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Home | Community Supported Agriculture | Sustainable Agriculture Internships | Educational Programs
Advocate Pushes for Sustainable Farming Growth
By Anne Pickering
Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
February 20, 2007
A lea-ing advocate for Community Supported Agriculture, Sam Cantrell, of Maysie's Farm Conservation Center, would like to see Chester County do more to encourage sustainable farming. "In my opinion, the biggest stumbling block to a local sustainable food system is a lack of farmers," said Cantrell during a break at the Keep Farming First symposium Feb. 15 at Penn State Great Valley.
Cantrell said that he recently attended an agriculture visioning meeting hosted by the Chester County Planning Commission in relation to updating Landscapes, the county's landmark comprehensive land-use plan. "My comment was that I'd like to see the county adopt a policy of encouraging or facilitating new farms, instead of just preserving farms. We need to start a lot of small, diversified, direct marketing, ecologically-responsible farms that operate with the support of their community.
To Cantrell that is sustainable agriculture. Farmers with a respect for the land. Neighbors that understand growing food may cause some inconvenience. Maysie's was one of the first CSAs in the county. In 1997, when Maysie's became a CSA, there was one other. Now there are eight.
The concept behind the trend is that consumers pay a share in the CSA at the start of the growing season. For their share they receive fresh, organic, hand-picked produce every week. The up-front payment is a way for members of theCSA to share in the the risk inherent in farming.
Cantrell farms seven acres of his 64-acre farm to grow enough produce to supply the 175 households in the CSA, sell fresh produce at the Eagleview Farmers Market and supply food to the Montgomery School in Chester Springs. Many CSA farmers farm on as little as one to 37 acres. Commercial farmers need 500 to 500 acres to support a family, he said. The small CSA farms are better suited to Chester County where the price of land is high and the demand for organic locally-grown produce is rapidly growing.
Besides a working farm, Maysie's is a nonprofit educational organization that offers paid internships to people who are interested in learning about sustainable farming. At the Montgomery School, Maysie's helped create a school garden that is growing some of its own food. Cantrell is also on the menu planning committee at the Downingtown Area School District. The district is interested in promoting healthier eating habits for students. There is an interest among educators to introduce more fresh fruits and vegetables, said Cantrell. But there are challenges, including tight budgets and all the free food the schools receive from the federal government. Even if the school district found money in its budget to buy fresh, local produce from a CSA, "We wouldn't be able to provide the quantities that they would need," said Cantrell.
To help new farmers getting started, Cantrell said the Eagleview Farmers Market would be willing to accept some beginner farmers. There could be some backyard growers that are producing more food thanthey can eat, he said. "I would say to them, grow more and sell it at the market. In Chester County, we have great soil, great climate and little parcels of land that are available for food production. What we need are more farmers.
To contact staff writer Anne Pickering, send an e-mail to apickering@dailylocal.com.