If you’ve been watching TV or movies at all lately, or read newspapers, magazines, and their ilk, or even hung around the water cooler on your lunch break, Causes seem to be the order of the day. Lifestyle changes like “greening” everything from your ride to your lights; eating organic to get healthy; and buying local to support local businesses are being touted as great ways to become conscientious consumers.
In this economy, buying local and buying cheap becomes an even more attractive spending habit to pick up. While not always going hand in hand, frugality and quality can be part of your experience when you choose to patronize Community-supported agriculture (CSA) programs in your area. Community-supported agriculture is a food production and distribution model mostly used in the USA where growers focus on providing for the local community, often using organic farming methods and consumers pay a fee to share in the harvest, usually on a regular schedule based on seasonal production.
Consumers who buy into their local CSA are able to get fresh produce at their peak in season. Savings from not needing to ship long-distance are usually passed along to members, with the added environmental benefit of minimizing pollution due to the short distances involved. If the benefits of going local pique your interest in community supported agriculture, Local harvest is a good resource for learning more about the program and finding CSAs in your area.
“Community-supported agriculture.” Wikipedia Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. July 25, 2009 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community-supported_agriculture>
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