CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. - Farmer Jordan MacPhee likes to know his food will have a home to go to.
MacPhee, who operates Maple Bloom Farm, said one of the biggest heartbreaks for small-scale farmers is to see their harvested food go to waste.
“And sit in a compost pile where as it should be sitting on people’s plates… It’s nice to have the comfort of knowing there’s going to be a home where your food is going. It’s a peace of mind on both spectrums (for the farmer and consumer),” said MacPhee, whose farm uses a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) model.
CSAs offer customers a subscription to a farm. In return, customers receive weekly veggie boxes offering fresh produce throughout the growing season.
MacPhee says the model, which cuts out middle men between producers and consumers, makes it easier to support local organic farmers.
It’s a model he hopes will only grow in the coming years.
“It just makes the economics of small-scale farming, sustainable farming, regenerative farming – whatever you want to call it – that much more realistic,” said MacPhee, who currently serves about 80 customers through his weekly boxes at the P.E.I. Farm Centre and Charlottetown Farmers’ Market.
An evening celebrating CSAs and organic farms on P.E.I. will be held Thursday at Upstreet Craft Brewing in Charlottetown, 7-9 p.m.
The “Meet Your Farmers” event is a celebration of International CSA Day, which occurs on the last Friday in February.
“It just makes the economics of small-scale farming, sustainable farming, regenerative farming – whatever you want to call it – that much more realistic.”
-Jordan MacPhee
MacPhee said the event will give individuals a chance to sign up to his CSA for the coming season, but he noted the evening is more about meeting some organic growers in the community.
There will also be trivia and seed-planting at the event.
The International CSA Day began in 2015 after groups noticed the last Friday in February was consistently the biggest sign-up day for subscription-based farms.
“It’s perfect timing, too, because it’s when we buy our seeds, which is our biggest upfront cost. It’s usually a few thousand dollars in expenses, and that’s three to four months after your last purchase from a customer,” said MacPhee.
Apart from the benefits to the farmer of knowing he’ll have a customer base and for consumers knowing they’ll have fresh local veggies every week, MacPhee said CSAs gives more of a direct relationship between the two.
“The tools and education to become a farmer are so much more accessible now. I’m hoping there is going to be a situation in 10 or 20 years where it will be like it was 50 years ago, where everybody kind of knows somebody who is a farmer,” said MacPhee.
“It’s so important. Everything in our society kind of hinges on (agriculture) and a CSA is a great way to give people a direct relationship with their farmer.”
