About Neighborhood Farm Share
We are excited to begin work on a new project entitled "Neighborhood Farm Share"! It is a project that aims to bring affordable organic food into under-resourced communities through the use of Community Supported Agriculture.
NOFA-NY feels strongly as an organization that everyone should have access to fresh, local, nutritious, organic food. Since 2010, we have worked to increase access to organic fruit and vegetables for urban and rural, under-resourced communities across New York State. In 2011 we started locally in Western New York with a focus on Rochester in the first pilot year of the project.
The project is inspired by a successful model crafted by the organization Just Food, which has used the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) scheme of direct-farm marketing in low-income areas with great success. Not only has the project brought affordable organic food into low-income communities, but it has also developed leadership among neighbors and communities by equipping them to take an active role in local food politics. Community leaders help organize their CSAs and encourage neighborhood participation in the CSA program, greatly improving fruit and vegetable intake amongst those who suffer from both hunger and obesity.
Project Goals:
• Listen to consumers in neighborhoods with deficient healthy-food infrastructures about the challenges of accessing fresh fruits and vegetables in their community;
• Present the CSA model (and others) as one option of bringing fresh food to under-resourced neighborhoods. Gather feedback on the model and insight into how it might be adapted for the region;
• Educate regional farmers to the ways they might directly-market organic and sustainably produced food to under-resourced communities in Rochester;
• Partner with churches and community-based organizations to provide outreach and education about CSA in communities with healthy food deficits. Identify potential CSA host sites;
• Partner with churches and community-based organizations to organize community leaders into CSA core groups. Work with core groups to encourage their neighbors to improve nutrition and access to locally grown, healthy foods by participating in CSA;
• Create at least 1 CSA core group in Rochester in a low-income community. Serve at least 60 families by end of year one;
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Educate both CSA farmers and low-income consumers about EBT/SNAP benefits and how they can be used to purchase locally-grown, healthy, organic food. Provide information about creatively structuring payment plans to make CSA work for farmers and community.
Get Involved!
You can find out more about this project, organize a core group in your neighborhood or join one, suggest a community organization as a host for a CSA, or find out other ways to be involved:
Please contact Kristina Keefe-Perry at Kristina@nofany.org or 585-271-1979 ext. 505.
Neighborhood Farm Share Printable Fact Sheet
