CSA's and the Cost of Food
According to a 2006 United Nations report, Livestock's Long Shadow - Environmental Issues and Options.  
The conclusion of this report stated, "The livestock sector emerges as one of the top two or three most
significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global."

The following statistics are from the UN Report:
AIR DAMAGE - Animal agriculture is responsible for 18% of all the world's greenhouse gas emissions as
measured in CO2 equivalents.  By comparison, all transportation emits 13.5% of the CO2.

Livestock:
  • Produces 65% of human-related nitrous oxide, which has 296 times the Global Warming Potential
    (GWP) of CO2.
  • Accounts for 37% of all human-induced methane (which is 23 times as warming as CO2).
  • Generates 64% of the ammonia, which contributes to acid rain and acidification of ecosystems.

WATER DAMAGE - The livestock business is among the most critical users of the earth's increasingly
scarce water resources; in addition to contributing to water pollution, excessive growth of organisms,
depletion of oxygen, and the degeneration of coral reefs, among other things.

The major water-polluting agents are animal wastes, antibiotics, hormones, chemicals from tanneries,
fertilizers, and the pesticides used to spray feed crops.

In the United States livestock is responsible for 55% of the erosion and sediment, 37% of the pesticide use,
50% of the antibiotic use, and a third of the load of nitrogen and phosphorus put into fresh water sources.

LAND DAMAGE - The total area occupied by grazing livestock is equivalent to 26% of the ice-free terrestrial
surface of the planet.  In addition, the total area dedicated to producing feed crops for these animals
amounts to 33% of the total arable land.

Clearing forests to create new pastures is a major source of deforestation, especially in Latin America
where, for example, some 70% of former rainforests in the Amazon have been turned over to grazing.  The
forests are the major "sinks" for removing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere - they are the "lungs of
the Earth".
Sylvia Tawse's list of 10 reasons for buying organic food:
  1. Protect Future Generations - Children receive 4  times more exposure than adults to cancer-causing
    pesticides in food.
  2. Prevent Soil Erosion - 3 billion tons of topsoil are eroded from croplands in the U.S. each year, much
    of it due to conventional farming practices, which often ignore the health of the soil.
  3. Protect Water Quality - The EPA estimates that pesticides pollute the primary source of drinking
    water for more than half the country's population.
  4. Keep Chemicals Off Your Plate - Pesticides are poisons designed to kill living organisms, and can
    also be harmful to humans.
  5. Protect Farm Worker Health - Pesticides are poisons designed to kill living organisms, and can also
    be harmful to humans.
  6. Save Energy - More energy is now used to produce synthetic fertilizers than to till, cultivate, and
    harvest all crops in the U.S.
  7. Help Small Farmers - Although more and more large scale farmers are making the conversion to
    organic practices, most organic farms are small independently owned and operated family farms.
  8. Support A True Economy -Organic foods might seem expensive; however, your tax dollars pay for
    hazardous waste clean-up and environmental damage caused by conventional farming.
  9. Promote Biodiversity - Planting large plots of land with the same crop year after year tripled farm
    production between 1950 and 1970,  but the lack of natural diversity of plant life has negatively
    affected soil quality.
  10. Flavor and Nourishment - Organic farming starts with the nourishment of the soil, producing
    nourished, and nourishing plants.
Conventional cotton
farming is responsible
for a majority of the
world's pesticide use.  
10% world wide and
25% in the United States.
Community Support Agriculture (CSA)
CSA's provide a way for the food buying public to create a relationship with a farm and to receive a weekly
basket of produce. Consising of a community of individuals who pledge support to a farm operation, with the
growers and consumers providing mutual support and sharing the risks and benefits of food production.  By
making a financial commitment to a farm, people become "members" (or "shareholders," or "subscribers")
of the CSA.  Most CSA farmers prefer that members pay for the season up-front, but some will accept weekly
or monthly payments.Another alternate is one where members work a small number of hours on the farm
during the growing season.
Why Is Community Supported Agriculture Important?
  • direct marketing gives farmers and growers the fairest return on their products.
  • keeps food dollars in the local community and contributes to the maintenance and establishment of
    regional food production.
  • makes nutritious, affordable, wholesome foods accessible and widely available to community
    members.
  • encourages communication and cooperation among farmers.
  • With a "guaranteed market" for their produce, farmers can invest their time in doing the best job they
    can rather than looking for buyers.
  • supports the biodiversity of a given area and the diversity of agriculture through the preservation of
    small farms producing a wide variety of crops.
  • encourages proper land stewardship by supporting farmers in transition toward low or no chemical
    inputs and utilization of energy saving technologies.
  • creates opportunity for dialogue between farmers and consumers, increasing understanding of how,
    where, and by whom our food is grown.