Sharing the Harvest: A Guide to Community Supported Agriculture [Paperback]

Elizabeth Henderson (Author), Robyn Van En (Introduction), Joan D. Gussow (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1999

In this new highly revised and expanded edition of a Chelsea Green classic, authors Henderson and Van En provide new insight into making Community Supported Agriculture not only a viable economic model, but the right choice for food lovers and farmers alike. To an increasing number of American families the CSA (community supported agriculture) is the answer to the globalization of our food supply. The premise is simple: create a partnership between local farmers and nearby consumers, who become members or subscribers in support of the farm. In exchange for paying in advanceoat the beginning of the growing season, when the farm needs financingoCSA members receive the freshest, healthiest produce throughout the season and keep money, jobs, and farms in their own community. In this thoroughly revised and expanded edition of a Chelsea Green classic, authors Henderson and Van En provide new insight into making CSA a viable economic model. Thinking and buying local is quickly moving from a novel idea to a mainstream activity. The groundbreaking first edition helped spark a movement and, with this revised edition, Sharing the Harvest is poised to lead the way toward a revitalized agriculture.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Since the first edition of this title was released in 1997, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) and the locally grown food movement have become much more mainstream. This heavily revised, excellent new edition will surely cement the title’s reputation as a bible for interested growers and consumers alike. Each chapter is extensively updated with new data, case studies, and quotes, but the general overview maintains the first edition’s mix of both the highly practical (“Money Matters for CSAs”) and the more philosophical, in sections that explore the connections between biodiversity and social diversity. Each chapter, illustrated with small black-and-white photos and graphs, closes with source notes, and a lengthy resource section, highlighting organizations and publications for further research, concludes the volume. Those interested in starting a new CSA will find useful ideas, but this is intended more as a comprehensive survey of the subject for all readers who are concerned about the food industry and the future of agriculture. Suggest to readers of Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food (2008). --Gillian Engberg --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Review

"If we want to keep farmers in business, it's time for all of us, ordinary citizens and policy makers alike, to begin learning how that might be done. Sharing the Harvest is a great place to start."
--Joan Dye Gussow, from the Foreword

"Community Supported Agriculture has the possibility, even the likelihood, of transforming community, farming, eating, and economics in the U.S. Elizabeth Henderson's update of Sharing the Harvest offers timely tools for keeping this evolutionary movement on track."
--John Peterson, Angelic Organics

"Sharing the Harvest is an essential book for anyone considering starting a community supported agriculture (CSA) farm and for recent CSA farmers--it is essentially the CSA 'bible'. Sharing the Harvest provides a comprehensive approach to this relatively new social approach to farming, and it may be useful to people who have recently discovered the importance and joy of eating locally-grown food, helping them participate in starting a CSA so they can have an even more direct connection to their food and the farmer who grows it."
--Fred Magdoff, Emeritus Professor of Plant & Soil Science, University of Vermont





"We hunger for a true connection to what's on our plates. We want to know who grows our food and where, how it's grown and why. We want to participate in a food system that is ecological, just, nourishing, and connected to community. The CSA movement offers all this and more. This book is an essential guide to understanding what it's all about, and to making it happen!"
--Jessica Prentice, author of Full Moon Feast

"Sharing the Harvest is an extraordinary book, an opening to a new world in which growing and eating food will be a sharing among humans, between farmers and surrounding communities, not a commercial venture for profit. It is both utopian and practical, inspiring and down-to-earth. It is a treasure, rich with suggestions, exciting for what possibilities it foresees for the human race."
--Howard Zinn --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 254 pages
• Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing Company (June 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1890132233
• ISBN-13: 978-1890132231
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #685,023 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Solution to a Problem!!! - This book made me optimistic., September 8, 1999

By 

Rick (Rochester, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sharing the Harvest: A Guide to Community Supported Agriculture (Paperback)

This book describes many problems of the current food production & distribution system. More importantly, it provides a solution using Community Supported Agriculture. The book outlines the steps necessary to set up a CSA, discusses options and issues for each step, and includes examples from CSAs all over the country. Many references and a resource list guide readers to other sources of information in a variety of media. I am a CSA consumer, not a farmer or an organizer; I enjoyed the book and am much more optimistic about the power groups of individuals have to change the system

31 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Heavy on philosophy, light on practicality, August 9, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Sharing the Harvest: A Guide to Community Supported Agriculture (Paperback)

If you're new to market gardening and looking for solid info on how to run a CSA, this is *not* the book for you. For example, the chapter on harvesting and processing is only 2 1/2 pages long and boils down to "it can't be explained in a book, you need hands on experience". The majority of the book is self-congratulatory prose about how CSAs are saving the world. I support the CSA concept, but found this book a big disappointment. There are a few useful charts for determining share size and how much to grow, they are the only thing that prevents me from giving this book zero stars.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Keeping a conscious connection to the land and your food, February 7, 2006

By 

Amanda K-K (Chicago) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sharing the Harvest: A Guide to Community Supported Agriculture (Paperback)

I've been a member of a CSA for the past several years and read this book because I wanted to become a more active participant in the movement. No, this book is not an operations manual on how to run a farm and distribute shares. I'd classify it more as an inspiration manual with examples and case studies of how other CSA formed (and failed), obtained financing and land, found shareholders and labor, all for the purposes of giving people an alternative to being dependent on big agribusiness and live a more sustainable lifestyle.

In the true spirit of a co-op, this book provides an introductory education to CSA newbies on the history of food co-ops, community-building and food systems. For those looking for more hands-on or operations-oriented guides to CSA farming, I'd encourage you to review the rather exhaustive reference section in this book and contact someone near you. For me, I found this book perfect for gaining a comprehensive understanding of CSAs overall, which is helping me increase me evolve from passive shareholder into a more active, participatory role.