Grower-Specific Resources
Hark, all ye farmers of CSA! This is where we will share useful links and information which will help you start, grow, and refine your CSA operations.
This page will be continuously updated as we find more resources to share. If you have a question about anything here, have a document or link you think would be useful to the community, or have a suggestion for something which could be helpful, please email Season via the “contact us” page. Thanks!
CSA Toolkit for Farmers
First and foremost, if you’re a grower who is considering starting a CSA operation, you should read _Sharing the Harvest: A Citizen’s Guide to Community Supported Agriculture_ by Elizabeth Henderson and Robyn Van En (Chelsea Green). This book is widely considered the CSA primer and was updated in 2007 with recent statistics and valuable new insights from CSA operators around the country. Sharing the Harvest can be purchased through Chelsea Green and at Amazon.com — and I’m sure there are loads of other local bookshops which would be happy to order it in for you. *grin*
Another resource we’ve just discovered (and are still reading) is _Local Harvest: A Multifarm CSA Handbook_, by Jill Perry and Scott Franzblau. You can either purchase this book through SARE for a mere $3.99 or download the 130-page book as a PDF document for free. Go here for details.
Once you’ve gotten into the research and homework mode, you should next download and peruse the Toolkit which we’ve created to give growers an idea of what it will take to plan for and run a successful CSA operation. Deciding to err on the side of “more information is better,” we’ve made the toolkit pretty detailed. But if you’ve already read the above books, you’ll already be well on your way and this will be icing on the cake. :) We’ve also attempted to narrow the focus to what’s happening here in the Kansas City area, as the concept and form of CSA emerges here and adapts to our region’s needs. Please download the toolkit and let us know if you have any questions or comments. It was a lot of hard work, so we will appreciate your (constructive) feedback!
2_Grower Toolkit: Things to Consider Before Starting a CSA
3_Grower Toolkit: Determining Season Length
4_Grower Toolkit: Planning the Shares
5_Grower Toolkit: Member Work Requirements
6_Grower Toolkit: Forming a Core Group