Community Supported Agriculture offers average urban consumers the opportunity to purchase fresh, local and often organic fruits, vegetables and meats directly from farmers.

Here’s how it works: You contract with a CSA farmer to deliver a small fraction of what they produce seasonally. The farm delivers the fresh produce to a central location, or in some cases, directly to your home.

The benefits are that you get fresh food directly from a farmer who you can meet and talk to, and the farm gets to sell at a higher profit margin while developing consumer relationships. The local community supports sustainable family farms. Everybody wins (except the big supermarkets)!

In the Montreal area, there are about 90 farms that participate in CSA programs. To find a CSA farmer that serves your neighborhood in Montreal, visit this page (en francais).

To learn more about CSA’s in Quebec visit: Equiterre