Longtime member Melissa Bogursky tells us what the CSG means to her and emphasizes the importance of small farms.
When I turn into the driveway at the CSG, I breathe a sigh of deep joy. I feel comforted by the knowledge that the food I am serving my family is grown here, on this modest 20-acre parcel of pesticide-free soil, by these warm, generous gardeners whom I know by name. Sure, we pay others for our food, but the crops from CSG fill our plates more than any other, and to know that we have been shareholders here for over a decade is a great source of pride. Even though we live in far-flung Bergen County, we were fortunate to have found the CSG when our children were young. They grew up having the experience of picking sun-warmed strawberries in a field, loading moist, dirt-covered orbs of potato into our shopping bags, and munching with abandon on what I will always believe are the best carrots grown anywhere. They know where their food comes from, and to paraphrase the artist Keith Haring, it does not come from the store.
It might seem obvious that the CSG meets the USDA’s qualifications for being a “small family farm”–that is, owned by the operators and with an annual gross cash income of less than $350,000. Did you know that small family farms produce most of the world’s food? Small family farms in every state are the backbone of American agriculture, accounting for 88% of all US farms. Smaller farms tend to produce higher yields of usable food with less waste than larger ones and are more able to work in harmony with surrounding landscapes, supporting biodiversity in our communities. Crop diversity, more common in small-scale farming than in the monocultures typical of large-scale operators, can boost productivity and nutritional density through natural pest control and regenerative farming practices. There are so many reasons for all Americans and our government to support small-scale agriculture.
Unfortunately, our small farms are disappearing, either closing altogether or being combined into much larger ones. The reasons are complex, but they are most certainly not due to incompetence. In the United States, small farms are often sidelined by government programs and subsidies in favor of large, mechanized farms that produce commodity crops intended for trade or processing rather than direct consumption–think corn, wheat, and soy versus those gorgeous CSG carrots. High fructose corn syrup, not corn-on-the-cob. Ironically, while the USDA has been recommending that fruits and vegetables should make up half of our diet, almost 75 percent of their subsidy programs continue to benefit large commodity-crop factory farms. The 2018 Farm Bill, which outlines these subsidies programs, was extended in 2023 for one year (until September 30, 2024) with many of these discriminatory practices left in place. If giving small family farms a level playing field is important to you, learn more about this bill and reach out to your elected officials at the county, state, and federal level, to let them know how you feel about it..
The CSG has been at the forefront of “eating small” since it opened more than 3 decades ago. Our gardeners will continue to act as mentors for newer, younger farmers in the Garden State who are expanding the sustainable food landscape here. But I worry that other children are growing up without a local family farm to show them where food really comes from.
If you would like to learn more about small farms or the Food Bill, here are some good sources: