City Commons CSA gains footing with growing membership

A group of six young people got jobs working in urban agriculture for the Greening of Detroit via the Americorps program a few years ago. Today that group has launched the first CSA (community supported agriculture) in Detroit and turned their urban farms and City Commons CSA into their jobs.

"We were all interested in agriculture," says Minehaha Forman, co-founder of City Commons CSA. "We all had backgrounds in agriculture. We thought if we compiled our land and our resources we could make more money. If we did a CSA model we would have more time to farm."

Community supported agriculture, also known as community shared agriculture, programs are a confederation of local farmers who support each other by assuming the risks and benefits of combined food production. City Commons CSA consists of Buffalo Street Farm, Singing Tree Garden, Food Field, Vinewood Knoll, Farnsworth, and Fields of Plenty.

City Commons CSA has added a new farm and co-owner in the last year, growing its team to seven people. It also expanded the number of shareholders who buy produce from the CSA to about 50 full members.

"Last year we made more money than we ever had," Forman says. "Some of us are focused on expanding our farms and some of us are focused on growing the CSA."

Source: Minehaha Forman, co-founder of City Commons CSA
Writer: Jon Zemke

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