Communigrow: July 2014

It is called 'A Share in the Harvest' and is available at:

http://www.soilassociation.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=UeRQDSCsA6g%3d&tabid=1725

also, once through that, go to the

A Share in the Harvest appendices [pdf, 985 kb]

http://www.soilassociation.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=d3aPrb7M7js%3d&tabid=204

"The Soil Association's comprehensive CSA action manual provides essential reading for anyone wanting to set up a CSA. It takes you through step by step all the things you need to consider and gives very practical advice."

Each CSA has its own nature and are quite individual to suit the community they work with, and for.

Also you may find much more on their web site of direct interest......

http://www.soilassociation.org/communitysupportedagriculture/resources

Resources

The resources in this section will help you get the information and support you need to start up a CSA or develop your existing CSA further. You can browse our resources by category below:
Essential reading

Land, tenancy and planning

Legal, governance and finances

Farming and growing

Marketing and membership building

Case studies

3.2 Getting started – things to consider

It is a good idea not to be too ambitious, start small and grow organically! If you are a farmer
with land in production, it is a good idea to maintain a diversity of markets for your produce
until the CSA is more established. Try to arrange a visit to an existing scheme and get a feel
for how they do it. Contact the Soil Association for help on arranging this or check the case
studies on the website for ideas on appropriate models to visit.

Making the partnership between producers and consumers work for mutual benefit is what
CSA is all about. This relationship takes time. Planning and development take place through a
series of meetings. But as handling large groups of people requires some experience, you may
like to consider involving a facilitator to help run the first meetings, as this will set the tone for
future meetings.

The points listed below will help you to make the most of your meetings (see also section 11
for Guidelines on Holding an Effective Meeting):

Set clear and achievable objectives for each meeting

Ask what sort of a group, people would like to work in and what rules of engagement they
would like to set themselves

Have methods for making decisions and dealing with conflict

Acknowledge areas of shared interest and areas of different interest

Give everyone a chance to speak on an issue. Break into small groups then collect
summaries from each group

Take a non-critical stance

Work with each other’s strengths, weaknesses and differing perspectives

Consider what people need to know in order to be able to make good decisions

Be open about money and any other issues that might result in misunderstanding

Finally, there is no substitute for good listening!

Partnerships

The principles of partnership working are the essence of CSA, not only between consumers
and the farmer, but also between the other parties involved. A partnership is different from
buying-in contract services as all parties involved take responsibility for the project, its
development and ideally for the wellbeing of the other partners. Consider whether it would
help your CSA to form an informal or formal partnership, for example, with another farm or the
village shop.

3.2.1 Ten steps to forming a CSA

Although the development of your CSA will be determined by your circumstances, the
following steps serve as a useful guide. Each step could require separate, even several
meetings. The exploration step is crucial because it helps clarify purpose, build vision and
inspire participation.

1. Exploration of CSA:

Why eat local food?

What is CSA?

Why do small farms need support?

What is the interest in starting a CSA?

CSA as an opportunity to shape the countryside for what you want.

What is sustainable food and farming ?

How will our community feed itself when the oil currently used to produce and transport
most of our food becomes too expensive or even runs out?

2. What do you want out of your CSA?

Organic food? How do you want the land managed and food produced?

Access to a farm?

Opportunities to work?

What does the group desire for the future?

What are the objectives of the CSA?

Who will plan and develop the CSA?

3. Electing a core group:

Do you need a core group?

What are the responsibilities of the core group? (See Core group in Section 4 CSA

Members and Section 5 Making an organisation and legal issues)

How will they be elected, how long for, can they be re-elected?

How can you ensure the work is shared fairly.

5. What finances are available to you?

What is special about your situation?

Setting up a CSA bank account.

Appointing a treasurer.

Grant funding (See Section 6 ‘Financing CSA’)

6. Share costs and distribution:

(See sections 8 and 9)

What is the farm going to produce?

What are the production costs?

How much will it cost each member?

How are you going to get the produce to the members? (See Section 9 ‘Managing the
shares’)

Will there be gaps in supply in different seasons?

Do you buy in for hungry gap? If so – where from? Is there a limit on how far you will
transport bought in produce?

Will you support other local farms to broaden the range of produce you can offer your
members?

7. Recruiting more members:

Writing a CSA proposal. (See Section 4 ‘CSA members’)

Will you offer members the opportunity to work for all or part of their share?

What sort of members do you want?

How will you find members who are part of different social networks?

8. Farm activities:

Starting the farming activities.

