By Leo Webster — Senior Copy Editor

The success of the CSA basket program during the fall semester caused the Bishop’s Sustainable Development Office to seek out a provider for a winter CSA basket. They settled on Le potager d’Émylou, a family farm that provides CSA to over 200 families and has worked with Bishop’s in the past. The student subscription began on Nov. 23 and ends April 19, and includes a small vegetable basket every two weeks, at a fee of $20 per basket.

CSA, or Community Supported Agriculture, is a common source of revenue for smaller farms. Customers pay in advance to receive produce regularly for a set number of weeks, and accept whichever vegetables are in season. Generally, CSA programs run during the typical farm season, from May to October, but many farms have begun to offer winter CSAs in order to meet the demand for local produce and to continue making income during the slow season. Because it is the off-season, winter CSAs often include a smaller variety of vegetables, usually ones that keep well, such as root vegetables.

This week’s CSA basket included kohlrabi, turnips, carrots, beets, onions, potatoes, daikon radishes, and parsnips, for a total of about 12.5 pounds (5.6kg) of vegetables. Renée Gosselin, a third-year Classical Studies and Sustainable Agriculture student, bought one CSA share for a two-person household and has found it to be satisfactory so far. She noted that the contents of the basket were worth at least $20, and that there were a variety of vegetables, although she was concerned about the large number of parsnips, which her partner dislikes. Since there are no leafy vegetables in this basket, many recipients may choose to buy extra produce to supplement their diet.

Despite a smaller selection of vegetables than the fall basket, the CSA continues to be popular. The convenience and price of the CSA basket is one reason for its success, since the prices rival local supermarkets and the basket pick-up is located on campus. Additionally, one of the most common reasons for buying a CSA basket is to support local farms that produce food environmentally and ethically. Students at Bishop’s have consistently proven their interest in environmentalism through clubs, volunteering, and the consistent growth of the SAFS program, now Canada’s first undergraduate degree program in sustainable agriculture.

CSA programs have been a good match for Bishop’s, considering the school’s location in an agricultural area, its environmentally-minded student body, and the convenience of a subscription service for those with a semester-driven schedule. There has been some preliminary research in the SAFS program about creating a CSA program from the university’s educational farm, but the farm does not yet produce at a level to fill 60 weekly baskets, nor does it have the staff to deliver those baskets to campus. Partnering with other farms has been a successful method and will continue with a summer CSA program in a few months.