Community Supported Agriculture: From Greenhouse to Field to Plate Date and Location

As local food becomes more popular, more farmers are moving to the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) model of distribution. This creates more competition and the need for farmers to distinguish their farm, their products and their service from that of other CSAs. Village Acres in Mifflintown has been a leader in Central PA as one of the first certified organic CSAs. They have also worked with other local farms to offer their customers additional products. Now they have added a beautiful new timber-framed building on-site called the FoodShed. This allows them to offer on-farm events, meals and value-added products for their customers. Village Acres owners, managers & employees will share some of their strategies for how they choose what to plant, when to plant and how to package their CSA products. They will also discuss the value of the FoodShed and how they are reaching out to the community. Brian Moyer and Tianna Dupont of Penn State Extension will share with us on the topics of How to communicate and keep your customers as well as resources for planning planting schedules. You will walk away from this field day with more confidence in bringing your product to your customer, attracting and retaining customers. The $15.00 registration fee includes lunch and materials. This event was organized in collaboration with the Pennsylvania Women’s Agricultural Network at Penn State with funds by USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture Grant #2009-49400-06097 and USDA's Farmers' Market Promotion Program Grant # 2-25-G-1414. Registration cancellations must be received one week prior to the event to receive a refund. All refunds are subject to a $5.00 administrative fee.