Case studies
Bungay Community Bees
Gemma Parker and Elinor McDowall launched Bungay Community Bees in April 2010 as a response to the worldwide decline of honey bees. Part of Suffolk’s first Transition Town, Sustainable Bungay, the project works to increase the number of honey bees locally and to share an enthusiasm for and knowledge about bees and pollinators. In addition to the £20 subscription paid every January by the group’s 50 members, Bungay Community Bees regularly receives donations and gifts of beekeeping equipment and bees from local supporters. With no paid staff the project relies on two beekeepers and a volunteer core group of five to carry out day to day tasks with a larger pool of supporters to run events. Honey and, potentially, other hive products are shared annually but members primarily join to support bees and get involved in the project’s three main strands: beekeeping, plants for bees, and education and outreach.
Canalside Community Food, Leamington Spa
Based on Leasowe Organic Farm, adjacent to the Grand Union Canal, Canalside Community Food now produces weekly shares of seasonal organic veg for over 100 households every week of the year from 7 acres of land and 5 polytunnels. They employ three part-time growers and two part-time administrators.
Chagfood, Chagford, Devon Chagfood, started in 2009, rents three acres of land from two local farmers in Dartmoor National Park. They successfully applied for planning permission to put up 3 polytunnels and 2 sheds. Two part-time growers, with the help of volunteers, produce more than 50 varieties of seasonal veg supplying 50 local households. They have recently planted 20 apple trees and over 50 fruit trees. In order to reduce the impact of machineryon the land, and the use of fossil fuels, Samson the horse ploughs the fields and pulls the cart loaded with fresh produce boxes into the nearby village each week.
The Community Farm
The Community Farm, in the Chew Valley near Bristol, is a Community Benefit Society owned and democratically controlled by its members. The farm started trading in April 2011, having bought out an existing growing scheme, box and wholesale business from The Better Food Company by raising £126,126 through community shares. It rents and cultivates 22 acres of land from a local farmer with the option to expand to 50 acres over the next few years. As of August 2011 the CSA has 409 founder members and 24 annual members. The team hopes to increase member numbers to 500 by March 2013, and to raise a further £100,000 for equipment, facilities and educational work by end of November 2011
Church Farm, Ardeley
Church Farm is a 175 acre mixed agro-ecological farm in Hertfordshire, which has established a CSA project as part of the farm business. It supplies 150 farm boxes each week to around 120 members, with approximately 40 being delivered to drop-off points at cafés and community centres in London. Tim Waygood, the farmer, rents the land from his parents on a long term lease. The horticultural work is carried out by two full time growers and some interns. Produce includes over 200 varieties of vegetables, and over 130 varieties of fruit. The farm keeps sheep, cattle, pigs and poultry, has three bee hives, an apiary garden, a two acre walnut orchard, and has polytunnels, a farm store and café. Members pay £10 a week for a vegetable subscription and have the opportunity to attend free seasonal farm experience days and family events. The large majority of members visit regularly and become involved with the farm in some capacity. The farm also runs a care farming operation which provides training and work experience for people with learning disabilities and/or mental health issues.
Dragon Orchard Crop Sharers, Herefordshire
A crop share scheme, where Cropsharers pay for a share in the yearly apple harvest, orchard products and have seasonal weekend visits. The enterprise is farmer led and provides opportunities for members to enjoy and understand the local landscape and culture.
Exeter Community Agriculture
Exeter Community Agriculture is renting four acres of grade 2 uncultivated land from a local organic farmer . They held their first public meeting on 16 September which was attended by over 80 people all keen to get involved and has now become established as an IPS coop.
Fordhall Community Land Initiative, Shropshire
Fordhall Farm shows how enterprising young farmers can engage with the community, mutualise the land and put it into trusteeship using the Industrial and Provident Society structure, raise the purchase capital from members and balance community access rights with farming needs.
Growing Well
Growing Well is a farm-based charity that promotes mental health recovery and well-being by encouraging involvement in community-focused organic growing. This grower-led CSA developed out of the existing structure in 2009. Growing Well rents its six acres of land from Low Sizergh Farm, a National Trust tenant farm, with whom they have developed a strong and supportive relationship. They currently have 45 members who pay £7.50 a week for a share of vegetables which they collect from the farm. They hope to expand to 100 members. The CSA was started to increase the income, engage the community and develop a secure customer base. The grower’s salary is partially funded by the Big Lottery’s Local Food fund. All of the horticultural work is undertaken by volunteers recovering from mental health issues, with a full-time grower who is employed by the farm. Growing Well has a contract for provision from Social Services, allowing the volunteers working on the farm to benefit hugely from what is seen by staff and volunteers as a dynamic opportunity that promotes and enhances the recovery process.
Harrowbarrow and Metherell Agricultural Society (HAMAS) HAMAS CSA grows vegetables on five acres of land near Harrowbarrow and Metherell through an informal arrangement with a local farmer. HAMAS encourages membership involvement, holding fortnightly group-working weekends to plant seeds and weeding evenings once a week.
