CSA Farms Suggest You Bring A Box Of Veggies Home From The Office

Community Supported Agriculture has been described as bringing food directly from farm to table. Now there’s an effort bring the farm even closer to the consumer: by having more CSA drop off sites at workplaces.

The state’s Buy Local, Buy Wisconsin program has awarded $35,000 to a group representing 50 southern Wisconsin CSA farmers. The money given to FairShare CSA Coalition will be used to convince workplaces to act as drop-off sites for fresh produce. FairShare Coalition’s Chris Brockel says it will provide convenience and increased awareness of locally grown food.

“9,500 households participated in CSAs last year, representing almost 30,000 individuals. So [CSAs are] not necessarily a niche thing,” Brockel said. “It’s expanding, and people are becoming more aware of it as an option into getting food into their household.”

Some of the workplaces in southern Wisconsin which will be drop off sites in 2014 are Duluth Trading Co. in Belleville; Spacesaver in Jefferson County and Research Products in Madison.

The human resources director for Research Products, Bill Herman, says having CSA produce available at work goes hand in hand with efforts to improve employee wellness. He says 20 percent of their 500 employees bought CSA produce at work last year.

“It’s been very, very positive. And fun!” Herman said. “People talk about the different produce items, what’s this, what’s that, I’ve never seen this before; recipes get exchanged. We had cooking classes.”

Public employers are also encouraging workers to buy local produce in La Crosse and Dane Counties by having CSA drop off sites. Brockel’s FairShare CSA Coalition estimates that in 2012, 50 southern Wisconsin farms sold $7 million in gross sales of fresh produce