Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)

Back from Virginia

I just got back today from a long weekend in Virginia. I took care of some family obligations, spent some time at my folks’ farm and had a great hike in the Shenandoah where I saw two bears. I had some thoughts on the interchange here about our decision to cancel our Coon Rock CSA.

Honestly, we were unhappy with the Coon Rock CSA from the beginning - it wasn’t an issue of being upset over the content of one box. Maybe we were spoiled with our spring run with Britt Farm, but even compared to what our friends and colleagues were receiving from other CSAs, the Coon Rock boxes contained considerably less both in volume and balance… and was considerably more expensive. (You can look at our archive of our boxes from Coon Rock and draw your own opinions.)

Archana wanted to cancel fairly early in the process, but I suggested we stick with it. I’ve had some experience with farms and know about the seasonal flows of produce, but our last couple boxes were so anemic that we felt like we needed to cancel. Frankly, we doubted that the boxes would “come around” enough to balance out what realistically was a few dollars of produce the last couple weeks.

If you read Archana’s original post, you’ll see that she wasn’t indicting Coon Rock or questioning their abilities, she was saying that their CSA wasn’t working for her. And it wasn’t working for us. We’re not well-off people and the CSA represented a major portion of our food budget. With Britt Farms, we were getting a week’s worth of food - it was a challenge to eat it all and it was spread across a variety of produce. We would go to the Farmers Market or the store for staples and protein, but other than that, we were set. With our Coon Rock CSA, we were going to outside sources for food as much as we ever needed to before (and with a similar amount of expense).

Basically, our decision to cancel was based on basic economics. We weren’t satisfied with the product and asked for our money back. It happens every day. Beck has some really good points about customer service. Anyone who’s rendered a service has had to deal with a dissatisfied customer at some point. Rule #1 is to try to understand what their complaint is and try to rectify it. A customer who was initially displeased and then satisfied usually becomes a loyal customer.

I appreciate Richard’s decision to refund our money and I agree that we could have approaced him directly first. However, maybe our minds would be changed and our fears that this CSA was overextended and wasn’t coming back around if his reply was more along the lines of Beck’s suggestion that he ask that we stick with him through the season so he could prove that the $24 is fair. Or even something closer to “I’m sorry that you haven’t been satisfied with your CSA. If you want to come talk to me about it, I’ll be at the farmer’s market on Wednesday. Feel free to stop by and maybe you can pick out a little produce to help supplement what you got this week.”

Honestly, I think the notion that if you’re dissatisfied, you don’t understand how things work is truly counterproductive. Sometimes, the slow-food, eat-local, eat-organic movement wallows in moral superiority and caters to a suburban romanticized notion of the farming life. That’s fine, but seems like it will keep the whole industry stuck in a luxury of the upper class rut.

With high gas prices, salmonella scares, and worldwide food shortages, there are a lot of good reasons to eat local. But at some point, one of those reasons needs to become cost-effectiveness and good business sense. For some people, the fact that it’s organic and local will justify unrealistic costs, but for many, it’s creating a pay to play barrier.

© 2008 Eat Local NC.