Hazelhurst Fruitery
The Fruitery, a mile from Sheffield, is a grower-led CSA that specialises in top fruit and soft fruit. An offshoot of an established family-owned company, the CSA owns three acres. It is expected to take five years to become established as a successful and productive fruit growing business. The small quantities of fruit available in the first couple of years will be sold at farmers markets to publicise the project. The hunt for land took two years and another year was spent focusing on the soil survey, design and soil improvement. The trees were planted in 2010/11. Organic methods were employed from the beginning and organic certification applied for in July 2011. Produce includes apples, pears, plums, cherries, blackcurrants, redcurrants, whitecurrants, gooseberries, blackberries, raspberries, quince, mulberry, medlar, filbert, hazel, damson and walnut. The aim was to design a place of health, beauty, permanence and productivity that would provide locally grown organic fruit directly to local consumers and provide members with a place to ‘be’ as well as ‘do’. They aim to increase membership in 2014 and 2015 as the productivity of the trees develops. Currently one grower is employed two days a week at £12 per hour. Community events and workdays are held at least four times a year.
HebVeg, West Yorkshire
HebVeg is a new CSA started in 2011 as a result of the local Transition Town Food Group. Each week 50 boxes are packed by member volunteers and collected from a local Baptist church hall. The vegetables are currently coming from an organic certified grower in Hipperholme.
Loxley Valley Community Farm, Sheffield
25 members who came together through the Landshare website, rent a 6.5 acre field near Sheffield, and are working together to produce their own food. They are growing vegetables, keeping bees and rearing turkeys, pigs, ducks and laying hens.
Occombe Farm Community Agriculture Part of the wider Torbay Countryside and Coast Trust, Occombe Farm CSA works on a four acre site. The CSA is providing organic vegetables to its 25 members through a weekly box scheme.
Rent-a-vine, Sedlescombe Organic Vineyard, Sussex
Rent-a-vine is a farmer led marketing scheme. In exchange for a membership fee, club members are entitled to discounts on organic wines, juices, liqueurs, fruit wines and ciders. They have priority access to wines produced in small quantities. They may visit the vineyard for leisure, wine tasting or to help with the work
Stroud Community Agriculture
A well established CSA with nearly 200 members which supplies a weekly vegetable box to its members and also keeps pigs, sheep and beef in order to supply meat to members that want to buy it. They rent 50 acres on 2 separate sites and employ 2 full time growers/farmers.
Swillington CSA, Leeds
Their fruit and vegetable CSA is in its fourth year and currently supplies 30 shares. It is based in a 2 acre Victorian walled garden on Swillington Organic Farm, a 160-acre organic mixed livestock farm. They have a team of growers, and enjoy working with volunteers who come down to the garden on Fridays and Saturdays to learn new growing skills. CSA members pick their fruit and vegetables up from the shed in the garden.
Swillington also provides a monthly supply of meat and poultry to 57 members. Initiated by a group of consumers keen to get locally sourced and responsibly produced meat direct from the farmer, they can purchase pork and chicken. Payment for both is for a six month period in advance. This helps the farmer with cash flow, production planning and provides a secure market. Poultry and pork production uses about 15 acres of the farm. Members all belong to the Headingly Development Trust who coordinate the orders and the finances. CSA members receive a 20% discount and pay £60 for chicken and £96 for pork and collect their share at one of three monthly farmers markets which |the farmer regularly attends. The core group is keen to find a way to run the beef herd on a CSA format and are currently planning to expand their sheep flock using a CSA model. Members are invited to special on-farm events such as BBQs, farm tours nd barn dances.
Tablehurst and Plaw Hatch CSA, Sussex
This Community Supported Agriculture scheme farms around 700 acres on two small farms 3 miles apart: Tablehurst and Plaw Hatch. 500 acres of this land have been farmed bio-dynamically for around 20 years and the remaining 200 acres, which have recently been rented, are undergoing conversion to bio-dynamic status. The farms have an annual turnover in excess of £1m.
Trevalon Organic Cooperative, Cornwall Trevalon CSA developed out of an existing veg box scheme, and rents 16 acres of land from the Land Trust. The CSA currently has around 40 members, and 80 existing customers. Produce includes vegetables (50 plus varieties), fruit, heritage pigs, sausages and meat.
Wester Lawrenceton Farm, Scotland
The Rodways developed a loan scheme, where members of the farm lend against the value of organic dairy cows, with the interest paid in cheese.
Whitmuir Organics, Scotland
Whitmuir Organics is a small, organic farm in the Borders. Farmed by Peter Ritchie and Heather Anderson, the 140 acres of grade 4 and 5 agricultural land is on a north-facing slope, 900 feet above sea level. They keep pigs, laying hens, turkeys, sheep and beef cattle and despite the very short growing season, produce a range of soft fruit and vegetables on 2 acres of land and 2 poly tunnels. All of their produce is sold through their farm shop. They established a successful subscription scheme a few years ago and have over 150 members who pay a monthly subscription which gives the farm a secure monthly income of £9,000.