CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture
CSA creates a relationship between local farms and members of their community
The farms pledge to grow food for the community and the community pledges to support the farm. It is a direct food-to-consumer relationship, connecting a community with its food source.
In the winter and early spring, members buy a share of the harvest--the farmers then use this money for seeds, greenhouse expenses, equipment, labor, etc. In return, members receive a weekly distribution of the farm’s products - members’ investment is returned in healthful, vibrant food, as fresh as it gets!
A community is formed by the members of a CSA and the farmers who produce their food. A CSA gives the farmers a sure market and a gauge to produce by, minimizing losses and ensuring the success of the farm. CSAs also support sustainable and responsible land management, a shrinking carbon footprint, and communities that can nourish themselves.
The Full Plate Farm Collective CSA offers about 800 shares to households in the Ithaca area. Members can decide when they join whether they would like to pick up their weekly share at one of the farms or have it delivered. Full Plate members who pick up at one of the farms can choose what they’d like to take home (according to what’s in season and available that week), and members who opt for delivery receive a farmer-picked assortment of that week’s harvest.
The Full Plate Farm Collective is a unique collective model CSA.
One membership supports many farms. No matter where you pick up your share or have it delivered, your food comes from all of our farms, and more local organic growers too!
The Collective is cooperatively owned by Stick and Stone Farm & Remembrance Farm. But we don’t do it alone! The collective model allows us to work with and support many more great fellow-producers in the Ithaca area. We commit to buying crops early in the year, much like our members do for us. Their contributions enrich share variety and support crop security, backing each other up when yields are down.
We are stronger together
Full Plate is a full embrace of the principles of Community Supported Agriculture, supported both by members and by every farm who contributes.
By feeding a shared member community, each of our farms can focus on a specific set of crops, rather than produce all the crops themselves. And to back each other up when mother nature interferes. Our farms also share resources like equipment, storage space, and the risks that come with a changing climate and invasive pests. Our wonderful coordinator, Molly, oversees distribution logistics, membership communication and our regular farmers' meetings, allowing the farms to focus on what they do best—growing good food for you!
We are community supported farms, and we endeavor to create a farm supported community.
As a part of this you benefit from the variety and abundance the farms grow together, broader connections to our local foodshed, and from having a CSA Coordinator to support a great CSA experience.