Organising events and activities. (See Section 10 Farm activities)

How can you spread the load of making events and activities happen?

9. Legal structures:

What are the principles that guide your CSA?

Who is responsible for what?

Writing a constitution. (See Section 5 ‘Making an organisation and legal issues’)

10. Keeping in touch

(See Section 4 ‘CSA Members’, ‘Communication’)

4.2 Core group or steering committee

Like CSA the term ‘core group’ was also coined in the USA for an elected body, which
performs member functions, allowing farmers to concentrate on growing. They can be
responsible for everything beyond growing and harvesting produce or as a project becomes
more established the core group sometimes takes on more of the role of trustees, meeting
less frequently to consider the long-term focus for the project.
Do you need a core group?
Perhaps your CSA is small enough that most of its members have sufficient input into its
running, or the CSA may be the initiative of an energetic individual able to cope with all the
responsibilities. It is possible that farmers can manage to grow, pack, deliver and maintain
very close customer/member links. However, in most cases, the core group forms the heart of
the CSA. Responsibilities could include:

Member recruitment

Communications

Food distribution

Finances

Organising events

Essentially the core group runs the CSA. They ensure its goals are being met and within the
principles agreed by its members. The core group works with the farmer to set the share
price. The farmers often sit in the core group, but if not the core group act as mediator
between farmers and consumers. They are usually a volunteer group, meeting regularly, more
often as the CSA starts up and then reducing to monthly when things are running smoothly.
Consider who is to take on the various roles within the group and be explicit about what their
powers are. Which people have authority and responsibility for which kind of issue?

Some CSAs choose to have a core group to take on most of the decision-making and sub
groups or individual volunteers for jobs such as newsletter production, promotions, events,
etc. See ‘The story of CSA in Stroud’ section 4.

Who should sit on the core group?

The bulk of the core group is normally made up of ordinary CSA members elected by the
membership. Some CSAs choose to include the farmer(s) as part of the core group. Others
also include the landowners. If a CSA project decides to include the farmers and/or
landowners in the core group it is important that there are clear agreements about how these agreement that can help guide the project in the future. It can be reviewed and re-written as the project develops.

Stroud Slad Farm Community has two written agreements – one with the landowners and one
with the farmers.

5.2 Formal structures

As a CSA increases in size and complexity, it is wise to have clearly defined rights and
responsibilities which are recognised in law – in legal terms these are written as memoranda
and articles of association for companies and as rules for industrial and provident societies.
This will ensure accountability and the smooth running of the scheme.

5.2.1 Choosing a legal structure
Organisations that have no legal identity separate from its members are known as
unincorporated organisations. Members are jointly and severally liable for the debts of the
organisation. By becoming incorporated an organisation is creating a separate legal
personality from its members which is recognised by law. An incorporated organisation can
own property, and enter into contracts in its own right, it can also sue and be sued. Often,
incorporation can give the organisation greater credibility as it will have separate identity
recognised by external bodies. An organisation’s rules on how it operates are written up as its
constitution, articles or rules. One of the significant benefits of incorporation is its limited
liability, – this means that if an incorporated organisation should wind-up with outstanding
debts the members are only liable for the amount they agreed to pay on becoming a member.

For example in a company limited by guarantee, a member is liable to the amount of the
guarantee stipulated in the memorandum of association of the company. Incorporation is often
a requirement by grant giving bodies, as the funder has more chance of getting the money
back if it sued a corporate body rather than trying to pursue the individual people for the
debts owed.

An organisation can currently incorporate itself in a variety of ways, including:

As an Industrial and Provident Society (IPS)

IPSs are governed by a rulebook. The following definition is taken from the website of the
Financial Services Authority which regulates IPSs:

An Industrial and Provident Society is an organisation conducting an industry, business or
trade, either as a co-operative or for the benefit of the community and is registered under
the Industrial and Provident Societies Act 1965. IPS’s are registered with the FSA and are
regulated by HM Treasury.

Are all Industrial and Provident Societies cooperative? No, there are two routes.

Registration as a bona fide co-op or a society for the benefit of the community. IPS’s
that are registered as a bona-fide co-operative are run for the mutual benefit of their
members, with any surplus usually being ploughed back into the organisation to provide
better services and facilities and/or giving a dividend to members.7

The characteristics of IPS’s for the benefit of the community are similar to those of a
bona fide co-operative, but its profits and assets must not be shared among members,
and the society must be able to show that it will benefit people other than its own
members.

As a Limited Company, limited by guarantee or by shares

Members of a company limited by guarantee, guarantee to provide a pre-determined
amount if the organisation is wound-up with outstanding debts this may be as little as £1.

