CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. It means that a farmer starts growing food and growing food there's a lot of unknowns in there. You don't know for whatever reason if you're going to harvest all the things that you've planned to harvest that you've started sowing months back. So the idea is that a group of people support the farmer so the farmer knows he's got an outlet.
Our optimum is to have 200 members at the moment we've got between a hundred and 150. Every week every Wednesday and Thursday depending on where people live we send them they receive a box and they know that every week they're going to get a box of healthy fresh foods that have been harvested just before they got them. For us it means we have stability in the fact that the plants we sow that they are sold. We don't have the issue of food waste because if a broccoli small and it normally wouldn't be able to go to supermarket we can give people two.
Supermarket this is the complete opposite because they are just going for bigger and longer shelf life and that encourages the farmer to go into the input rat race which is a race without an end and they by an ever increasing amount of inputs which results in environmental pollution and all the other downstream effects. As a farmer you want to create healthy soils and healthy plants and healthy animals and further up the food chain you make sure that you create a soil that invites the right sets of microbes, that's the job. We've got the microorganisms which are governing the system we just create a habitat for them then you got the plants growing out of there be it annuals perennials and trees. Then amongst that you've got insects living in there and then we've incorporated pigs sheep cows ducks geese and I'm sure we're forgetting a few bits and bobs and every single item adds value.
The idea was when the olive trees were big enough we would have animals underneath sheep dairy sheep for example we think mixed system is really important between plants and animals to keep the recycling and the cycling optimal going and not having to buy in fertilizers or inputs you don't You don't realize this but this used to be pastoral desert, it was just grass yeah and this is what people can do you can create heaven on earth. Now if that microphone is any good then right now you hear and you hear many many many many more birdsongs then you hear in a New Zealand native forest. Okay they're are not all exotics ah they are not all natives but my god do they free up my spirit. The supermarket system demands that farmers supply uniform blemish free produce favoring looks over nutritional value.
This leads to conventional growing practices like over applying fertilizers and spraying with toxic chemicals. The CSA model eases the pressure on farmers because they are no longer bound to meet these industry demands. Allowing them to farm in a way that produces healthy food as well as building the soil creating biodiversity and increasing resilience to natural forces like drought and pests. We are in a position to do it properly because of the CSA, our members allow us to create that diversity.
That other old system doesn't allow you to create that diversity. If you're interested in the environment if you're interested in being responsible looking after yourself taking responsibility for your own health if you're interested in social responsibility then I would say go out and find initiatives like ours and get your food and your satisfaction from places like that and that will encourage a snowball effect that will change this world. Hey guys I hope you all enjoyed this film if you want to check out more videos along similar themes be sure to visit HappenFilms.Com for more. I want to say special thanks to Anna Ballard, Tenkai and Lee-Anne Diepdael for their generous donations to Happen Films thanks for watching and I'll see you all in the next film..
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