Three-Generation Farm begins partnership with ISAC to bring fresh, local produce to its community

PRLog (Press Release) - Aug. 20, 2012 - Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a partnership between Chiang Mai’s community and local farmers. Many CSA projects center on providing consumers fresh produce direct from the farm and usually in the form of weekly vegetable boxes which may also include dairy products, eggs and baked goods.

The benefits? The consumers get a healthy variety of freshly-picked fruit and vegetables delivered right to their door and the supplying farmers will have guaranteed customers all year round.

The downside? Realizing your current way of life and diet are unsustainable in the long term; it's time for a change such as joining a local CSA program.

The unknown?  By signing up to join a CSA, you sign up never knowing what may be delivered each week. It's a great way to discover new food and recipes but also great because it means as a consumer you are supporting farming diversity and seasonality.

The Three-Generation Farm (http://vsp.threegeneration.org/content/farm.html), based at Traidhos Three-Generation Community for Learning (http://www.threegeneration.org) in Mae Rim, Thailand, is beginning a partnership with the Institute of Sustainable Agricultural Communities (ISAC) to bring fresh, local produce to its community. Currently the Three-Generation Farm produces organically-grown produce for the on-campus school cafeteria, with any surplus vegetables being sold during the community's market once a month. But now the farm is motivated even further to ensure the community is not only eating sustainably but also supporting the farmers in their local area. By working with ISAC, the Three-Generation Farm is providing a service which reduces the need for regular visits to Rimping, Tops, Tesco Lotus and the local Macro, all of which offer imported food full of preservatives and covered in unnecessary packaging.

By investing in the local farming community, consumers in the CSA program are insuring that money goes straight to supporting local livelihoods and keeping Thai traditions alive, one of the main aims of the Three-Generation Farm. This also means traditional organic farming is promoted, a solid market is created for the produce and local farmers are encouraged to grow a diversity of produce instead of monoculture crops to supply supermarket demand - a demand that ignores the detrimental effects it has on the environment and local economy.

Not only that; buying local produce reduces the amount of energy which is lost during processing, packaging, transportation, and refrigerating food.  By joining a CSA program as a consumer, you are helping to be more sustainable by saving energy and helping to save costs by reducing the amount of energy expenditure caused from supermarket retail. CSA reduces fuel consumption and promotes recyclable and limited packaging. Produce is freshly-picked and produced without the need of refrigeration before it reaches the consumer’s door.

The Three-Generation CSA is now part of the new Traidhos Wellness Program (http://www.threegeneration.org/wellness.html) to provide its community with produce sourced from local organic farmers, including many hill-tribes in the surrounding Chiang Mai highlands. Goods are collected and sorted into consumer boxes for participants in the program which are collected directly from the Three-Generation Farm.

Ideally it is hoped that senior students from Prem Tinsulanonda International School (PTIS) will be involved helping provide this service to the community whilst also collecting Community-Action-Service (CAS) hours.

The opportunity of joining the Three-Generation CSA is not only open to the Traidhos Community that live on-site, but also to the staff and parents of students should they wish to join. It doesn't stop there either.

The Three-Generation CSA hopes to support the local community even more by making contact with farmers related to, or neighbours of staff at Traidhos and give them the opportunity to join as producers, confirming they are organic and supporting the community directly.

If you are interested in joining the Three-Generation CSA or to find out more about the Institute of Sustainable Agricultural Communities please contact Farm Coordinator, Chrissie at chrissieb@threegeneration.org.

Photo:
http://www.prlog.org/11953589/1