August, 2013

Contributor: Bart Pijnenburg, Amersfoort

50 families 

A group of around 50 households participate in an Community Supported Agriculture initiative at the city fringe of Amersfoort, on the border of the place Soest. 2013 is the next growing season. Members pay 330 euro in the beginning of the year for a share in the years’ harvest. Every Friday members come to collect their veggies at the farm het Derde Erf.

Besides it forms a community in that members meet at the farm, once a year members celebrate the harvest with a pot-luck dinner and every winter a meeting is held where the growers tell about last years (financial) results and where the plan for the coming year is being discussed. Some members help once in a while in weeding. So the social aspect is very important.

The environmental plus is that people eat according to season and region and are more aware of the difficulties in farming.

To repeat and scale up/lessons; start with forming a group and make it an open and transparent process.