Farmer Profiles

"Bob Pierson"
Farm to City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

"Spend time with the farmers to educate them as to what urban shareholders want in a share box. Many have different preferences, such as specialty produce and products that are of different age or size when harvested, than rural customers."

Farm to City is an organization that offers various services to CSA farms in southeastern Pennsylvania that market to customers in Philadelphia. Bob Pierson runs Farm to City, which was started in May 2000 to connect farmers in the region with markets in the Philadelphia area, through CSA farms and farmers' markets.

How the Farm to City CSA Program Works: Farm to City provides a range of services to CSA farmers, and charges a percentage of the share price based upon those requested by the various farmers. For example, Farm to City works with the farmer to define the CSA, including how many shares can be provided and for what cost, what crops will be included in the share, how long the season will be, payment systems, and other issues. Farm to City then recruits CSA shareholders for the farms. Optional services including brochure production, bookkeeping, drop-off site management, communications with shareholders (including handbooks, and a monthly newsletter), and organizing special events. Bob also addresses shareholder complaints, and evaluates the season with surveys of the shareholders.

Farming Operations: Farm to City met its goal for 2001, which was to have four CSA farmers using the services of Farm to City. In 2001, one was a conventional farm, one was a certified organic Amish farm, one was a farm transitioning to organic methods, and the last was a low-input farm. Three farms were in Lancaster County, and the other was in Northumberland. Each farm had its own share prices, season length, and products available.

CSA Marketing: In 2001, Farm to City managed 262 total shares for four farms catering to Philadelphia customers. Farm to City also managed seven drop-off sites for the farms. For 2002, Bob's goal is 500 shares from six farms. In December of 2001, Farm to City also launched its Winter Harvest Club, a program that provided pasture-raised meats and dairy products, eggs, winter vegetables, apple cider, and other products to customers between December and April. The program included two distribution networks with a total of 18 farmers and 60 club members.

Main Challenges: Bob notes that expenses for the organization, in terms of labor, were not completely covered by the fee included in the CSA and Winter Harvest programs. Bob hopes this will change as the share numbers increase and he turns to the Internet to capture communication efficiencies better. Bob has difficulty marketing conventional farms to potential customers, and includes that in his information sheets to interested CSA farms. Bob believes that the urban shareholders need more education about farming. He also spends time with the farmers to educate them as to what urban shareholders want in a share box. Many have different preferences, such as specialty produce and products that are of different age or size when harvested, than rural customers. He works with the farmers in terms of the quality and quantity of vegetables in the shareholder boxes. He notes a special challenge in connecting CSA farms with cities like Philadelphia-he told us that many farmers see Philadelphia as "a large and intimidating place and they don't quite know how to get into the market here."

Contact: Bob Pierson, Farm to City; Philadelphia, PA ;phone 215-733-9599; e-mail phillymarkets@aol.com.

Profiles of Community Supported Agriculture