What We're Reading

Sharing the Harvest: a Citizen's Guide to Community Supported Agriculture

Author: Elizabeth Henderson
Publisher: Chelsea Green
$27.50 Paper (303 p.)
ISBN: 9781933392103
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Reviewed by David White, Customer Service

What is Community Supported Agriculture and why should we care?

"Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a connection between a nearby farmer and the people who eat the food that the farmer produces. The essence of the relationship is the mutual commitment: the farm feeds the people; the people support the farm…"

CSA's are riding a slow tide of growth as our lives in the 21st century are contributing to rising problems: the disappearance of the small, family farm across the world, growing transportation costs driving food prices upward; and increasing health problems as more and more people rely on heavily processed, un-healthy foods.

Breaking his book into sections, Henderson leads the reader through the steps of researching and setting up a CSA. From the basics of choosing a farm (or farmer) and the land, talking about labor shares and legalities - to the specifics of growing the food, handling the harvest and creating a distribution network, Sharing the Harvest includes interviews and profiles of numerous CSA's to illustrate successes and failures.

While Sharing the Harvest can certainly be used as a handbook for those interested in setting up a local CSA, the accompanying 'what' and 'why' are the real message in this wonderful book. Recommended for agriculture, sustainability and general reading collections.