By Scott Etkin

This is West Side Rag’s third article for Earth Month. Part I offered tips for recycling and Part II explained rules for composting. 

Upper West Side farmers’ markets are crowded each weekend with locals looking for top-quality produce. But there is another, lesser-known, way to find it, while also supporting local farmers, and promoting a more sustainable food system. It’s called, “community-supported agriculture (CSA).”

Read on for an explanation of CSAs, their benefits and potential drawbacks, and a few options for ones to join in the neighborhood. 

What is Community-Supported Agriculture?

Subscribers to a community-supported agriculture plan receive food from a local farm throughout harvest season. Unlike a farmer’s market, where shoppers pick what they want, a CSA subscriber typically gets a pre-packed bag of assorted fruits and vegetables (and in some cases eggs and meat) once a week. The bag is ready for pick-up at a designated site each week.

Promoters of CSAs say they foster community and strengthen the connection between consumers and the farms and farmers their food comes from. Many promote the community spirit with an element of shared labor: in rural areas, subscribers may be asked to work a shift on the farm, whereas in cities subscribers might be required to sign up to staff the location where subscribers pick up their weekly bags.

Why join a CSA?

CSA advocates say subscribing to this farm-to-table food option promotes sustainability, in a country where agriculture accounts for more than 10% of greenhouse gas emissions, according to the USDA. 

Modern agriculture markets, in which “the customer and the farmer are in opposition: the customer tries to get the lowest price and the farmer tries to get the highest,” writes Appropropriate Technology Transfer for Rural Areas, an environmental organization, can lead to unsustainable agriculture practices, such as the poor treatment of animals, monocropping that causes topsoil erosion, and the spraying of pesticides to increase yields. 

CSAs, conversely, pursue an alternative model in which “the customer and the farmer work through cooperation and agree on the prices beforehand,” thereby allowing farmers to prioritize more sustainable agriculture practices. 

There’s no one standard, but farmers who grow for CSAs tend to raise a variety of organic fruits and vegetables, which is better for soil than monocropping (growing just one type of product to maximize yields). CSAs also tend to reduce food waste, because farmers distribute all of their harvest to subscribers (those who take their produce to farmers’ markets don’t necessarily sell everything they offer, causing some food waste). And they reduce the distance food is transported to reach consumers (fresh produce is transported an average of more than 1,500 miles before it reaches your plate; buying produce through a CSA can greatly lower that transportation footprint).

CSAs do minimal packaging and labeling of food, so there is less plastic waste – including plastic films that can’t be recycled – than with grocery store produce. They support local farmers, who have a more stable and predictable income source when their food goes to subscribers. And eating more produce, particularly when it’s in season, is considered fundamental to a healthy diet.

Are there downsides to a CSA subscription?

CSAs generally don’t give people the choice of which fruits and vegetables they receive in their bag. So your weekly assortment might sometimes include something that you don’t like. On the flip side: you may end up trying produce you haven’t bought before and find a new favorite.

CSAs typically have an upfront cost of about $20 to $25 per week. This might be more than you spend at your typical supermarket, but this probably depends on where you shop and what’s on your grocery list. For CSA subscribers, there’s the added logistics of picking up the week’s bag within a certain time frame, which might be a challenge for some people depending on their schedules.

CSA produce generally doesn’t have as long a shelf life as produce bought at the grocery store, so you should be prepared to cook it within a few days of receiving the bag. This is partly because grocery store produce is often treated to make it less perishable. 

Are there any CSAs I can join on the Upper West Side?

New York City got its first CSA in 1995, according to a City Council report, and now there are dozens of CSAs across the five boroughs, including several on the UWS. If there are any active CSAs in the neighborhood that we’re missing from this list, please feel free to share in the comments.

Hearty Roots Farm

• Sourced from a family farm in Germantown, NY, in the Hudson Valley, approximately 100 miles north of the UWS. 
• The full 2024 season runs from June 5th to November 20th. There’s also a partial season option. 
• The weekly bag pick-up is at Rutgers Church, 236 West 73rd Street, between Broadway and West End on Wednesdays from 3:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. 
• Registration and more details are available at the link.

Cream of the Crop

• Sourced from Hepworth Farms, a seventh generation family-owned farm in Milton, NY, approximately 70 miles north of the UWS.
• The full 2024 season runs from June 11th through November 19th. There’s also a shorter 15-week option.
• The pick-up takes place at Church of St. Paul & St. Andrew (263 West 86th Street and West End Avenue) on Tuesdays from 4:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
• Registration and more details are available at the link.

Roxbury Farm

• Sourced from a 375-acre family farm in Kinderhook, NY, approximately 125 miles north of the UWS, that has been in operation for more than two decades. 
• The 2024 season runs from early June and goes until the week before Thanksgiving.
• There are two options for pick-up locations. The first is at Church of St. Paul and St. Andrew on the corner of West 86th Street and West End Avenue on Thursdays from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. The second option is at Broadway Presbyterian Church at 601 West 114th Street and Broadway on Thursdays from 3 p.m. to 6 pm.
• Registration and more details are available at the link.

An alternative to these CSAs is Farm to People, a Brooklyn-based company that offers local produce but also has more choice in products and does home delivery. Farm to People delivers throughout the city, sourcing from a network of more than 150 farms within 300 miles of the city. In addition to produce, Farm to People can also include a variety of drinks, pantry items, baked goods, and other common grocery items in your order.

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