The Titus family sells the crops from their farm at the Meridian Township Farmers Market, 5151 Marsh Rd., every Saturday. Last Saturday they sold potatoes and green beans among other crops that they picked the day before.
Community supported agriculture, or CSA, can provide an alternative to grocery store shopping for fresh produce.
CSA is a partnership between the farmer and the people who buy shares in the farm prior to the growing season, agreeing to share the farmer’s risk, said Elaine Brown, executive director of Michigan Integrated Food & Farming Systems, or MIFFS, a nonprofit, affiliate organization of MSU.
“People who want (a) share of produce pay up front. This helps cover the initial cost of farming, like buying seed,” she said.
CSA farms supply produce such as green beans, kale, beets and potatoes, said Rebecca Titus, the daughter of Paul and Rose Titus, the owners of Titus Farms, a CSA located in Leslie, Mich.
Many CSA’s are located in northern Michigan and near Detroit, Paul Titus said, and while many are small, with about 10-20 members, some are as big as 700 members.
The MSU Student Organic Farm is another example of a CSA.
Many CSAs are in rural areas, so to reach consumers, farmers usually have to go into densely populated areas where there are people with an interest in local food, Rebecca Titus said.
Her family sells their produce on Saturdays at the Meridian Township Farmers Market, 5151 Marsh Road in Okemos.
For Rose Titus, the entire process of farming is rewarding — planting a seed, watching it grow, and then finally being able to reach out to people through Community Supported Agriculture and taking fresh produce to market to sell.
“Growing up on a farm taught you what hard work it is to farm, but if you don’t love it, you don’t stay with it,” Rose Titus said. “It wouldn’t be a very happy life if you tried to farm and didn’t enjoy yourself.”
This year is the third year Titus Farms has been a CSA, and it has about 175 members, a number which he said he expects to grow.
“CSA is not a new thing, but it’s fairly new to this area,” said Rebecca Titus, a recent MSU graduate. “People pay ahead in the winter, and in the summer through the fall they receive fresh vegetables and fruits and whatever we can give them.”
Titus Farms offers three CSA packages which supply two or four people with fresh produce for 10 to 20 weeks throughout the year, ranging in price from $160-$525 per year, Paul Titus said.
The market runs from May to October and serves about 2,000 to 3,000 customers every week, said LuAnn Maisner, director of parks and recreation for Meridian Township.
Titus Farms is one of two CSAs at the market, Paul Titus said.
He said Titus Farms’ prices often are competitive with grocery stores.
Recently he was selling heads of romaine lettuce weighing more than two pounds for $2 each and was told by a customer that the same amount of romaine was selling for $4 at a nearby grocery store.
“Now that gas prices are so high, local food has a chance to be competitive,” Rebecca Titus said.
“So you can often find deals at the farmers market, especially on seasonable produce.”
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