CSAs in Kansas

If you like to eat local and would like a more regular delivery of local farm produce grown near you, then you might look for farms that offer CSAs, an abbreviation for Community Supported Agriculture.

The thought behind it is to connect consumers who want fresh food with local farmers and ranchers on a regular subscription basis. For example, you have a local farmer who grows fresh fruits and vegetables and wants to purchase them weekly. You would sign up with that farm and they might deliver it in produce boxes to your house with a porch drop each week, or you can go to their farm or another designated location and pick them up. Or a rancher raises fresh meat products you want on a weekly or monthly basis, so you sign up with them. Perhaps you would like fresh honey from an apiary who can mail their local honey to you.

Pros of purchasing from a Kansas CSA

• You are supporting local farming in your community
• You get to know the farm staff
• It is interactive
• You receive fresh food each week or month, depending on the CSA
• You eliminate the middleman
• There can be fun surprises (unfamiliar veggies) in what you receive with each delivery

Cons of purchasing from a Kansas CSA

• You are limited to that farm unless you buy subscriptions from other farms
• You must be ready to use the produce
• You don’t usually get a choice – it is whatever is being grown at that time
• You must pick it up (or get a neighbor to) or you lose out on the offerings
• If the crop fails, you don’t get your money back; you are sharing the risks with the farmers
• It is unexpected so you must be willing to try new ways to cook new foods