Where Did the CSA Start? A Brief History of the CSA

By: Sister Anna Gilbert-Muhammad, NOFA/Mass Food Access Director

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) has drastically increased over the last few years, with the COVID-19 pandemic taking center stage, communities turned to buying directly from farmers to get access to healthy food. Farmers (at least in communities that can afford full CSA farm shares) have increased their bottom line and seen some increases in their income. When one thinks of the farm share or CSA models, we often think of the farms in areas that are often more affluent or serve more of the dominant society. However, the CSA model as it is seen today has its roots in Black farmers in the South and with Dr. Booker T. Whately from Tuskegee University.

Dr. Booker T. Whately, a Black horticulturist and agricultural professor at Tuskegee University in Alabama, advocated for regenerative agriculture and environmental practices for Black farmers. During the 1960s and 1970s he assisted those farmers in organic growing practices and developed farm business techniques that provided relief for the farmers helping in the civil rights movement.  The ideals and goals of the civil rights movement were also tied to landownership and farming for Black farmers. Since part of the civil rights movement focused heavily on winning crucial voter’s rights and gaining voter influence over the outcome and turnout for presidential elections, much of the vital work to support Black landowners was achieved at the local level. Since Black voters and constituents had achieved greater civil and voting rights following the subsequent Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965, they were able to support the candidacies of Black leaders and farmland owners who could make a change on the local level, and be appointed to key positions, such as farm committees. 

These farm committees determined how federal loans and funds were disbursed, and by having black farmers on those committees, they could receive the support that they required to run their farms. On many occasions, black farmers were denied loans and other funding that would help them keep their land and make a livelihood. Dr. Whately developed a system referred to as “pick-and-pay”. The pick-and-pay or clientele membership clubs allowed the community to support the farmers directly. Families would pay at the beginning of the season for food and would come and pick throughout the season. This model would allow the Black farmer to plan crops, anticipate demand, and most importantly, have a guaranteed market base throughout the year. Pick-and-pay allowed farmers to keep their businesses and hold onto their farmland.

In 1982, Dr. Whatley was interviewed by Mother Earth News. In the interview, he explained that “The clientele membership club is the lifeblood of the whole setup. It enables the farmer to plan production, anticipate demand, and, of course, have a guaranteed market.”  The key to the success of the market is the promotion of the membership club.  

In 1987, Dr. Whately described the pick and pay model in the handbook “How To Make $100,000 Farming 25 Acres”, which is still used and studied today. Pick and Pay, the precursor to the CSA model, continues to help Black Farmers today and it is a history that needs to be presented and discussed on a wider scale.

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