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 Chicagoland Community supported agriculture Guide

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This guide was compiled by the Advocates for Urban Agriculture Associate Board and the Chicago Food Policy Action Council to aid Chicagoland residents in locating a farm that offers Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) shares near them.

This guide includes the history of how CSAs were developed, as well as a wide range of farms to support. Typically, CSAs begin in late May or early June and customers sign up for them in February and March. This year, this guide is intended to share which farms are still accepting new CSA members and/or give folks an idea of farms they could support in the next growing season.

Please direct any questions or comments to Stef Funk at stef@chicagofoodpolicy.com or Paul Krysik at paulkrysik@gmail.com.

 
 
 
 
 

Community Shared Agriculture Guide

 
 

This guide is in the process of being constructed!

Consumers, check back soon! Farmers, would you like to have information about your CSA listed on this guide? Fill out the form below to be included!

 History of Community supported agriculture

The history of Community Supported Agriculture (CSAs) is widely debated. Depending on who you ask, folks may tell you Germany, Japan, and/or Alabama was the first to start the CSA model. While it’s possible this is an example of different cultures developing similar ideas with no connection to each other, the story of Europe’s CSA is the most commonly told narrative. Before sharing the CSA opportunities within Chicago, we feel it’s important to give a brief history of all three of the communities thought to have played a significant role in the cultivation of the CSA model we know and love today.  

The United States
Booker T Whatley, a Black farmer, horticulturist, and professor at Tuskegee University wrote 10 farming commandments, one of them being the concept of a “Clientele Membership Club.” Members of this club paid an upfront fee to harvest their own produce throughout the growing season. This system provided funding at the beginning of the growing season, so farmers could purchase necessary seeds and equipment to ensure a more productive season. Today, the “Clientele Membership Club” has split into two common models we see, “Community Supported Agriculture” and “Pick Your Own” or “You Pick” farms. 

Japan
Around the same time Whatley was studying small scale, regenerative farming models in Alabama, a group of women in Japan founded the, “Teikei System.” In the 1960s, there was growing concern in Japan about mercury poisoning from contaminated waterways and fish. The Teikei system, much like modern day CSAs, was a system designed to give consumers more control over the food they were eating. One of the primary goals of the Teikei movement was to strengthen relationships between consumers and farmers that coexist with the natural environment. 

Germany
Following the teachings of Philosopher Rudolph Steiner (1861-1925) on chemical free agriculture, two Germans established a community Land Trust called Gemeinnützige Landbau-Forschungsgesellschaft (LBF) in 1968. In the spirit of cooperative economics, LBF began an “Agriculturally Cooperating Community.” This community included the farmers cultivating the land trust and non-farming members providing loans to the LBF farmers. This cooperative economic model offered farmers financial security early on in the season, and offered non-farming members a closer connection to their food. The European CSA model traveled to the United States through a few farmers who founded Indian Line Farm and Temple-Wilton Community Farm. These two farms are often credited with widely popularizing CSA models in the United States. 

These brief synopsis are to provide context to the origins and history of CSA models. If you’re curious and would like to learn more, we encourage you to do additional research! You can find the sources we used for our summaries at the bottom of this article. 

 Why participate in community supported agriculture?

  1. Support local agriculture and cooperative economic models - For us as a policy council, this is one of the most significant benefits of folks participating in CSAs. Paying for produce up front at the beginning of the season offers farmers much needed financial security, supports our local economy by cutting out the middle distributors (large trucking companies, grocery stores, etc), and limiting the amount of produce purchased from the Big Ag industry. 

  2. Get closer to the source of your food - Living in a city or nearby suburb has likely resulted in you, or your friends and family, feeling removed from our food system. Participating in a CSA means you have healthy, locally grown food on demand and you also have the opportunity to get to know your local farmer! You can ask questions about how the food is grown, as for tips on recipes, and even ask to stop by and visit the farm to see the operation yourself. 

  3. Learn how to eat in season - With our globalized food system, we’ve grown accustomed to having all types of food all year long. While there’s no shame in eating berries and mangoes in the winter, why not challenge yourself to eat in season during the summer months when there is a wider range of locally grown food available? Do you know what to do with ramps? Sunchokes? Cucamelons? Joining a CSA is a fun way to get introduced to new, locally grown, in season foods in small quantities. As a bonus, many of these hyper local, small batches of produce aren't available at your large chain grocery store! Joining a CSA gains you access to a super secret club of brand new food items. 

  4. Access fresher and more nutrient-dense food - Once food is harvested the process of oxidation begins. This means that the food slowly loses its nutritional value over time. The amount of nutrients lost over any time period varies by the type of produce. Things that have very long shelf lives like apples, carrots, and potatoes tend to lose their nutrients slower than spinach, lettuces, chives, etc. When you shop at a grocery store, there’s no telling how long that food has been on that shelf. With a CSA, you can feel confident that food was harvested within a matter of days, meaning you’re getting the most nutrients for your buck! Another added bonus of this, more nutrient dense foods tend to taste better!

 Sources