Re: DIRECT-MKT: Farmers' Market-Based CSA?

Laurie Hodges (Hort034@unlvm.unl.edu)
Wed, 05 Jun 1996 17:12:34 -0500

Another potential difficulty would be in mediating the "fairness" of the
product mix among the farmers so someone doesn't feel (s)he is contributing
more, or more often, or higher "value" items than someone else, esp. if a
couple of the farmers drop out for whatever reason (hail, drought, boredom,
cash flow, etc) during the season and others are asked/required to
compensate to ensure the client is getting a fair deal. Rather than the CSA
concept of "if the farmer loses a crop, then the client loses the crop and
experiences the joys of farming" , the shared producer/supplier reduces the
risk for the consumer but not for the grower. An interesting idea (basically
cooperative buying through a farmers' market). I also think it would be
interesting to run it through a couple of focus groups representing
different client/grower profiles as well as community size and degree of
urbanization of the farmers' market.

At 08:14 PM 6/4/96 -0500, you wrote:
>Hi Duncan. I will take an off-the-top-of-my-head stab at it.
>
>Consumers would gain if they knew, up front, what the minimum bundle of
>goods would be and that the minimum bundle was "worth more" than $500.00.
>Farmers would have to make sure their total production conformed to the mix
>that consumers highly preferred. Consumers are taking a risk, though, if the
>farmers don't meet their contractural commitments. Perhaps, the farmers
>market could reduce risk for the consumer by providing a refund to the
>consumers if farmers defaulted on their contract.
>
>Farmers would gain by having good cash flow -- getting paid for part of
>their product before it was produced, and thus reducing their financial risk
>-- kind of a futures contract but with delivery.
>
>I think it is worth an experiment or at least some focus groups with
>consumers and farmers.
>
>Who would pay the organizing and administrative costs to get this off the
>ground?
>
>- Steve Balkin (OPENAIR-MARKET NET)
><http://www.openair.org/>
>**********************************************************************
>At 04:50 PM 6/4/96 -0400, Duncan L. Hilchey wrote:
>>Hello,
>>
>>Has anyone ever heard of a "farmers' market-based CSA?" I was just
>>considering the possibility of combining these two marketing strategies in
>>some way so that vendors and their farmers' markets could generate
>>additional early season income, and shareholders could get greater variety
>>than at more conventional CSAs.
>>
>>For example, let's say 10 farmers' market vendors as a group (including
>>bakers, food processors as well as growers), take on 50 shareholders at
>>$500/share for the duration of the farmers' market (e.g., 25 weeks). Of the
>>$25,000 generated from the sale of shares at the beginning of the season,
>>$2,000 goes to each grower (for a total of $20,000) and $5,000 would go to
>>the market for helping to facilitate the CSA. For their investment, the
>>shareholders would receive a given share of the produce, bread, jams,
>>sauces, etc. from the participating vendors.
>>
>>This is purely hypothetical, of course, and I see several problems (1) it's
>>not really a CSA since there is a less direct connection between consumers
>>and the farm-its more like a subscription; (2) the economics don't seem to
>>make sense to me yet; and (3) the benefits to each party are not clear.
>>
>>Would anyone like to take a stab at critiquing this marriage in concepts,
>>and give me some sense of whether this is worth pursuing in some
>>experimental fashion?
>>
>>Thanks,
>>
>>Duncan Hilchey
>>Farming Alternatives Program
>>Cornell University
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
Laurie Hodges, Vegetable Specialist
377 Plant Sciences - University of Nebraska
Lincoln, NE 68583-0724
phone: 402-472-2854
fax: 402-472-8650
e-mail: Hort034@unlvm.unl.edu