,” she said. “It’s a little creepy, too. Almost all local CSAs have web sites these days. You could go to the Farmer’s Market and talk to the farmers and see the shares. I suppose there’s a sucker born every minute.”

Slow Food Huron Valley’s web site is one of those “if you don’t know who we are, you shouldn’t have visited this URL” sites. No names, just send an email to “leadership.” Then, presumably, a “leader” will respond. It’s not very welcoming, or informative. Those interested in purchasing a share in a CSA would do better to check out the web sites of the farms directly. Of course, looking at a web site is only the first step in picking a CSA. Here are some tips to help in choosing your first (or next) CSA.

1.  Be patient. Shop carefully. You’re going to pay anywhere from $300-$2800, and that’s a large enough sum to warrant careful comparison. Ideally, you should expect to begin shopping for a CSA 3-4 months before you want to begin picking up shares.

2.  Begin with the CSAs web site, but don’t stop there. If a CSA distributes at the Ann Arbor Farmer’s Market, visit the farmer(s) and ask to see the items in that week’s share. If a share includes veggies of a quality that you wouldn’t pay to buy in the produce aisle of the local supermarket, keep shopping. Every CSA has a bad week or two, and depending on the weather, an entire summer can be difficult, but over-ripe tomatoes and bruised produce are not any better because they’re “local.”

3.  Ask for references. CSA farmers should gladly point you in the direction of current members who will talk to you about membership and the overall quality of the share. As a rule, a member who has been involved with a CSA for 3-4 years would be a good person to talk to about the farm, the share, etc…

4.  Decide whether a whole or a half share would be best for you or your family. Most CSA full shares are abundant enough for a family of 4-5. A couple who had no interest in canning or preserving large quantities of food might do better with a half share. Most CSAs offer this option, and you can create a half share by splitting a full share with a another family, or another member of the CSA. The size of full shares varies widely, and it’s important to know how “full share” is defined. By some farmers, a full share is defined as feeding 5-6 people. By other farmers, particularly at farms with cheaper share prices, a full share might feed 2-4 people.

5.  Don’t let the fact there’s a “waiting list” determine which CSA you invest in. CSAs sell limited numbers of shares, but selling 100 shares is not the same as having 100 satisfied members. In even the most popular CSAs there will be openings. (See suggestion #1.)

6.  Unless you choose a farm that allows “U-pick,” don’t expect to make out like a bandit. You will pay between $25-$40 per pick-up and that, when you think about it, is close to what a shopper might spend on organic produce in the supermarket. In fact, the CSA you choose may also be selling the same produce you pick up weekly in your share to the People’s Food Co-op, or the local Whole Foods. There, it will be sold, potentially, more cheaply than it is sold to you directly. Why? CSA members buy shares at a price set by the farmer(s). Grocery store buyers have more leverage in their ability to negotiate purchase prices.

Remember that CSAs are businesses that exist to provide farmers with a living wage, not to provide you with an avenue to cheap, organically grown produce, meat or other products. Eating locally is expensive. Eating locally is a luxury that many in our county simply can’t afford. Nonetheless, eating locally can be fun and a great way to introduce kids (and adults) to a wider variety of veggies, and to expose them to the food chain in a way that is both personal and magical.