Charities, development trusts, social firms and community businesses frequently adopt this
legal form.

A relatively new form of limited company, a Community Interest Company (CIC) is available
for companies trading for community benefit. CICs are required to pass a community
benefit test on incorporation and have an ‘asset lock’, which ensures their assets are
protected in the long term for their intended purpose.

All companies are registered and regulated by Companies House

It is advisable to seek professional advice as these structures can be quite complex with
the possibility of hybridising and adapting to suit individual circumstances. In practice the
guiding principle should be ‘structure follows strategy’. Think carefully through the
objectives of your enterprise, who are the different stakeholders, what are their concerns
and interests in the scheme? When you are clear about this then you are ready to seek
professional advice and in a good position to make the most of their time, and especially if
any free or subsidised advice may be available to you. It is very tempting to copy the
structure of an already-established CSA project. But this is a risky route because no two
projects are the same and the process of incorporating a group can be very formative. One
of your members may have legal experience that could assist in this area.

5.2.2 Becoming a Charity (in addition to choosing a legal structure)

Some social enterprises do not seek or qualify for charitable status. In order to register as a
charity a social enterprise has to be set up solely for public benefit and have wholly charitable
objects. Charities are also limited in the amount of trading they can carry out which may not fit
with a social enterprise that may wish to benefit a specific sector of people and will generate a
large amount of its income from trading. However a charity can establish a subsidiary to carry
out trading activity that it is not permitted to carry out under the charity. A subsidiary can be
used for training and other community development activities. A subsidiary will not have
charitable status.

5.3 Issues to consider

Who are the stakeholders?

Typically a CSA will involve: A landowner, farmers and growers, the consumer members,
other farms, grant giving organisations. What do each of these groups want out of the
partnership? What level of commitment? Does it need a written contract?

Who ultimately has control of the business decisions? How will the enterprise be
managed?

Is it the farmer, or are the farmer(s) employed by the CSA? Or is it the investors? Consumer
members? The landlord? Workers? An elected board? A combination?

If consumers are to share the risks of farming, they should also have the opportunity to
understand and influence the way that their food is produced. But do you want members
to be able to vote on day to day issues such as when and where to plant carrots, or only
when money has to be spent on a new planting machine? Are everybody’s interests
protected?

Do you need to protect the enterprise from private interests, as in a charity? Will your
structure protect the enterprise against militant and disruptive individuals who wish to take
control? Consider not only who has power in theory but also who actually has power in
practice, for example a landowner may have a single vote but the power to evict from their
land.

How will you protect the enterprise – from hostile takeover? Or ensure the enterprise
continues to deliver its intended purpose?

Square Meal - a report about food and farming put together by no less than 10 organisations

I think this is really important for us all working on projects related to improving and developing new ways to involve communities in food production. It appears to make many shocking statements and observations on the state of our health and environment.

I've not read it all yet but it downloadable from the web at:
http://foodresearch.org.uk/square-meal

I am particularly interested to hear comments from anyone who feels strongly about anything discussed and please leave all thoughts on this blog or email me at laurence@communigrow.org

This new discussion document highlights the overwhelming evidence for major changes to national food and farming policy. It’s been written by a collaboration of 10 UK organisations: the RSPB, Friends of the Earth, the National Trust, the Food Ethics Council, Sustain, the Wildlife Trusts, the Soil Association, Eating Better and Compassion in World Farming working with the Food Research Collaboration.

It calls for stronger government leadership in planning the future use of land, food policy, farming and conservation in England and for wider public engagement on issues that affect the whole of society.

The report focuses on four key inter-connected areas and proposes solutions for:
- Improving health: getting a grip on the growing crisis of obesity and diet-related ill-health
- Good food for all: tackling food poverty, ensuring fair food supply chains
- Sustainable farming: investing in a resilient farming system in the face of climate change and dwindling resources
- Enhancing nature: to bring back colour to the countryside and protect the natural environment on which we all depend.

Square Meal aims to start a wider conversation about how to secure a healthy countryside and healthy food for everyone, and get greater public benefit from our food and farming system.

Key facts from the report
- 33% of under 18’s in the UK are overweight or obese.
- 913,138 people in crisis across the UK were provided with three days emergency food in the year to the end of March 2014, (by the Trussell Trust alone).
- 75% of the protein fed to our livestock in the EU is imported.
- 25% of all UK farmers live in poverty.
- In less than 50 years we have lost over 44 million pairs of breeding birds.