Dear Friends,

As we struggle against genetic engineering and all the dangers it poses to our food and environment, it is critical that we build alternatives that can guide us out of this morass of industrial agriculture. One alternative that is growing in support and popularity is Community Supported Agriculture (CSA).

CSA is a movement that brings together urban residents with local farmers in mutually beneficial partnerships. Through these partnerships urban dwellers are guaranteed fresh organic produce by purchasing shares in farmers’ harvests at the start of the growing season. Their partner farmers, in turn, are ensured adequate funds to meet their seasonal expenses. No longer are these farmers required to both grow our food and spend long hours marketing it as well. By focusing their energies on farming they can devote the needed time to tend their crops and properly nourish the soil without ‘time-saving’ chemicals, pesticides and herbicides.

Through the CSA model, small and medium size organic farms can survive and even flourish outside the ‘agribusiness’  paradigm.

For those who may be interested in joining Sixth Street Community Center CSA on Manhattan’s Lower East Side/East Village neighborhood go to http://www.sixthstreetcenter.org/csa_index.html for further information.

For a comprehensive listing of CSAs in New York City go to http://www.justfood.org/csa/locations/ and for CSAs nationally http://www.csacenter.org

Howard Brandstein Sixth Street Community Center/SOS Food